We leave in four days.
Four days.
After a process that has stretched over a year, it's hard to believe that the time is finally upon us.
Things are coming together, however. We have an itinerary for the three days we'll be spending in Beijing. From seeing the Great Wall, Tienanmen Square, the silk factory and other sights to trying out real Chinese food (perhaps even the famous Peking roast duck), we have a full schedule for the touring portion of the journey. My hope is that jet lag does not interfere with this too much.
Then it's on the overnight sleeper train to Xi'an, a 12 hour trip into central China, arriving on Sunday morning, November 9. We will meet our daughter for the first time on Sunday afternoon, after which she will be with us for the rest of the journey. Our contact in Beijing put in a call to the orphanage yesterday and emailed the following:
Hi Tim,The rest of the schedule is pretty much as I've posted before, although now we have hotel reservations in Xi'an and Guangzhou and in-country flight reservations in place. We have names of who will be our coordinator/guide in each of the two cities. We also have a last minute list of paperwork that needs to be taken along, documents needing notarization, and suitcases to pack. Once this is all done, we're outta here!
I have just talked with the orphanage again. The director told me Tong Cheng Ying is doing well. I asked her if she is prepared well. She laughed and said I think she is all READY. She said it's very good that you sent care packages to her and that helped so much. She was very happy to received little gifts and letter from you.
Have a safe trip!
In four days.
2 comments:
WOW! The departure date is so close now. May God bless your family with safe travels as you meet Abigail finally in person. Congrats on becoming a family of 5. Hope you are able to keep us updated on your blog.
Steve and Julie
Hi there. I have been following your story and just felt the need to write you guy's. We are so excited for your family. Thank-you for listening to God's call to care for the orphans. I just want to encourage you with the "jet-lag" feeling. When we got home from China, I did not feel "myself" for weeks. Mark got back to normal before me. Our two kids adjusted very quickly. Molly did not sleep day or night for weeks, maybe months. We have been home for 5 years and she still does not always sleep through the night! My best advice? Take help from everyone that offers. If you are like us, we always said "no thank-you, we are fine", and then did a lot of crying. You can't even explain to somebody how you feel. How can you explain a 12 hour time change, 15 hour flight, a new child in the house who is a "stranger", and your normal life still has to go on. Mark and I were also WAY over our heads, and we went back again! These girls are the best thing that ever happened to us and we will keep praying for all of you. I know you have lots of offers, but we would love to help. Thanks for all the Blog updates. It was fun to relive our trip.
Post a Comment