"Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls knows we know and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12

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??