We're going to China!!

Friends, I've been holding off on writing this blog because it doesn't feel real.

We were floored to learn from the travel coordinator at our agency that we could travel the end of August! We are still waiting for some paperwork to come back but we've been told this documentation comes through very predictably.

We anticipate receiving Article 5 on August 5. Then we need travel approval to get into China. That paper is generally taking between 4-10 days. Even if it takes longer than expected, we would have it by August 19. Most families travel 3-5 weeks after travel approval. But not us!

I MAY have already started packing....

We are leaving early in the morning August 29! Trent and I will be flying to Beijing first (with a short layover in Hong Kong) where we will spend a couple of days with Ruthie's amazing foster family.

They keep a little country house (similar to how Lancaster families keep a cabin in the mountains). Their country house just happens to back up to the Great Wall of China. You know, no big deal. We are so thrilled to recover from our jet lag in the company of these friends.

From there we will go to Heidi's province. She is from Jiangxi which is in southeast China and we are eager to see a different part of China. The area she lives in has a tropical climate (similar to Guangxi where Ruth is from) so we are anticipating a hot, humid week. I think the summer we've had in Pennsylvania has well prepared us for this trip.

Heidi's adoption will be finalized in her province. From there we will take her and fly to Guangzhou, Guangdong where we will spend a week. One of the main purposes of the second week is getting her visa to get back into the US. Once we have her visa we can come home. We fly home on Friday, September 13.

China has been coordinating international adoptions for many years and the process in-country is remarkably smooth. There are lots of appointments, much waiting around in office buildings, but all-in-all, our last experience showed us it is run like a well-oiled machine.

Trent and I are so grateful to our niece, Zoey, who is putting off accepting a nursing position until after we come home from China. Can you imagine a heart like hers? Our girls are thrilled to have their cousin live with them, do fun things with them, and make lasting memories of their time together. Ruthie is excited because "she didn't get to stay with Zoey last time" since she was the one being adopted, and Caroline was quite a bit younger so doesn't have much memory of that time.

Thank you all for your continued love and support. We appreciate all of you and can't wait to share her photo with you all for the first time, very, very soon!

As before, I hope to blog daily during our trip. It is still to be determined whether I'll have success sharing the blogs to Facebook but will try to have someone here do it for me if I'm unable to do so.