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.

Waiting to go . . wanting to go

After all the excitement of the referral, we now wait again! But at least we now know where we're going; just not when. Our Little Empress presently resides at the Zhanggong District Social Welfare Institute in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province. This map shows where her province is, and provides interesting information:

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/jiangxi/

Here is a page with information about Ganzhou, the location of The Empress's current abode.

http://www.gurrad.com/china/ganzhou.htm

The Empress is Revealed!!!!

Greetings All!
The day has finally arrived and Curtis and I have a two year old daughter in China. Her Chinese name is Zhang Xiang Bing. Zhang is the family name, which we will drop, and name her Elizabeth Xiang Bing Morgan. We will be traveling in approximately 6 to 8 weeks (mid October or early November) to China to pick her up and bring her home.

On the report (dated June 16, 2005) which we received today (Sept. 7), Elizabeth's birthday is estimated to be August 13, 2003. She was found on Sept. 2, 2003 in the doorway of her orphanage, the Zhanggong District Social Welfare Institution of Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Provice. Her name Zhang expresses the Zhanggong District where she was found, Xiang expresses the year of the Sheep (it also means fragrance), and Bing means beautiful and lovely. Elizabeth is a very healthy child. She is well nourised, eats well, likes to play, and can crawl and walk. She weighs 22 pounds and is 30 inches tall (as of June 16, 2005).

Waiting, waiting, waiting

Katie (my wife) and I have been "in the process" for well over 2 years now. We are working through the Bethany Christian Services agency office in Fairfax, Virginia, about an hour from here. (We live in the Shenandoah Valley, which is gorgeous, but sometimes it seems that EVERYTHING is "About an hour from here.")

People sometimes ask us, "Why China?" Two reasons: first, we were told that the PRC is the easiest country to adopt from, among other things requiring only one adoption visit to the country; some countries require two or more. Second, we think Chinese children are beautiful.

The paperwork is overwhelming, but we completed it last January, and the Chinese authorities "logged" it in on Jan. 31. It is customarily a 6-7 month wait for a referral. We're getting close, and hope to receive word of which little girl (2-3 years old) we have been matched with by the end of this month (August). In the meantime, we wait . . .

Curtis & Katie -- waiting for the Empress to arrive . . .