Travel Arrangements are Made!

Well, the hotels, flights, and government appointments are all booked!  This is becoming more and more real by the day!  Many of you have asked what we will be doing while in China, and when I tell you that we will be gone for 17 days you say..."Why so long?"  So I thought that I'd give you a general idea of what will happen so you aren't wondering what the heck we are doing that whole time!

When we fly in to China, we will land in Beijing.  There we will have three days to get over our jet lag, see a few sights like the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City, and also meet with the Holt staff in China as well as some of the other Holt families that are adopting when we are.

Then we will take a flight to ZhangZhou, Henan Province.  This is where Ai Lan lives.  As far as I know, there is only one other family traveling to ZhangZhou, and they are also a pastor and his wife!  I've been chatting with her on Facebook and they seem like a lovely family, so I'm excited to share this experience with them and make new friends.

The very next day, we will go to Civil Affairs Office where we will have our "Gotcha Day," which is a nick name for the day you take custody of your child.  As far as I can tell, we will wait in a room for them bring bring Ai Lan from her home to the Civil Affairs Office, and they will give her to us then.  Please, please pray for this moment for us!  I'm a bundle of mixed emotions on this...fear, joy, happiness, sadness for Ai Lan's loss, worry that she'll be terrified of us, etc.   We'll take lots of pictures and video hopefully!

The next morning we have our adoption registration and notarization process, and will apply for her passport.

Then we have two free days to get acquainted with Ai Lan, and see some local sights if we choose.

Next day we fly to Guangzhou, which is where the US Embassy is.  The following few days consist of visa paperwork and medical appointments, free time, picking up the medical check results (namely the TB test results), our visa appointment so that Ai Lan will be able to enter the US upon our return to SF, and an oath taking ceremony making Ai Lan a US citizen!

Christmas Day is a free day, obviously.  I gotta be honest, I was worried about being gone from our 4 biological kids that day, but more and more the idea of spending Christmas in China begins to thrill me!    When I was at Target yesterday, I walked past the little girl's Christmas dresses.  I saw this dress, remembered that I had red shoes already, and I could not pass it up!  Even if we don't leave the hotel that day, my baby girl is TOTALLY going to shine for the holidays!

The day after Christmas, we will pick up Ai Lan's visa, and the following day we fly home!

Is that all clear as mud?  And in case you are like many and are wondering about the weather, here's what you need to know.  China is a HUGE country, and we are flying from the north, to the central province, to the south.  It's like flying from Minnesota, to Sacramento, to Phoenix...very cold, mild, and hot!  Makes packing really, really easy!

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!