Leaving for China on a Jet Plane on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008.

We will be traveling to Hangzhou as all children who are adopted in China are brought to the capital of the province. Hangzhou is the capitol of the Zhejiang Province. George is from Ningbo City which is a Port City on the Ocean near Shanghai.

We leave Thursday, May 22nd from Chicago, IL at 10:32 am. We have a non stop flight from Chicago to Shanghai. Our flight is on United 835 and there will be about 400 people on our plane too. Our flight is about 14 hours and 32 minutes. We arrive in Shanghai at 1:55pm on Friday, May 23rd. We cross the International date line and so we actually spring ahead 13 hours. If we didn't cross so many time zones we would be arriving at 1am in the morning Chicago time.

We will be staying overnight in Shanghai and leave for Hangzhou on May 24th. We will have a day to rest up before we meet George on Sunday, May 25th. The Director of EnMei SWI where George has lived most of his life, will bring him to meet us at the hotel. George will then stay with us at the hotel and we will bring him to his notarial appointments that we have before we can officially be his legal parents. In Hangzhou, we will be staying at the Jin Jiang Hotel. We hope to be given permission to visit EnMei, SWI in Ningbo City on Wednesday May 28th to tour the Children's Home and to hopefully hear a little more of his story from him through the Interpreter, and hopefully meet some of his friends and caregivers if possible. It will also be neat to see the area where George grew up and to take some pictures to share with him as he grows up.

We will fly to Guangzhou (Guangdong Province) on Friday, May 30th. That week we will have our visa appointment, George's medical exam and our swearing-in ceremony at the United States Consulate. There we will be staying at the Victory Hotel. All adoptive families come to Guangzhou as the only U.S. Consulate is located there. We will also be meeting up with two other families adopting through All God's Children International like we are that coincidentally, all three of us are adopting sons.

We will then fly home on Thursday June 5th. First we fly from Guangzhou at 9:35a and arrive in Shanghai at 11:55a on a Domestic China Southern Airlines flight requiring each of us to only have one checked bag weighing 40 pounds or less. Then we board our International flight United 836 leaving at 3:55pm and head back to Chicago. Our flight home is about 13 hours and 23 minutes. Again we cross the International date line and lose 13 hours and arrive home on June 5th at 4;16pm. That would mean we had made the whole flight in only 45 minutes. Which if we were not crossing time zones would mean that we arrived home at about 4am in the morning.

Exit Interview scheduled

We have our exit interview scheduled for Tuesday June 3rd in Guangzhou. That means we can start planning the rest of our trip. We need to be in Hangzhou by Saturday May 24th so we can be at our hotel on Sunday when they will might be bringing George to meet us and start living with us as his parents. Hopefully our first meeting will go well but as I know from working with Children during my Career as a Specialized Foster Parent it is too much pressure on children that are stressed out from big changes in their routines to expect that it will go like clockwork so Jim and I prepared for whatever happens. George may be happy to see us. He may be mad that we are taking him away from his friends and favorite staff. He might be scared that we will mistreat him or that his new brothers and sisters won't like him or it all might go just fine. We would appreciate all prayers that whatever happens Jim and I will be able to handle it as well as possible in the circumstances. As with any of our other kids whether biological or adopted there are no guarentees that things will be smooth or easy and we are planning on that same attitude with George so I know we will take it one day at a time with the goal of being a happy family sometime in the future.

Travel Arrangements

We couldn't be more excited to have received our TA phone call on Friday May 2nd, 2008! All the worrying and waiting about when our Travel Approval might come, if it would ever come, if it wouldn't come for months and months etc. can now be converted into finishing up the boys room for George's arrival in IL the first week in June. And also for packing for our plane trip to Huangzhou, China on May 22nd, 2008. I am not sure how that will go since I have never been very good at traveling with a suitcase that didn't exceed most airline weight limits, and since this is an International flight around the time of the upcoming Summer Olympics, I am going to have to comply if it kills me or risk traveling all the way to China without my suitcase if it gets confiscated.

