WE LEAVE IN 2 DAYS!!!!

God is just so cool!  I think sometimes maybe he does these things just to make us smile on a journey that can be marked with so much uncertainty.  Below you will see our itinerary for our China trip & it's hard to miss the "God-incidences" with these dates.  You see the day we leave it's my Mom's birthday (Feb. 13th).  We arrive in China on Valentine's Day (I mean could adoption be described with any better word than LOVE).  And Lexi Marie's "Gotcha Day" (the day we will get her & meet her for the first time) is Feb. 18th which is the 20th anniversary of when her namesake Jill Marie, my baby sister by 7min, met her abba Father for the first time in heaven.  I don't know, I think God's pretty cool folks.  (Oh & a little side-note you may not have known.  On our first China trip to adopt Addison our Beijing China guide's name was Jill......I mean is that even a Chinese name, haha.  She was with us the first 4 days of our trip.  Maybe it was God's way to let us know that Jill was with us in spirit!)

Anyhoo, here is our itinerary for those of you that like details:

TRIP ITINERARY 

2/13     Leave U.S. for Beijing 7:25am. 

2/14     Arrive in Beijing at 3:10pm China time (that is 13 hrs ahead of Atlanta - EST)

            Free day to rest, sleep, catch up from jet lag.

2/15     Tour Beijing. 

2/16     Tour Beijing (Great Wall)          

2/17     Fly from Beijing to Zhengzhou (the capital city of Lexi Marie's province)

2/18     Today is GOTCHA DAY!

(The Orphanage Officer will deliver Lexi to us)

2/19     We will take a bus to Lexi Marie's orphanage city of Xuchang

2/20     Rest or optional group shopping trip to the Lotus Center

2/21     Receive your notary documents in the afternoon. 

2/22     Receive child passports. Those not received will be mailed to Guangzhou. 

2/23     Fly from Zhengzhou for Guangzhou for final leg of the trip 

2/24     May go to a local church some friends have told us about.  Free day in Guangzhou.

2/25     Take a bus to the clinic to complete your child’s visa physical and visa photo taken this morning.           

2/26     Meet with CCAI representatives to prepare paperwork for the Consulate appointment:

2/27     Today is our Consulate appointment.  In the morning we will go to the U.S. Consulate to take the oath.

2/28     Receive your child’s visa packet.  Late afternoon we will take a train ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong where we will spend the night in prep for our flight home the next morning.

3/1       Depart Hong Kong at 8:20am.  Arrive HOME in ATL at 1:25pm.  For those planning to greet us at the aiport, it may take us awhile to get through customs.  Not sure how long but probably at least an hour or 2.  Will keep you posted.