Real Travel Dates!

First....Happy Birthday Jamie! She is 1yr old today!!!!!

Second.....We have real travel dates! We leave Thursday March 4th and come home on the 19th! We are spending an extra day in Hong Kong at the begining of our trip. This will be wonderful as it gives us a chance to get over jet lag before we get Jamie! We should be travelling to her province (Jiangxi) and getting her on Monday!

We have a lot to do!!!!!!!

Travel Time Frame!!!!!!

Well, it isn't actual dates but it is something a little more concrete to do some planning on. We heard from our agency yesterday that the earliest we will leave is Tuesday March 2nd, and the latest we will leave is Friday March 5th! So.........NEXT WEEK!!!!!!

We have so much to do.................

Travel Permission!!!!

We have our Travel Permission!

The process so far......China identified a baby that they welcome us to adopt. We immediately signed a paper that says YES, we will adopt this child. When they receive that paper for our whole travel group they send back a Travel Permission that says they have agreed to let us adopt this baby.

What happens now......Well, I am sure they have already started but now our facilitators make all of our appointments for us in China. They are scheduling with the orphanage the day and time for them to bring the babies to us. They are scheduling with the Chinese government for the official ceremony which happens about 24 hours after we have the babies. They are getting our Visa's which says we can be in China for "tourism" for 2 weeks. They are scheduling our US Immigration visits and visits to the doctor for the baby when we are in Guangzhou. Then when they know when all this will happen....they are scheduling our hotel rooms, local transportation and all our airline flights. Our group is 15 families.....let's just say that our facilitators are very busy right now!

What will we find out next........Our next communication should be our actual travel dates. We may not find out until 3 days before we actually board the plane but I am hoping that it will be by the end of February. I am planning on February 25th but I am quietly hoping for the 18th of February.

What are we doing now? Trying like crazy to figure out what we need to take with us for Jamie, and how can we pack it into a suitcase so that it weighs less than 44 lbs total! We are guessing at all of her sizes because she is bundled in so many clothes when they weigh her that we really are not sure what she weighs. I am buying some 12 month size clothes for her and I guess I will just roll up the arms and legs if I have to! I am also buying some 9 month size clothes for her and if I have to they will just be some very gently used hand me downs. Diapers? Who knows....I am taking size 2 and size 3 and we will see what works best.

Any tips, any thoughts you want to share???? They are always welcome!!!!!

Snow!

Some simple adult amusement on a very snowy day!