journey to zane
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Our 2009 China itinerary
We received our in-country itinerary this morning. This is what the upcoming trip looks like - subject to change, of course:
Feb 26
Fly out of Charlotte, NC at 4:36 pm.
Feb 28
Arrive in Beijing at 10:55 am (10:55 pm on Feb 27 EST) and check in at the Wangfujing Grand Hotel.
Mar 1
Fly from Beijing to Shenyang and check in at the Intercontinental Hotel.
Mar 2
Meet our son!
Mar 3
Registration and notary in the morning. Then we’ll take the train from Shenyang to Dalian and check in at the Ramada Hotel.
Mar 4
Apply for our son’s passport in the morning and visit the Friendship Square (also called the You Hao Square).
Visit the Star-Sea Park (also called the Xing Hai Park) in the afternoon.
Mar 5
Visit the Russian Street in the morning.
Take the train from Dalian to Shenyang in the afternoon and check in again at the Intercontinental Hotel.
Mar 6
Visit the Provincial Museum.
Mar 7
Visit the Zhong Shan Park.
Mar 8
Visit the Bei Ling Park
Mar 9
Pick up our son’s passport.
Fly from Shenyang to Guangzhou and check in at the White Swan Hotel.
Mar 10
Take photo and have medical check.
Visit the Pedestrian Shopping Street.
Mar 11
Apply for visa at 9:30 am.
Visit the Six Banyan Temple
Mar 12
Visit the Liu Hua Lake Park.
Pick up our son’s visa.
Fly from Guangzhou to Beijing and check in at the Sino-Swiss Hotel.
Mar 13
Fly out of Beijing at 12:10 pm.
Mar 15
Arrive in Charlotte, NC at 6:34 pm.
Friday, February 13, 2009
How many planes?
I’ve spent the better part of 2 days working out our flights for the trip to China.
Mission accomplished but let me tell you…I don’t care if I e-v-e-r have to book another flight. EVAH. What a headache.
So the question of the day is: how many planes does it take to get us to China and back?
The correct answer would be…drum roll, please…8!
We leave Charlotte on February 26th at 4:36 pm. Then it’s on to Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seoul and arrive in Beijing on February 28th at 10:55 am (February 27th at 10:55 pm EST).
Coming back, we leave Beijing on March 13th at 12:10 pm (March 13th at 12:10 am EST). Then it’s on to Seoul, Los Angeles (where we’re staying for almost 2 full days to visit friends), Atlanta and arrive in Charlotte on March 15th at 6:34 pm.
{extended}Wednesday, February 11, 2009
What’s behind door #2?
Carmi and I had a conference call with our case manager at 3:30. We were indeed going to have some extra time in-province so we were given 2 options:
Scenario 1 is that we fly out of Charlotte on February 23rd instead of February 27th. This isn’t a good option because there would be a considerable increase in cost across the board for airfare, hotel, food and sightseeing (and shopping).
Scenario 2 is that we still fly out of Charlotte on February 27th but have no time in Beijing. We would fly into Beijing, board another plane and fly straight to the provincial capital. We would also pay an additional (relatively small in the grand scheme of things) “fee” to expedite our son’s passport process. This isn’t a good option because, if nothing else, we’d like to see the Great Wall again.
So what did we decide?
We chose a slightly modified version of scenario 2.
We fly out of Charlotte on Thursday, February 26th which will give us some much-needed rest after our trans-atlantic flight and also one full day in Beijing on Saturday. We fly to the provincial capital on Sunday and meet our son on Monday, March 2nd.
I like the sound of that.
We meet our son on March 2nd.
{extended}Tuesday, February 10, 2009
I’ll take China for 3, Alex
I received a phone call from our case worker late this afternoon with some good news and some…eh…maybe-not-so-good news.
The good news is that we did receive a consulate appointment and it’s set for March 11th.
The maybe-not-so-good news is that we might have to be in China for 3 weeks.
Our son’s province has been known to require extra time. There are 2 families we know of who adopted from our son’s orphanage within the last 6-8 months who were only in China for the usual 2 weeks.
Our agency is working hard on our behalf for a 2-week stay and we should know something definite tomorrow.
If we do have to stay for 3 weeks, we’ll be leaving on February 24th which is…hmmm…only 2 weeks from today!
{extended}Friday, February 06, 2009
We’re going to China!
Carmi and I received word today from our agency that our travel approval has arrived from China!
We were praying for a possible call since we heard that other agencies received TAs this week. We had actually, though, resigned ourselves to the fact that it didn’t come today because it was very late in the afternoon.
Carmi was still working from home so I took Karys and went to pick Eliana up from gran’mommy’s house at 5:30. We were back home around 6:00.
As soon as the garage door shut, Carmi opened the door to the house and said, “You ready to go to China?”
Aaaaah!
She had j-u-s-t hung the phone up after talking with our case worker as the girls and I were pulling in.
Tentatively we will leave on February 27th and return on March 12th.
If you do the math, that means we leave in 3 weeks.
3 weeks, people!!
