China Itinerary Test Post

We leave for China in four days!  I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that...probably because I have been so incredibly busy and a crazy insomniac all week.  Since blogger is blocked in China I'm giving this posting via email thing a test whirl.  We got our flights booked and thankfully our agency handles all the in country stuff for us.  We are going to be all over the place.  I am so grateful for flight miles...this whole process is spendy but for 190,000 miles and about $350 in various fees and a lap ticket for Leah we got our international flights booked.  Jer and I are taking the early flight...7 am because the later one was twice as many miles.  We still have delusions of needing those miles and actually taking a vacation again someday!

We have our China itinerary:

3/7 Fly to Chicago and then Beijing.

3/8 Arrive in Beijing.  They are about 15 hours ahead of us so that's going to cause some serious jet lag.

3/9-10 This is the touristy part of the trip.  Jer and I will get to see some of the cool sights and hopefully get adjusted.

3/11 Fly to Zhengzhou which is the capital of Leah's province Henan.  I thought I may spend my birthday in China--so happy birthday to me!

3/12 GOTCHA DAY!!!!  This is the day we've been waiting for.  We will actually get to see and hold our daughter for the very first time.  She will be brought by orphanage reps to our hotel.  I can hardly wait and if you go by US time this is actually happening on my birthday!  

3/13 Complete Adoption Registration to make Leah officially ours.  From this point on it's a done deal!

3/14 Free time in Zhengzhou.  (I'm hoping we will be able to visit Leah's orphanage, but I know that's pretty uncommon with Nanyang.)

3/15 Free time in Zhengzhou.  (These days are here while we wait for paperwork and Leah's Chinese passport which she will use for travel.)

3/16 Receive Leah's passport.  Fly to Guangzhou.  (This is in southern China and is the location of the US Consulate in China.  Every US adoptive family travels here to complete the process.)

3/17-18 Paperwork days and free time in Guangzhou.

3/19 US Consulate appointment.  

3/20 Waiting on Leah's visa packet.

3/21 Fly to Shanghai then on to Chicago.  Arrive in Chicago at 6 pm and stay overnight  (at a cheap hotel that may be super scary)!

3/22 Fly home to be greeted by the kiddos and our families at the airport!

Wow, that's a long trip.  Just thinking about leaving the boys that long gets me all teary, but it is for the best of reasons and I'm so excited.  Seth is so funny and always aware of the time of day where "Leah Mei" is...these last few days he keeps telling me to just go get her!  We can only take two suitcases, period, so I'm sure hoping the laundry services pan out or it could get ugly.  I'm hoping to do one more post before we leave--kind of a Q/A to answer a lot of questions that I've received about Leah and this whole process--I guess I just want to save myself some explaining when we get home.  I really can't describe how I'm feeling right now.  I'm such a bundle of emotions.  I'm so happy that in less than 10 days Leah will be with her forever family.  I'm so sad that once again she is going to be torn from everything familiar to her.  She has already experienced so much loss in her short life...abandonment by her birth parents, separation from the foster mother she was with for over a year, and now removal from the orphanage and her caregivers there.  It is amazing what the human spirit can endure.  I know this--she's already one tough cookie and has shown more strength and fighting spirit in her short life than many people do in a lifetime.  She has had such a tough start, but I'm praying that once she transitions again she will be happy and have the life full of joy that she deserves!