Waiting for an itinerary, but some details

So, I don't have a very dynamic writing style like Ryan, so I will just do more of a "facts" post.

We purchased our plane tickets on Thursday! Yahoo! We are leaving Denver on 2/13 at 6:15 am and arriving in Beijing on 2/14 at 3:35pm. After collapsing and hoping that Jonah gets some sleep, we will be on some type of agency-organized Beijing tour on the 15th and 16th. On the 17th, we will fly to Lanzhou (province capitol of Gansu where our son Grady Guoyu lives). After that, all I know is that we get him on the 18th, spend some time in Lanzhou finalizing the adoption and getting him a Chinese passport, and fly onto Guangzhou (southern Mainland China). In Guangzhou, we deal with all the American requirements, oath ceremony, visa, etc. We will fly from Guangzhou to Hong Kong to LA to Denver on the 28th....should be no problem....two kids, two parents, right??!! We will arrive back in Denver around 4pm on the 28th.

We know that God is taking care of us in this adoption. One truly significant way is that our dear friend Cheryl Felmlee is able to come to China from the UK to help us with our boys during this trip. This is the only way that we felt that we could bring Jonah and be fair to what Grady Guoyu needs. We think that Grady will have a lot of needs nutritionally and health-wise, and we weren't sure that we could adequately focus on both boys' needs alone. Cheryl had a dream that we were in China together, and it is actually coming true!! Ever since Cheryl offered to come with us, I feared that every email I sent with more requirements (it is not so easy to get a physician's release and a notarized release for the adoption agency in the UK) would mean that she couldn't go. She really has gone above and beyond in doing what needed to be done to be able to come with us. Her tickets were purchased on Thursday as well, so it will be the five of us over in China!

I will be participating in a conference call with our agency on the 1st at 1pm. At that time, I should have a more clear itinerary to share. For now, let's just say, this has been my first attempt at a blog post!

Travel Group 1311

We are now part of travel group 1311. We don't know if anyone else is going to be in our group, even though lots of people will be adopting at the same time, but the fact that we might be the only people going to Lanzhou might make us a travel group of one (family).

Katie and Ryan visited Lanzhou in early 2001. We were stuck there waiting for train tickets between visiting Xiahe and Chengdu right before Chinese New Year. This time, we'll be stuck there between Beijing and Guangzhou right after Chinese New Year, but we'll be getting a better souvenir this time, so it's all good.

Ryan does remember the wicked good lamb kebab sandwiches available in the streets, and they had a nice little open air market, but we honestly stood in line a lot of our time there trying to get tickets out. How could it not be more fun with a grouchy blond three year old who's missing nap time and a another little boy shocked into silence by how weird we look?

Welcome to Our Blog

This is where we'll be sharing information about our adoption of Grady Guoyu. We're planning on traveling to Beijing on Feb. 13th., and we should get him shortly after that in Lanzhou (Gansu province, for all you geography majors out there). We're just waiting on our official CA (consulate appt., which should come in in the next 1-6 days).

Stay tuned...