Wednesday, April 30, 2008

24 hours until we leave for the airport! WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! :) This all seems so surreal. We have waited so long. It felt like we would never get to this point. It will probably hit me that we actually finally went to China two weeks after we get home...LOL!

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Ok, only 97 hours until we leave for the airport and I am totally freaking out!!!! "Excited" does not even come close to describing how we are feeling right now!!! I honestly have no idea how I am supposed to get any sleep between now and then. By this time next week, Abigail will be in our arms. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggghhhh! I don't know exactly how to describe the energy in our household...I guess very excited plus a little nervous and a touch of paranoia (about what, we don't exactly know). I think we just really want everything to go smoothly. We have to be so diligent to make sure that we bring every last form that is needed in China plus necessary copies. I am just so afraid of forgetting something.

Anyway, on a positive note...here is our official travel itinerary:

May 1- Thurs- Departure- The beginning of our journey, although, technically we will
be leaving for the airport in the middle of the night on Wednesday night

May 2- Fri- Arrive in Beijing and go to our hotel, meet up with adoption travel group

May 3- Sat- Sightseeing (The Great Wall)

May 4- Sun- Sightseeing (Forbidden City / Tian An Men Square)
Depart for Nanchang (in Abigail's province of Jiangxi)

May 5- Mon- Nanchang/ Meet your child! Yaaaaaaaaay!!!!!! Registration, adoption
paperwork at Civil Affairs. Applying for Abigail's passport.

May 6- Tues- Notary

May 7- Wed- Sightseeing/ waiting for paperwork to be processed

May 8- Thurs- Rest/ Sightseeing/ waiting for paperwork to be processed

May 9- Fri- Receive passport, Depart Nanchang for Guangzhou (in Guangdong Province)

May 10- Sat- Visa Physical for Abigail

May 11- Sun- Sightseeing

May 12- Mon- Visa Interview at US Consulate

May 13- Tues- Take oath and receive visas

May 14- Wed- Leave Guanzhou for Hong Kong and US

So, as you can see, it will be an action-packed 2 weeks! :) I can't wait!!!!!!!

Friday, April 25, 2008

Oh my gosh! This is really happening! Only 5 days and a couple of hours to go until we head off to the airport. I can't even believe how close we are getting. This week we completed the final steps needed to finish our basement so that the girls will FINALLY have the playroom that we have been working on for the last 2 years! I am so excited. Other news....We officially have 2 carseats for each car! Emily moved up to a big girl car seat this week, leaving the toddler seat free for Abigail. And as we drove Emily around the neighborhood for her "test drive" with her new pink seat, it really hit us. Looking back at the two car seats side by side, we could really picture ourselves driving around 2 girls! :)

Monday, April 14, 2008

Only a little over 16 days to go til we leave for China....but who's counting, right?!? Heehee! Today I spoke to Lillian and Meg from our agency (CAWLI) for our official "travel meeting". I think they were both in total shock at the lack of pre-travel questions that Mike and I have. But, let's face it, in the two weeks since finding out that our travel date was set, I don't think that either Mike nor I have had a full night's sleep. We are just too excited to sleep. And, to pass the time we have read our agency's "travel information packet" cover to cover MANY times, and have spent many an hour online, visiting adoption internet groups and reading blogs of people who are currently in China for their adoption trip (hence, the lack of pre-travel questions). We are SOOOO ready for this. Actually, we have been for quite a while. Abigail's room is ready. She has a dresser full of clothes and a closet full of toys. My job hours have been rearranged and notice has been given to Emily's preschool, since I will be staying home for a while. We are DEFINITELY ready! The only thing that is missing......or should I say, the only ONE who is missing.....is Abigail.

Anyway, the travel meeting went well. Lillian (the director of our agency) and Meg (the social worker) are both so nice, and I am truly grateful to them for all of their hard work in helping us get to this point, where in just a couple of weeks we will travel to bring our precious daughter home.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Only a little over 23 days to go until we leave home for China! We are heading to the airport at about 2:30 am on the morning of the 31st, for check in at, yikes, 4 am).....Not that we're counting the days and hours or anything! And only about 26 days to go until we have Abigail in our arms! :)

To all our family and friends: Please feel free to post in the comments section or under the guestbook while we are away, as we will be checking in and updating the blog each day with our travel journal. Due to the tremendous time difference between here and China, this blog is the easiest way for us to keep in contact with everyone. We will be reading the posts and responding to as many as we can. This way, it will feel almost like you are all with us each step of the way as it is happening. :)

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Sorry I didn't post sooner. Things have been a whirlwind around here. Yesterday at 11 am, we found out from our agency that our consulate appointment in Guanzhou had been set and that our travel dates to China were finalized...5/1-5/14. Within an hour of this notification, we received another email that our flights had already been booked and our travel itinerary was available for viewing online(talk about fast!) As you can imagine, we are sooooooo excited. In a little over 4 weeks, we will have our Abigail in our arms!!! :) Of course, once we received word of our travel dates, the insomnia officially set in. I was up almost all night last night thinking about the checklist of things that need to be taken care of before we go. Mike and I (and even Emily) have been walking around in a constant daze, as it has become very difficult to concentrate on anything else but Abigail and our upcoming meeting....and all the things we need to do before we go to China. Emily and I have spent the last two nights taking turns sitting and standing on bags full of clothing while using our food vacuum packer sealer thingy to suck every last bit of air out of the bags, resulting in a hard, brick-like mass (to make the most out of our available suitcase space). It has been an adventure! Emily thinks the vacuum pack machine is the coolest thing EVER! She loves pushing the button! Well, looks like she'll have lots of fun times ahead, as our packing is FAR from over!!!! LOL! :)