Yikes

We are only 3 days away from leaving so we are trying to make sure everything is ready to pack and all of the final odds and ends are completed.  I added a map so that family and friends can get an idea of where we will be.  Basically we will be in the airports of Beijing, Nanning, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.  We will be staying in Nanning in Qinzhou Province where we will meet Emily and become a family of four.  We will travel to Guangzhou, Quangdong Province for the second half of the trip.
We fly into Beijing on our way there and fly home out of Hong Kong.

Tentative Itinerary

• 6/22/2012  Flight to China
• 6/23/2012  Arrive in Beijing  Fly to Nanning 
• 6/24/2012  Rest
• 6/25/2012  Become Family of Four 
• 6/26/2012  Complete paperwork
• 6/27/2012  Tour City
• 6/28/2012  Rest
• 6/29/2012  Pick up passport and fly to Guangzhou
• 6/30/2012  Medical check, visa photo and paperwork
• 7/1/2012    Tour Guangzhou
• 7/2/2012    Consulate Appointment and oath
• 7/3/2012    Pick up visa
• 7/4/2012    Van to Hong Kong and flight home.

We love you.

As we go through all of the preparations to travel it is stressful and scary.  The only thing that keeps us going is that we love our new daughter and cannot wait until she is part of our family.
Your Jie jie (big sister) says, "i miss you.  Wo ai ni Bei Bei!"

Plane, trains and automobiles, Oh my!

Yeah, if all goes as planned we should have Emily in our arms before her second birthday!  We are should have our flights booked by Monday.  It will be a long trip with layovers in San Francisco then Hong Kong then on to Nanning, Quangxi Province where we will meet our little girl.  Hopefully we will get some sleep in somewhere during that travel.  We should all be totally exhausted by the time we get there.
We were also thrilled to receive a brief update of Emily's sizes.  The best part was there were a couple pictures.  If the updates are correct Miss Emily (Mei mei Bei Bei) is a big baby sister.  She 31.5 lbs and 34" tall and will be wearing 3T clothes and she has not yet turned 2.

Little sister not so little.

Our cutie Mei Mei  Bei Bei

 I am not looking forward to the grueling travel schedule but cannot wait to have Mei Mei as our daughter!  

Let's get packing!!

We received our travel approval yesterday and our Consulate Appointment was confirmed today.  We will leave for China on June 22, 2012 and should be meeting our precious Emily by June 25.  So much to do in so little time.  No time for blogging.....too much to do!

On pin and needles

Today I will check my emails every 1/2 hour or so waiting to see something from our agency....our TA, an update with new pictures and measurement so that we can get clothes organized for Beibei.  We have now been waiting 14 days for our TA, Travel Approval.  We have been waiting much longer for an update.  I would be nice to know what little sister (Mei mei is younger sister in Mandarin) looks like now.  Our Visas have been applied for and received.
It is soooooooo incredibly hard to wait at this point yet there is so much we could be doing to get ready.
We are praying that today will be the day.  The wait for TA seems to average between 15 to 20 days according to recent statistics on a popular adoption forum.  Please let us be average!

Three More Steps

We are waiting on our Article 5 to be picked up at the Consulate in Guangzhou.  From there we wait for CCCAA to issue TA, Travel Approval and last a CA, Consulate Appointment.  That is just three more major steps.  We also have to apply for our Visas, and get organized for travel.
Our Church Spaghetti Dinner was a great success and also came in handy to pay for our well pump that decided to quit after 20 years of faithful service and to pay for a insurance deductible of $2500 for Guy's four day hospital stay.  Happy to report Guy is doing well and is back to work.  His new employer has been fantastic.  Thank you God!  The past month and a half has been a test of strength and a reminder of how many wonderful friends and family we have.  We are getting very anxious to travel and bring Emily Ann home and hope and pray that everything will go smoothly.  We would love to get an update on our Beibei and keep putting in requests but due to the new system in place for obtaining updates we have received nothing yet.  I sure hope we can get an update before traveling.