China Timeline

Well, the airline and hotel reservations are made!  Waiting for a few details from our agency, but here's our timeline as it stands right now

Thurs July 25th- Fly OKC to SFO to Hong Kong
Fri July 26th- Arrive in HK in evening & rest
Sat July 27th- Disneyland Hong Kong
Sun July 28th- Train to Guangzhou
Mon July 29th- Gotcha Day
Tues July 30th- Adoption Day
Wed July 31st- Matt's Birthday!!  (and apply for Ben's passport)
Thur Aug 1st- Medical exam & TB test
Fri Aug 2nd- Orphanage Visit
Sat Aug 3rd- TB test read & free day
Sun Aug 4th- Touring Day
Mon Aug 5th- Consulate Appt
Tues Aug 6th- Pick up visa & train to HK
Wed Aug 7th- Kate's 36 hr Birthday!!  (thanks to 11am trip back to US)  Ben becomes a US Citizen!!

I have a "to do" list a mile long to get ready!!  Oh baby boy, we are coming!!!!!!  Wahoo!!!

We have a NINE HOUR LAYOVER in San Francisco on Kate's birthday!!!  I am working on special plans for that!! :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Fannie, Matt, & Katie

Favorite Photo Friday: Oooooooooklahoma!

I found myself singing this song as we made our way from NYC to Oklahoma City last weekend!  We arrived on Monday and its been a kind of crazy week trying to get ready for China and spend time with our family here!  We haven't been "home" in two years, so we're just trying to get some family time in before we head to China next Thursday!  Here's some snapshots from the last week..

 Goodbye Brooklyn- Hello Roadtrip to Oklahoma!!!

 The beautiful Oklahoma sky decided to show off as we drove through our home state!

 After 2 1/2 days in the car- this kiddo was psyched to finally do some swimming!!!

My nephew came over to visit and got in on the swimming action!!  SO excited that once we get Ben and move to our new house, we will be 11 hours from family!!

And of course- my favorite photo of the week!!

His little expression looks just like "The People's Champ"!!!  I love his Rock face!!

I am SO amazingly behind on Lisa's photography class, so I'll be working hard to catch up this week.  The biggest news is China!!  Oh I can't wait for my sweet Chengbin to become a part of our family!  I'll post our timeline soon!! :)

Thanks for stopping by,
Fannie, Matt, & Katie

We're going to China!!!

Thank you God for hearing our prayers!!!

Our agency is amazing!  Let me start with that!!  They worked overnight on the final day in China to get our TA emailed to them AND secured a consulate appointment for Ben before the consulate closed for the move.  We are officially approved to make our plans for China!

On July 29th, our boy will leave his orphanage to become a treasured member of our family.  Yep, that's right!  July 29th is Gotcha Day!!! :)

I'll post our timeline once we have it!  Oh, we are SOOOO ready to go get our boy!!!

More details soon!!

Thanks for stopping by,
Fannie, Matt, & Jie Jie

Day 15 & Busy, busy week!!

So today is day 15 of our TA wait!  I REALLY didn't expect this one... I thought we'd have it before the end of the first week.  It's a medical expedite and my agency has been having pretty good luck on the China end!

The bigger issue that come Day 16 of the wait,  I can get TA and it does me no good until the 24th when the US Consulate reopens from their move to a new building.

For those new to adoption, here's how it goes.  You get travel approval from China and then you schedule a Consulate Appointment where your child will get all their visa stuff done in China so they can enter the US and become a citizen.  You schedule everything else in China based on the consulate apt, because without it, a child can't come to the US yet. 

Once we have our CA, we can know when Gotcha Day will be and book our flights and hotels.

Oh how I pray that when my agency opens in a couple more hours there will be good news!  I trust in God's timing though.  It is always better than mine.  So, if we have to wait, we will wait and get an extra 2 weeks of prayers in.

Wo ai ni Chengbin!!!

In other news, we are amazingly busy right now.  We spent a week down in Alabama & Florida and we will head out on Friday for a few weeks back home in Oklahoma with the family.  I can't wait to get caught up on my photography class, eat snocones with the kids, & visit all our family while we wait for our turn to go to China. :)

Thanks for stopping by!
Fannie, Matt, & Jie Jie