{extended}Saturday, January 24, 2009
Karys’ passport
Not only has the US government granted permission for Karys to leave the country but hey…they’re even nice enough to let her come back in.
That’s right. Karys’ passport came in the mail today.
And that little book is itchin’ to get stamped by China.
{extended}Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Breathing a little bit easier
When we mailed Eliana’s passport renewal request last Monday, we also had to send along her old passport, her original Chinese birth certificate and her original Adoption Registration Certificate.
Eliana’s new passport arrived in the mail on Saturday so the extra $140 we paid motivated somebody down in New Orleans. But Carmi looked in, under and around that package and those other three documents which should have been returned with the new passport were nowhere to be found.
We were both prepared to make some phone calls this week. Fortunately, though, the documents came in a separate package today.
We’re breathing a little bit easier. And still waiting on Karys’ first passport which should come by the weekend. Maybe accompanied by a travel approval???
{extended}Monday, January 12, 2009
You want to expedite?
Carmi called our local post office late Friday afternoon to see if we could come in and apply for Karys’ passport and Eliana’s renewal.
Oh no. They were so busy that they couldn’t see us until Thursday of this week.
Yeah right.
She called the post office in a neighboring city and they could take care of us at 9:00 am this morning. So the four of us jetted.
Carmi handed over some documents, Mr. PO filled out paperwork, we signed our names and he said, “That’ll be $120, please.”
Carmi whipped out the checkbook and started to write the check when we both thought the same thing. “That can’t be right. We want to expedite.”
K-a c-h-i-n-g!
“Oooooh.”, he said with raised eyebrows. “You want to expedite? In that case, it’ll be $260.”
Thanks for the convenience.
{extended}Thursday, January 08, 2009
Like Karys?
Thinking through the fact that we’ll probably travel to China next month, we realized one very important thing just the other night: Karys doesn’t have a passport.
Eeek. Then when we checked Eliana’s passport, we found that it expires in May of this year.
Can you say e-x-p-e-d-i-t-e?
So the girls and I headed to CVS after I got off work to get their passport/visa photo taken and my visa photo. Carmi posed for her visa photo at work today.
On the way back home, Eliana asked, “Why do people in China eat dogs and things like that?”
Where in the world do these random thoughts come from?
I hadn’t even formulated an answer in my mind before she continued, “Is it because they don’t have enough to eat?”
“Well, I would imagine that’s part of the reason why. They just eat everything.”
“Oh,” Eliana mused. “You mean like Karys?”
{extended}Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Here’s a glimpse
Many have asked for it so…
Here’s a picture glimpse of our handsome son.
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
God proves Himself
From day one, Carmi and I understood that we probably could not take Eliana and Karys with us on a return trip to China for financial reasons. Those of you who have been through the process can testify that adoption is very expensive. It’s worth every penny…but it’s not cheap.
We’re still paying for Karys’ adoption so to financially commit to a third and concurrent adoption meant that our girls would have to stay home.
Eliana was crushed. I could see it in that beautiful face and I could hear it in her voice. And our hearts broke in two.
She saved nickels and dimes and quarters and was so proud of every dollar because she was “saving up to go to China”. Almost every night she prayed that she could travel with us.
Well, God heard her prayers (and ours) and has made it possible for the girls to go with us to bring their big brother home.
We told Eliana the good news tonight and I wish you could have seen the smile on her face.
She is not usually a very affectionate girl but she ran to both of us and gave us each a big hug. Then she sat down and asked, “But how did you get the money?”
Taking advantage of a teachable moment, I reminded her, “You prayed for it, didn’t you?”
I love it when God proves Himself.
Especially to our children.
{extended}Down to this
We received our LOA today via UPS from the agency.
It’s hard to imagine that the whole process comes down to this simple form from China.
We better check the correct box. No pressure.
:grrr:
Monday, January 05, 2009
Hooray! Hooray! We got our LOA!
Remember what I just said about our Letter of Acceptance not coming today?
Scratch that. That lovely piece of paper came after all.
After Carmi spoke with our case worker (hereafter referred to as CW) on the phone, she emailed CW a little later about something else. When CW answered Carmi’s email, she also put in a note for Carmi to call her. Carmi figured it was about her email but no. DHL evidently thought the agency was still closed so the driver put a package at the agency’s side door instead of bringing it in and CW just found it!
The cool thing is…we will probably travel in late February which means we could be in China for our son’s birthday (on the 24th).
{extended}No dice
Carmi broke down and called our case worker to see if we had a late Christmas present sitting in the office when they returned to work this morning.
Mmmm…no dice.
I still think we’ll get our LOA this month before the CCAA closes for Chinese New Year.
{extended}Friday, January 02, 2009
Could Monday be the day?
OK. We don’t want to get our hopes up but…
Carmi was just looking at a Yahoogroup for waiting children and a family received their Letter of Acceptance today who have the exact same log-in date that we have. This other family also sent in their Letter of Intent in March like we did.
The kicker? Our case manager is on vacation and won’t be back in the office until Monday.
So IF our Letter of Acceptance did indeed come, it’ll be Monday before we hear anything.
{extended}