We are going to China!!!

Well, we have received our consulate appointment and our itinerary for our trip. We are still working on some sightseeing plans but I will post the general itinerary for you to see.
July 5th- fly to Beijing
July 6th- arrive in Beijing
July 7th-10th- sightsee and get over jetlag
July 11th- fly to Nanchang and meet EMMA KATE (usually called Gotcha Day!)
July 12th-16th- sightsee and shop in Nanchang; complete paperwork and wait for passport
July 16th- travel to Guangzhou
July 17th- medical exam for Emma; paperwork
July 18th-20th- sightsee or shopping
July 21st- Consulate appointment
July 22nd- Immigration session at US Consulate
July 23rd- receive Emma's Visa
July 24th-25th- fly home with our baby girl!

Once we land on US soil, Emma will be a US Citizen.

Remember that we will update the blog while in China so be sure to keep checking back. Also, please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers while we are traveling.

Travel Approval!!!!!

Well, we FINALLY got our TA!!!! That means China says we can travel to get our Emma Kate. Our consulate appointment will be made next. That appointment happens at the very end of our trip. Once the consulate appointment (CA) is made, our agency figures out when we have to be in Beijing and they will give us the dates for our trip and our itinerary! We should know early this week the details of our trip but we will most likely travel in 2 weeks! What??? Are you kidding me???? 2 weeks???? This is really exciting but we have lots to do before we are ready to travel. My brother, sister-in-law and niece will be going with us which we are excited about!

We have been talking with another family that will be traveling with us and we are so excited to meet them. We hit it off with them right away!  They live in Louisiana and their little girl is from the same orphanage. That probably means our little girls are hanging out together! How cool is that! There are 2 other families  I have communicated with that have little girls from the same orphanage but will not be in our same travel group. There is a possibility that we might cross paths with them on our trip. I think that would be fun since all our children are from the same orphanage.

Care Package is on the way to Emma Kate!

We have sent Emma Kate a care package through Ann at Red Thread and it should be delivered this week. Ann was the one that was able to send us the updated pictures! I have included a picture of the care package that Ann sent on our behalf so that you can see it. It includes pajamas, a blanket (looks like Hello Kitty), a stuffed toy elephant, and a disposable camera. We are hoping that they take some more pictures of her in her setting there with the camera. I added a teething ring that I could add pictures to and a bag for all of Emma Kate's items. Also included in the care package are some candies/cookies for the director and nannies of the orphanage and a letter written to the director. The letter thanks them for taking such good care of Emma Kate and that we are so excited to come and get her and to be her parents. I also added some questions to the letter that hopefully they will answer. Hopefully we will get most of the items back when we get Emma Kate! But, of course, the most important delivery of that day will be of our little girl!