Less than two weeks until we travel!

Well the plane tickets are purchased and we are getting excited.  Less than 2 weeks until we leave for China!   I couldn't help but well up with tears when I saw Anna's flight itinerary.  It's becoming very real now.  Three weeks from today we will finally hold our little girl in our arms and she will officially be part of our family!

We've got quite the trip planned.  Here's the official itinerary:

Saturday, Sept 29th fly to Chicago, Hong Kong, and arrive in Shanghai at Midnight Sept 30th. We'll spend two days in Shanghai visiting our Chinese friends who moved to Shanghai a few years ago.

Tuesday, Oct. 2nd we'll take the high speed train to Zaozhuang (it only takes 3 hours as opposed to the 8 hour overnight train we used to take.)  We'll spend three days visiting friends in Zaozhuang and letting Esther and Micah see where they lived for two years and letting Luke experience "real China."  We've heard the city has changed so much in the last 6 years and we can't wait to see it.  Most of all we can't wait to see the people we invested two years of our lives in.  Several of them have gotten married and had children in the last few years.  Of course, they have never met Luke and he's six years old now!

On Friday October 5th we're going to get back on the high speed train and head to Bejing to meet the group we will be travelling with to Zhengzhou to get our adopted kiddos.  We will spend one day in Beijing to see the Great Wall and then the next day, Sunday, Sept 7th we'll fly to Zhengzhou.

Monday, October 8th is Gotcha Day!  That's the day we officially adopt Anna into our family. We will spend five days in Zhengzhou for several appointments to get her passport and such and we plan to spend a day visiting her foster home.  We are very excited to have the opportunity to thank the nannies for their care, take pictures of the nannies and children, and let Anna say an official goodbye.  This will probably be a very fun but emotional day.  It may be hard on her to say goodbye, but we feel that the long term benefits outweigh the temporary discomfort.  We'll try to let you know what day we are doing this so that you can keep Anna in your prayers even more that day.

On Saturday October 13th we fly to Guangzhou for a week of Dr.'s appointments and paperwork for Anna's US Visa.  She will receive her Visa on Friday October 19th.  Esther's birthday is October 15th, so we're going to try to do something fun for her that day to make it extra special.  Can you believe she's going to be 13?!!! We officially will have a teenager in the house.

On Saturday, October 20th we'll head for home.  Because of the time change we will actually arrive on Saturday October 20th as well.  That's one super long day!  And one super long plane ride for a two year old.  When we arrive in Chicago and go through customs Anna will officially become a United States Citizen!  Our plane will arrive in Kansas City at 5:25pm.  I know there will be many of you there waiting to welcome Anna home, and I'm sure we will all be exhausted and ready to sleep in our own beds!

It's definitely a very full three weeks, but we are super excited about being in China again and glad that we get to have two weeks in China with Anna so that we can spend time with her in her home culture before the difficult adjustment to the US.  Thanks again for all of your prayers.  We're on the final stretch now!  I actually feel more relaxed now than I've felt in about a year. I know the transition is going to be hard on Anna and on all of us, but we are so glad to have this part of the journey nearly behind us.  We're ready for the crazy fun of having a two year old little girl around the house again.  Stay tuned for photos of her room.  It's definitely fit for our little princess!