Travel

Day 1 - Leave 9:00am in the morning to Detroit then to Japan then getting to Beijing 19 hours later.
Day 2 - Tours of Artwork Factory, Great Wall of China, lunch then back to hotel
Day 3 - More sightseeing, Forebidden City, TienAn Men Square; check out of hotel then go to airport to Jianjxi Province. We may get Caroline tonight or first thing in the morning.
Day 4 - If we didn't get Caroline, we would get her first thing in the morning. We have a total of 10 minutes to meet with the nanny with a translator to see what she eats, sleep patterns, etc. We have previously sent in a list of questions that I hope they answered. Documentation process begins. We will have some diapers, but we will need to go in search of good.
Day 5 - more paperwork and sightseeing in the city we will be.
Day 6-8 Paperwork, sightseeing, getting to know Caroline, getting Carolines passports.
Day 8 - heading for Guangzou at night
Day 9-11 consulate appointments, doctor appointment, Visa's
Day 12 Group pictures, final dinner, wrapping up any paperwork not completed
Day 13 - Flight home!

Official

Okay, this is the message from the agency today, your travel has been approved and we are working on getting you out on November 8th and returning home on November 22nd.

Wow....! It really is happening. Fingerprints were updated today as well as Visa applications overnighted.

TA Updates

Okay so after a stressful day today of thinking that we were traveling by November 1st, I spoke to the agency and they said it looks more like November 8th. We would be returning the day before or on Thanksgiving. Meg was concerned that we would miss Thanksgiving with our family....I said, they will be fine eating Turkey at their Uncle Tom's house! Better idea on when we are traveling in the next few days. Bought more socks for Caroline today. We now have 10 pairs of socks, enough for the trip. I am worried now about clothes, diapers, and other toiletries. Oh well, at least we got the socks!

TA!

Oh my gosh, I received a call yesterday that it appears we are getting our TA on Thursday. Not sure how my agency knows this, but they asked me if we could travel November 1st.....I said like in 2 weeks? Yes....they said.....is it a problem? When you have been waiting as long as we have, and all of a sudden everything is coming so quickly you have a tendency to panic.....Holy crap!

Tomorrow we get our fingerprints updates, we have to complete our Visa applications, and I need to calm down.

Fall

It is Monday night and the kids are very busy with mid semester homework. They seem to be doing fairly well in school. Fall semester is always the toughest for any kid, especially after having a free summer. By mid semester they usually are getting accustomed to getting up early, organizing themselves and doing their homework. For both, it is usually a shock the first couple weeks of school.

Soon we should hear about when we can travel. Usually 3-4 weeks after we receive our LOA (letter of approval) we get our TA (travel approval). For those that are involved in adoption you know what all of this means, for us, this is all brand new.

It is starting to sink in that by Christmas we will have a new baby. I have even gone to the store and bought socks! You probably ask, why socks? I am not sure, but to me when Lauren and Michael were little it seemed like we didn't have enough socks. I need to pack 10 pairs of socks for her when we go to China. I was thinking of what kind of shoes should we get? I am sure once we get back to US, we will need to have her fitted into good shoes. In the meantime, I think Lauren and I will go get her crocs...this seems to be what all kids wear and the sizes run down to the 4-5. I am thinking she should be around this size.

There is a whole list of clothes that I need to pack including diapers, wipes, baby shampoo, lotions...they even suggest that you get a prescription antibiotic just in case for the baby. I hope my pediatrician goes for this one! I also can't remember the last time we changed a diaper....I think it will all come back pretty quick.

I will post tomorrow, because I want everyone to read about how we will spend our days in China. I think three days into the trip we get Caroline. "Gotcha Day" is the big event day when we actually get her!

Have a good night....and go Red Sox!

Room

I think it is time that we work on Caroline's room this weekend. We will set up the crib and go out and buy her blankets, pillows, sheets, etc.

Approvals!

wow, I received a call this morning at 8:30am from our agency that we have been approved to adopt Caroline. Now we are just waiting for the travel approvals. Travel approvals can take up to 4 weeks then plan to travel. Right now we are looking at traveling end of November. We were hoping to get updated information on Caroline, maybe in the next few weeks?

Happy Fall! It is October 1st

Okay, I am trying to be positive that maybe this is the week that we hear something. I do hear that the CCAA is closed this week, but they worked this past weekend. I also see from their website that all of August 2006 is out of the review room, this means (since we haven't had any questions) that we should be fine, just waiting for the travel approvals. Anyways, beautiful weekend in New England, went to waterfire on Saturday night with the girls. Watched soccer all weekend. Back to work and school today.....hopefully that call comes in today!