Leavin' On A Jet-Plane....

It has been a CRAZY week! We were assigned a consulate appointment for October 18th. This means that we will leave for China on October 5th, and we will meet our baby girl on October 10th. Gotcha day....the date will be 10.10.10.

We missed getting a September consulate appointment by 1 day. And, I have to admit that I was pretty disappointed. The Lord quickly reminded me that His timing is perfect, which He has reinforced just today (that's another journal entry).

Our international plane tickets have been purchased. We are traveling to Beijing one day early as this affected the combined total of our plane tickets by thousands of dollars. (AACK!) We will arrive on 10/6. The seventh is the final day of a national holiday, and that's the only reason I can come up with for such a crazy ticket price! So, we will arrive before our travel guide. Joel is quite comfortable navigating Beijing, so we will tackle it on our own for that one day.



Our general itinerary will be:

10/5 Depart

10/6 Arrive in Beijing, mid-afternoon (around 1 am Eastern Time)

10/7-9 Tour Beijing

10/10 Fly to Lanzhou (This is the capital of Grace's province)

10/?? Fly to Guangzhou (Around the 15th, this is the location of the US Consulate)

10/18 Consulate Appointment

10/19 Oath taking Ceremony

10/20 Receive Grace's US Visa

10/20 Fly to Hong Kong (overnight layover)

10/21 Depart for and arrive in US



Traditionally, from the other families I know that have traveled to Grace's province, the nannies and orphanage director are waiting at the hotel with your child when you arrive. We may very well see her when we walk in the front door. I have much to share about her province, but I will do that seperately. I will say this much, it is a remote part of the interior of China. We will most likely be the only Westerners in the area. It is definitely, "the road less traveled." We also understand that this will make us quite the novelty. We shouldn't have a hard time making new friends!

There will also be many other various appointments along the way, including a medical exam for Grace in Guangzhou. We may not have all of that in writing before we leave, but are confident in the expertise of our guides who will have navigated many adoptions before ours.

We will be holding our baby girl in just 37 days

Trave Approval!

We just received travel approval to go and get our little girl...we are ecsatic! We hope to get a consulate appointment toward the end of September, which will have us leaving around the 13th. Help us pray that this is the case, otherwise our trip will be delayed by 3 weeks. I'll share more when we know!
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Communication Between Two Governments

This week, on the 12th, the US Consulate in Guangzhou (GZ) issued our "Article 5". This, essentially, is a document that notifies the Chinese Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) that we have been approved to adopt Grace, to bring her back to the US, and that her immigration and citizenship paperwork is ready to be finalized once we arrive in China.



Our agency's reps in China physically walked-in to the consulate to pick up these precious documents and the forward them to Beijing and the CCAA. This means....drumroll please....that we are on the FINAL step of this process. Sometime in the near future (around August 26th if recent trends continue), we will receive our Travel Approval. This is China's inviation to come and get our daughter.



Travel schedules are still sketchy, but if our TA does indeed arrive before the end of August, we may be able to travel in September. Our agency knows that we will be ready to go at a moment's notice if necessary. Please help us pray that we will be able to travel next month, and that we will be able to do all that is necessary between now and then to get ready for the trip (and get the boys ready for the new school year!)

Guess What I Found In The Mail Today...

So, I came home today and opened the mail box. Inside was this big envelope from USCIS. *Inner monologue* " I wonder...no it can't be the approval. Don't get your hopes up. They told you that earliest it could possible come is Christmas Eve. Really...calm down...it's not possible..."

A document that was due some time between December 24 and March 1 from the US Government...just arrived EARLY...Merry Christmas!

This is what our adoption agency says in the Dossier Preparation Guide about this form, "when it arrives, Celebrate!" So, I did my happy dance through the house and cried at the same time :)

Now I just have to seal this document (explained in a previous post), and we send everything to Colorado for a 10-day workover...then Airmail to China! Lord willing, we will send it to Colorado before Christmas. What a wonderful Christmas present, a complete dossier!