Leaving on May 11th

The flight is booked and we are leaving on Wednesday, May 11th.  We decided to leave a day early and it ends up being cheaper to leave on Wednesday than Thursday even with the extra night at the hotel.  So now we'll have a day to ourselves to wander or sleep, depending on how we feel.  Dan is happy that our flight leaves from Milwaukee to O'Hare and he doesn't have to fight that Chicago traffic.  It's a direct flight thru to Beijing.  We arrive at 3:15 pm on Thursday, have Friday to ourselves, and tour on Saturday with our Great Wall group.  Sunday we leave for Adriana's province, Jiangxi and unite with her either that day or Monday morning.  On Friday, May 20th, we fly to Guangzhou where the adoption is finalized.  On May 26th, we pick up her passport/visa and jump on a train and head to Hong Kong.  We spend one night in Hong Kong and then fly straight back to O'Hare and then fly to Milwaukee.  We arrive back in Milwaukee on Friday, May 27th at 4:02 pm.  We are flying United Airlines and that was the only airline choice we were given so that choice was easy to make.  That's the only arrangement we have to make and now Great Wall makes all the other arrangements for us, whew!!!!

Official - May 12th

We received our American Consulate appointment today and we will be leaving on either May 11th or May 12th.  The departure date will depend on when the flight comes in on the 13th (you arrive a day later).  If it comes in late afternoon or evening, we may opt to leave on the 11th, so we don't miss our tour in case of missed connections, flight issues, etc.  Right now we are waiting to hear back from two different travel agencies about our international flight.  One agency is out of WA and works very closely with our agency.  The other agency is out of NC and comes very highly recommended and works a lot with international adoptions.  They have our travel schedule and we're just waiting to hear back on prices and schedules.  We fly to Adriana's province on the 15th and will unite with Adriana either on that day or the 16th.  We did find out that we will not be able to visit her orphanage.  Jiangxi is one of a few provinces that do not allow visits to the orphanages.  She will either be brought to our hotel room or we will go to the civil affairs office to meet her.  We'll keep you posted.

Met our new Pediatrician

I had a meet and greet appointment with our new Pediatrician last week.  Very nice lady in her mid 40's that seemed knowledgeable about treating children from China.  She currently has a Chinese little boy as a patient and has treated several kids from China while she practiced in Texas.  That was very important to us that she has experience in treating children from Asia and more specially, China.  She gave me some very good advice, most of the information we already knew but it was good to get the reminder.  She said that the first few weeks will be very trying and it won't be the story book ending once Adriana is handed to us.  She will be grieving for some time.  She said to not be so quick in removing her clothing.  Keep part of her "old" clothing with her so she can still smell her old smells.  Turn on the TV so she can hear Chinese people talking.  Don't overstimulate her with a lot of toys, just bring a couple.  Also, don't let anyone else hold her for several weeks.  We have an appointment scheduled with the Dr a week after we return home.  State of Wisconsin requires an appointment within 30 days of bringing her home.  I'm glad the Dr is very approachable and spent as much time with me to answer any questions I had, all without paying a fee, imagine that!