We Got Tickets!!!

It's really happening. We received our tickets and travel itinerary and, most important, our TA (Travel Authorization from the Chinese Government).

Here's our (tentative) itinerary:

Nov. 17: 0730 Depart Baltimore/Washington airport for Chicago Ohare; 1205 depart Chicago for Beijing . . .

Nov 18: 1540 (local time; 0340 EST. East coast US is 12 hours behind China) Arrive Beijing International airport
Nov. 19: free day (thank goodness! We'll need SLEEP)
Nov. 20-22 Tour Beijing, Great Wall, etc (shopping)

Nov. 22 1125 depart Beijing for Nanchang; GOTCHA DAY (we get Elizabeth Xiang Bing!!!)
Nov. 23-25 Various adoption paperwork appointments, etc. Receive Little Empress's passport.
Nov. 25 1500 depart Nanchang for Guangzhou

Nov 25-30 Visa appointments, medical checkup, more paperwork . . .
Nov. 30 0930 depart Gunagzhou for Hong Kong

Dec 1 1135 Depart Hong Kong for Chicago Ohare (we're going home!!!) Arrive 1140 am Chicago time (work that out); 1400 depart Chicago for BWI, ETA 1530

Times could change, but we hope days don't.

Please pray/think good thoughts, as there are worrying reports that China might halt all travel in/out due to Bird Flu.

The countdown to our Journey to Elizabeth begins . . .

The "Lost Picture"

As we are preparing our journey to Elizabeth, we stumbled upon a Yahoo group called "Ganzhou moms" that brings together adoptive parents of children from the Zhanggong Social Welfare Institute in Ganzhou. There were photos posted by people who had visited the orphanage, and in a group shot of some children in the orphanage we found this strangely familiar face looking at us from the right side of the picture. . . . We can't prove it, but we are convinced it's our little "Bing-Bing" taken about a year ago. Compare it with the photos we posted earlier.

We depart for China Nov. 17 with a number of other families. We can't wait!

We have Travel dates!!!!

Finally! We have dates to travel to China to receive our bundle of joy - our two year old daughter, Elizabeth Xiang Bing Morgan! Travel is about a month later than we had anticipated, however, we are excited to be going.

Travel authorizations came on Friday, Sept. 30, however we had to wait a week to get our Consulate appointment set in Guangzhou. The wait was because the first week of October is one long Chinese holiday and all government offices are closed there. The Consulate appointment is for our daughter to have a physical and apply for her visa and be sworn in as a US citizen, and this date is set for November 28.

We will actually begin our travels on November 17 and end up in Bejing on November 18. It's about a 14 hour flight from Chicago, and yes, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving in China this year. We spend our first two days in China touring Bejing before heading to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province which is in southeast China. Our daughter lives in Ganzhou in the southern portion of Jiangxi which is about a 10 hour train ride from Nanchang. More than likely she will be brought to us in Nanchang which means we will NOT get to see her orphanage. It looks like "Gotcha Day" will be Nov. 20 or 21. We'll spend about five days in Nanchang before flying to Guangzhou for the Visa appointment on November 28. We will receive actual visa for her to enter the US on Nov. 29 (Katie's birthday-what a present!) and then we'll fly to Hong Kong on Nov. 30. We'll spend one night there and come back to the US on December 1 as a family!!!

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers! We are very excited, but also a bit on the nervous side.