Going to China!

Well, we are leaving in one week!  Whew!  We will fly into Beijing Wednesday, meet and have Ben forever on Monday 12/10, and fly home in time for Christmas on 12/22.  Life is nuts as we are rushing to pack, take care of last minute things and prepare our work places for our departures.  Tom will be off work until after the New Year, and I will be off for 12 weeks, so it is crazy at work too!  Two of the staff members left behind at my office are getting "combat pay" while I am gone - they will be so busy taking over my work load.  I am sorry to leave them with the work but of course Ben comes first!!  We are setting up a VPN for China so we can continue blogging- blogger is a blocked site in China!

Travel Approval!

Well, we did receive our "TA" Monday.  The travel approval allows our agency to request our consulate appointment, which they did, unfortunately, the consulate did not respond yesterday.  So, fingers crossed we hear tomorrow! One of our two requests involved leaving a week from tomorrow, and we are hoping the consulate will grant that request.  Say a prayer for us!

Not TA, but good for now!

Today, FINALLY we received an update on Ben.  I admit last week Monday I had a bit of a mental break and e-mailed our agency again just desperate for an update after waiting a month and a half for one. She had already asked for one, but I think she took pity on me (kind woman) and asked again.  Something about this being the exact point at which our last adoption went awry just started really impacting me a few weeks ago, and I had begun spinning insane stories in my mind of what could possibly be wrong that was resulting in no updates for us.

But today, THERE HE WAS.  And a half page update, which included the sentence, "he is in the institute" which I think was put in specifically for me, so I would know he is where they have said he is.  And he is WALKING while holding on to things, has taken a few steps unassisted, has 3 teeth with two more coming in (glad I packed the tylenol and homeopathic teething meds), naps for just an hour a day (!) and is eating all kinds of foods.  He is 23 lbs, sounding pretty happy and healthy. It is such a relief to see new pictures of him. Here he is:

Meanwhile, we wait for Travel Approval.  We are currently "first in line" according to various Facebook groups and adoption forums, along with 2 other families who have also been waiting 11 days.  Fingers crossed it comes this week!

We are confirmed for Article 5 pickup on Thursday, November 8.  Then it is 1-3 weeks for Travel Approval!  I am really hoping we leave the first week in December.

In the meantime, we continue to plan and pack.  We found out we can use our Marriott Rewards to pay for part of the trip's hotel stays, which will save us a little money.  The trip and packing is kind of nuts because we take 2 in-china flights after flying 12 hours to get to China:

Part 1: Pre-Ben.  We will fly in to a port city (most like Beijing) and stay for 1-2 days, primarily I believe to get assimilated to the the time difference. We will go on guided tours for a couple of days.

Part 2: Ben! We will fly to Ben's province, Henan, to the capital, Zhengzhou.  Meanwhile, Ben will be traveling 1.5 hours by car and another 3 hours by train to meet us in the capital. We will hopefully have Gotcha Day the day after we arrive in Zhengzhou. We will stay here or a few days until his paperwork is complete there. The weather here is comparable to Chicago, I've been told.

Part 3:  We will go to Guangzhou in the Guangdong province for our last week in China.  The U.S. Consulate is here, this is where we will finalize our adoption and receive the precious brown envelope. The weather here is comparable to Florida!

So with all the traveling we've been told to try to pack light.  I am trying my best, but doesn't luggage have wheels for a reason??