Planning Our Trip to China



The boys' immigration and visa papers are sent off and on their journey that ends in Guangzhou, China at the American Embassy.  The Brown 5's visa paperwork is filled out and ready to send off early next week. Grant and loan applications are in, the US government has approved "provisionally" both boys to enter the US as our sons and citizens of the United States of America.

April is coming to an end and as soon as May is here, I'll be able to say that we most likely will see the boys "next month!"

We are over the mountain of "adoption process" and are sliding down the other side, picking up speed all the way.  Now I can have a little fun shopping and preparing for our trip to China!
The Fort Worth Museum currently has a special exhibit spotlighting life in China
Next week, we plan to go visit a special exhibit at the Fort Worth Museum called "Children of Hangzhou: Connecting With China."  It looks like it will be great.  Just as I was working on this entry, I noticed on my dashboard that another woman who's blog I follow just took her kids and posted about it.  The exhibit is perfect timing for our family!

Several friends have asked us about our China trip, so I thought I would answer the most popular questions here:
We should travel in June, Lord willing.  All three Brownies are traveling with us.  We will stay in China 21-22 days as opposed to the regular 16-day stay since we are adopting two boys from different provinces.  We will have CCAI (our adoption agency) representatives with us at all times, including tours.  They act as our guides, translators, and experts.

Our trip will look something like this:
Day 1: Travel 13 hours by airplane to Beijing, China.
Day 2-3: Sightsee, sleep, adjust to China time and prepare for the boys! We plan to tour the Great Wall, Tienneman Square/Forbidden City.  We are also working on meeting up with some Deaf Chinese people while in Beijing.
Day 4: Travel to Zhengzhou, the capital of Tian's province.  Our last day as a family of 5.
Day 5: Gotcha Day for Tian!
Day 6: Paperwork filled out.
Day 7-9: Wait for paperwork, medical checkups, touring the city. We plan to go visit the Kung Fu Temple.  Zhengzhou is the birthplace of Kung Fu.
Day 10: Get all official docs back in our hands, then fly to Fujian, the capital of Travis' province.
Day 11: Gotcha day for Travis!
Day 12: Paperwork filled out.
Day 13-15: Wait for paperwork, medical checkups, touring the city. We hope to visit Travis' birthplace about 3 hours away.
Day 16: Get all official docs back in our hands, then fly to Guangzhou, city of the US Consulate.
Day 17: Rest, shopping and tour.
Day 18: Visa physical exam and visa photo for the boys.
Day 19:  Visa paperwork delivered to US Consulate Adoption unit.
Day 20: To US Consulate to take the oath! This is adoption day! Lots of tears, I'm pretty sure. Gets me choked up just typing it.
Day 21: Receive the boys' visas.
Day 22: Fly home to the USA!

Comments

  1. Very exciting!! Can't wait to hear all about it and see pictures as the trip happens!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes... you have to find time to blog from China! Let us live this vicariously through you guys. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I will! Blogger is blocked there, but Ken is taking care of us getting a VPN so we can use Blogger. We will also use facebook for updates and can always email if needed. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I couldn't help it. Reading this brought tears to my eyes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh my, Sarah! This is so real and you are on your last few steps before you can HOLD them in your ARMS!!! I am so excited for you!!!

    ~Chris in Colorado
    waiting for our munchkins

    ReplyDelete
  6. So excited for you all! We also hope to travel vicariously with you, so do keep the updates coming. Our prayers are with you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. We will certainly do all we can to post. I've totally enjoyed reading others' adoption blogs and seeing pictures while they are in China, so I want to reciprocate. :) Plus, we'll have grandparents in Texas and Oklahoma who will be dying for info.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Review: Maya Chan Beach Resort In Costa Maya, Mexico

Travis Update Ending 2013

2022 Year In Review