Monday, March 31, 2008

China, here we come!!!

Like cold water to a weary soul,
so is good news from a distant land.
-Proverbs 25:25


That's right -- we have Travel Permission!!!!!!!! Wooohoooo!!! We are tentatively scheduled to pick up our son, Jesse Yong, on May 5 in Zhengzhou! Can you believe it?!?! We are a little overwhelmed and totally excited! Something that felt so tenuous and vague, so ethereal, has taken form and become oh-so-very REAL! We are going to board a plane in less than 4 weeks and head to CHINA to pick up our 4-year-old! Does he even know we exist? Does he have any idea we are coming? Your guess is as good as mine.

Jason and I have a LOT to discuss in the next 48 hours before we start booking flights -- we have to figure out where we want to tour before we head to Henan province. We're thinking Beijing and X'ian (but stay tuned for details...), which means we will probably be heading out to China sometime in the last week of April.

Question: Can you enjoy -- really enjoy -- 5 or 6 days of tourism knowing how amped up you'll be waiting for your first in-person glimpse of your newest family member? We're sure praying we can! :)

We will spend the week of May 5 with Jesse Yong mostly in Zhengzhou, getting his Visa to travel and multifarious other paperwork. But the three of us will also be doing fun day trips with our guide Sarah!

We will probably also spend a day in Nanyang to view the orphanage and get as much information as we can from the orphanage caregivers and director about his life history. And, of course, we will give treats and toys to the children there and take LOTS of photos (and video, if we're allowed) of the other kids waiting for their parents. There are several HOPE families that have children waiting, so we'll try to get as much as we can for them!!!

Depending on how Jesse Yong is doing with his adjustment, Jason may go solo to Nanyang (this is highly likely). We don't want Jesse Yong to be traumatized any more than necessary. Going back to the orphanage may not be the best option for him. We'll have to see how things go.

Then we'll head to Guangzhou to finalize the legal end of the adoption at the Consulate. Guangzhou is the swanky westernized city that's pretty luxurious and vacation-y. I guess once you're there you don't want to leave. So if you don't see us after a while, you should probably check there first. Lots of good shopping, good food, lots of things to do. There's even a huge playroom in the hotel just for adopted kids!!! It's to encourage the families to stay and play with other new adoptees.

We'll arrive in Guangzhou the weekend of May 9 and do all the legal stuff May 12 & 13. Then we'll fly back to the good ole U.S. of A. either Tuesday after we swear in (to become his legal parents) or first thing Wednesday morning.

So it looks like our trip will be just over 2 weeks. Do you know what this means? Mother's Day weekend we'll be finalizing our adoption on Chinese soil. How cool is that?!?

2 comments:

Mindy said...

YEAAAA!!!!

Anonymous said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!