We're in Beijing!!!

Hey, everybody! Brooks here. Well, it's been quite the journey so far. Four airplanes through five airports, and 35 hours later we have arrived in the first city on our list. Part of what makes it even weirder than just the time change was crossing the date line -- left home just after noon on Wednesday, landed here just before noon on Friday. Settled into the room early afternoon and started crashing hard soon thereafter. I managed to stay awake long enough to go on the group field trip to a nearby grocery store, but by the time I returned, of our family I was the last man standing. Okay, technically I would be the only man, but you know what I mean.

It's now just after 3 in the morning and Liam, Dianne, and I are wide awake again. They got up before me. I awoke to see Dianne holding Liam up to the window to see all of the nighttime traffic. Serious flashback -- took me back to London, 1976, my first overseas trip, and my Dad and I did the same thing. :)

Obviously not a whole lot to share yet, but Dianne snapped a couple of photos on the China Southern flight from Los Angeles to Guangzhou. Assuming I can get them uploaded to Our Fotki Photo Album, you can find them in the Beijing album.

[A special thanks to JoAnne K. for the Huggies bath mitts! Without those we would never have gotten our sleepy Liam cleaned up last night when he was far too cranky to endure a bath in the tub! -Dianne]

With any luck, we'll have pics of Liam celebrating his 3rd birthday atop the Great Wall later today! Tune in again . . .

-Brooks

Our Itinerary

8/29 - Depart RDU for LAX on AA, then take CS from LAX to Guangzhou to Beijing, arriving on Friday, August 31, Beijing time.

9/1 - Beijing Cultural Tour: The Great Wall, Tian'an Men Square and the Forbidden City . . . and celebrate Liam's 3rd birthday!!!

9/2 - Travel to Nanchang in Jiangxi Province. Get Ellie at 3:30 p.m.!!!

9/3 - Paperwork and free time.

9/4 - Shopping!!!

9/5 - Sightseeing to XiangHu Park

9/6 - Sightseeing to Teng Weng Ge

9/7 - Go to Civil Affairs Office to get Ellie's passport. Depart for Guangzhou in the evening.

9/8 - Ellie’s visa medical exam and visa photo.

9/9 - Sightseeing to Chen Family Temple.

9/10 - American Consulate Appointment (Guide takes our paperwork to the Consulate for review.)

9/11 or 12 – Go to American Consulate for interview and to pick up Ellie’s visa.

9/12 - Depart Guangzhou for Los Angeles. Stay overnight in L.A.

9/13 - Depart Los Angeles for home!!!

In the home stretch!

Well, our international plane tickets are purchased and will arrive via FedEx on Monday, our suitcases have been chosen and are partially packed, and GWCA should have our intra-China flights and hotels booked and bill sent to us by Friday. Whew, what a whirlwind week! And it's probably going to be hectic like this right up until the last minute. We have a few family visits coming up this weekend, a little bit more shopping to do, a very sick furbaby (Niki, our lab), Little Gym to work in on Saturday morning and haircuts that afternoon, speech therapy for Liam the day before we leave, appointments to make for Ellie at UNC Hospital, and poor Britt won't get home until very late Tuesday night.

Bring it on! Let's get to China . . . and our little girl!

-Dianne

Consulate Appointment Confirmed!

Nicole at GWCA emailed this morning to let us know that our CA has been confirmed for 9/10! I have just gotten off the phone with Wyman at Delight Travel, who has booked our international travel. Our friend Tony, who just happens to work for American Airlines, has used the miles generously donated by Nancy and David to get us to LAX. And soon Nicole should contact us again to let us know that our intra-China travel and hotels have been booked!

We are leaving to go get our Ellie on Wednesday, August 29th!!!!! Let the packing begin!

-Dianne

Travel Approval Received!

We just got an email from Nicole at GWCA - our TA arrived! This means that Nicole can now request a Consulate Appointment for us (American Consulate in Guangzhou to get a visa for Ellie), and we should get appointment confirmation by Wednesday! Once we receive a confirmed CA, we can finally arrange our international travel, and Nicole will arrange our intra-China travel and hotels! We're on our way!!!!!

-Dianne

TAs are on their way!

Nicole, our GWCA travel coordinator, notified us yesterday via email that Travel Approvals (TAs) are on their way! She expected to receive them either yesterday or today, so now I'm sitting here at home, chewing my nails off, waiting for either an email or phone call letting us know our TA has arrived!

Once Nicole has our TA, she will contact the American Consulate in Guangzhou to schedule an appointment for us. When they confirm this appointment, we'll finally have the last confirmation we need before purchasing plane tickets and booking hotel rooms! Looks like we'll be leaving for Beijing on August 30th!

Bring on that TA!

-Dianne

Done!

Our LOA arrived yesterday, bright and early! I got a wonderful photo of our FedEx guy delivering it! :)

After Speech Therapy, Liam and I went to Brooks' office, and the three of us hit Kinkos to photocopy, etc., and then overnighted our signed LOA back to Heather at Great Wall.

FedEx confirmed delivery early this morning, and then Kim at GW emailed to let us know that it's on it's way to China!

We're ready for our TA now, thank you!

-Dianne