Po Po Joan has offered to come and stay with the kids while Jim and I travel. And Gong Gong Gary has graciously agreed to suffer at home for two weeks without his Sweetheart for the sake of the Grandkids. What once was an anxious time for us of worrying about what to do with the kids if we both left to bring George home in the most supportive manner for him, is quickly fading as the Ultimate Babysitter/Mary Poppins extraordinaire is coming to IL to save the day. If there was a Super Hero based on a Woman that is desperately loved by a family of 4 and soon to be 5 children that really need someone in their lives that treats them so consistently with enthusiasm and kindness, that Super Hero Gramma would look and act exactly like Joan! The kids can't stop raving about how much fun they are going to have with her and we can already tell there will be little to no worry about their being home without us. Jim and I couldn't be more greatful or thrilled that they won't miss us a bit.

TA/Travel Approval dated April 25th came today! Friday, May 2nd, 08

Hi Jim and Christina!

Congratulations on receiving your long awaited TA today!!!! Yeah!!! You are going to China!!! I was thrilled to get it in the mail. I can hardly believe your son will be with you in about three weeks! I look forward to helping bring him home! I will send you your 2 original Travel Approvals today 2 day UPS that you need to take with you to China and I have attached a copy for you to keep for your records.

Today I will be requesting an exit interview for you at the US embassy in Guangzhou with possible dates on June 2nd, 3rd, or 4th , the 2nd being our first choice and so forth, with the hope that you could leave three weeks from today, May 23rd. Please do not book any tickets until I call you with this confirmed date. It will probably be sometime in the next few business days, but it has taken up to a week before for me to get this date. At this point please begin to read over your travel packet and make sure the documents you need to take are in order, most importantly your passport and visa. Let me know if you have any questions! Have fun celebrating today!!!!!

Travel Group Information:

I would love for you to get to know the other 2 families you will be traveling with. You all will be in Guangzhou together for a week!

I hope to call you soon with your exit interview!

LOC to China on Monday, April 14th, 2008

Good Afternoon Jim and Christina!

I wanted to let you know that your LOC is being mailed to China today! Please mark on your calendar Monday, April 14, 2008 for the official submission date of your LOC. From there it will be 1-4 weeks for your Travel Approval. This is just an estimate. I will work to get your TA to you as quickly as possible. I look forward to calling you when it arrives! Have a wonderful week!

Blessings,

Tiffany

LOC/Letter of Confirmation dated March 28th, 2008 came today. We are one step closer.

Jim and Christina,

I was thrilled to receive your official Letter of Seeking Confirmation today! Please see the attachment so you can know what it looks like and print it off for your own records since the original goes back to China. I am mailing you the original today UPS to be delivered to you on Monday. Please try to have it back in my office by Tuesday. Please also make sure that your name, your child’s name, and their information is correct on this form. The LOC will only need to be signed and dated, and check the box that applies to you; it does not need to be notarized. I am hoping it will go to China by Tuesday afternoon with a hopeful submission date of Friday. I received 2 others today too!!! Once it is submitted to the CCAA it will be 1-4 weeks for your TA. We will work to get your travel approval as soon as possible. I will call you the moment I get your LOC back in the office. At this point please order your visas, instructions are in the travel packet.

Have a great day celebrating this wonderful document’s arrival!

Our Letter of Confirmation came it was dated March 28, 2008. I got this letter on May 4th letting us know that the CCAA had reveiwed our Dossier paperwork and they were allowing us to adopt Shen Yong (George) from EnMei SWI, Ningbo City in the Zhejiang Province of China. We signed the form and sent them back saying that we definitely were still interested in being his parents and were looking forward to traveling to China to bring him home as soon as we receive our TA or Travel Approval from them. Our official LOC date is April 14th, 2008.

Happy Leap Year! It is George's Birthday Today. February 29th, 2008

Happy Birthday to George.
Happy Birthday to George.
Happy Birthday Dear George.
Happy Birthday Dear George.

George turned 8 years old today. We sent him a Birthday cake with a Dragon on it and some candy treats for him, his friends and his caregivers.

We were hoping to have already had George home with us to celebrate his Birthday with us but God has his own timing and we will be patient.

We are encouraged to know that next year he will be home celebrating his 9th Birthday with us.