Priorities

Norfolk to Detroit - 1.5 hours.
Detroit to Seattle - 4.6 hours.
Seattle to Beijing - 11.3 hours.
Beijing to Nanchang - 2 hours.
Nanchang to Guangzhou - 1.1 hours.
Guangzhou to Hong Kong - 1 hours.
Hong Kong to Detroit - 14.5 hours.
Detroit to Norfolk - 1.5 hours.
Airport Layovers - 25 hours

Total time in airports or airplanes -  62.5 hours.

Bringing home our baby girl - Priceless...

Travel Dates Set

It's been an exhausting day and I won't bog you down with all the gory details but we FINALLY have our travel dates nailed down.  We will be leaving for China on July 8 and returning July 23rd.  The flights and the connections are pretty brutal so we're just choosing to focus on little Lucy instead of dreading the days without sleep.  Flying out we will go from Norfolk to Detroit to Seattle and finally to Beijing.  On the return leg we will be flying out of Hong Kong and flying directly to Detroit and then a hop back to Norfolk. The trip there will be about 30-32 hours of continuous travel and the trip back is not much better because of a nine hour (nine hour!!!!!) layover in Detroit.  We have family there, so hopefully we'll able to see them, but we could be delirious with sleep deprivation so who knows what good we will be by then.  Nonetheless, we are China bound and we are excited!  More to come as we know more.  Stay tuned.

Eating My Words...In a Good Way

This morning at 9:13am EST, we received our Consulate Appointment.  Less than one business day after our TA arrived.  No Dragon Boat Festival delay.  Your US government working quickly and efficiently.  So I am eating my words and could not be happier about it.  Our CA date is Tuesday, July 20th. We will find out this afternoon when our exact dates of travel are. And we are crawling out of our skin waiting for that info!!!  Our best guess would be that we will be traveling the first week of July. Yikes!  That's right around the corner.  Will update the blog with the exact dates sometime this afternoon when we know more.

We're going to China! We're going to China!

Best. Day. Ever!

Big News! We got a double dose of joy today as we received one very welcome piece of news after another.  This morning we got a Lucy update including new pics and her current height & weight (she's now 30 inches tall and 22lbs).  And if that wasn't enough to set our hearts atwitter, a mere six hours later we received our Travel Approval letter from China!  That's right. We're going to Chiii-na, we're going to Chiii-na!

The TA is the thing we've been waiting over a year to receive - it's basically China giving us permission to go over there and get our little girl.  So, when are we going?  Well, it's a bit complicated. Things should move "pretty quickly" now as we are waiting for just one more thing - the Consulate Appointment (CA) which should arrive anywhere from 1 to 5 business days from today.  Normally things would be moving "very quickly" at this point.  Normally. The reason we are moving "pretty quickly" and not "very quickly" is...wait for it...all of China is shutting down for the next five days for the Dragon Boat Festival, which (based on intensive screenings of Ni Hao Kai Lan episodes) is a pretty big deal in China. So it could be late next week or even early the following week before we get the CA.  Now, some of you may have paused there for a second and thought, "Why is the US consulate shutting down for three days for the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival?"  And my answer is, "Good question! I have no idea!"  When in Rome...or Guangzhou...I guess. And also, you know those same folks are going to get July 4th and 5th off too - it is the American Consulate after all!  I want to be understanding but all we want to do is go get our little girl.  But I digress...

So...the day we get the Consulate Appointment we will know our exact date of travel.  Purely speculating here but we think our CA could be at the end of July so our departure date for China would be mid month sometime - maybe around the 15th.  There really is no telling until we get that CA though.

All joking aside we COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED!!!  Until then, Melissa and I will be packing our bags, counting our money, filling our prescriptions (Cipro anyone?) and thinking non-stop about our little angel in Nanchang.  And I'm pretty sure Melissa needs to make another Gymboree run or two. Praise God, we are nearing the home stretch.  Special thanks to all the friends and family who have prayed with/for us to get to this date. He is Good, all the time.

Hang on Lucy Lu, we're coming for you!

Still Waiting...

Hello all!  Many of you well wishers have been asking if we have any updates on our dear Lucy. Unfortunately we are still waiting for our Travel Approval from China.  Melissa has been monitoring the interwebs for news from other families on a similar timeline as us and it would seem we should be getting word any time now.  We really don't know when the actual travel dates will be but sometime in July is looking about right these days.  That's all we know at this time but don't worry, we'll post here as soon as we know something tangible.  Thanks for your kind words and prayers; we'll keep you posted.