In Beijing, Today is the day!

We have been in Beijing for two days now enjoying the sites. We saw the
forbidden city, Tienanmen square, and the great wall. We climbed far enough up
the wall (which was difficult in the heat/humidity) to become certified heroes.

The city is huge, and very busy. The weather is HOT, and MUGGY!

We are flying to Nanchang in a few hours, and after we arrive we will meet our
babies for the first time! Hurray!

Well, it's 2 Yuan per minute, so I will cut this short. Hopefully I will find
time to blog in Nanchang.

- Chris and Rachelle

Beijing in 20+ hours

Our final evening state-side as childless adults is coming to a close. We finished a very nice bottle of Washington wine we've saved for a few years, we had a nice dinner together, and now it's time to get some rest.

We arrive in Beijing at approximately 5 pm on 8/26 (we lose a day), and after 2 days touring the sites (great wall, forbidden city, etc.) we fly to Nanchang to meet our girls.

I will try my best to blog remotely from China.

Cheers and good night.

- Chris

Autumn Is Creeping In

The chill was in the air today as I did my yard overall in preparation for our trip. It reminded me of summer in San Francisco with the persistent marine layer and cool breeze.

This hint of fall will contrast with the muggy heat that is waiting for us in mainland China on Friday. I wonder if the rain will be back when we return. If it's anything like last year I'll need to break out the rain coat and sweaters soon.

I only hope I can get the rest of the fence stained before it gets too damp.

Well, dinner is on the make and there are many things to do before we depart. Not much else to say this evening.

Remote Control Test

Testing 1, 2, 3...

Blogging from email is cool, but only if it works. This must be the tenth
time I've tried to get this to work.

I am attempting to publish remotely since I have heard that China blocks
access to the main Blogger site.

Carry on...

Countdown, 5 days...

Five days until we zoom off to the far east and become parents for the first time. I never imagined this would be the way I became a dad, but whatever. Doing things differently is fairly standard for me anyway.

I spent this last weekend preparing for the trip. I stained two more panels on my never-ending fence project. I did my usual yard work detail.

I hired a neighbor kid to do the watering while we're gone. I installed multiple kid-resistant cabinet and drawer lock thingies, and a couple of gates. The cat didn't like that so much.

I laid out my array of electronic gadgets that will be accompanying us on our journey. I watched two episodes of Battlestar Galactica, because it rules!

Rachelle is coming down with a cold. I hope she shakes it before we leave, and I hope I don't get it! I am going to O.D. on water, and vitamin C this week.

Ferry just docked. Gotta run...

Nanchang

We are meeting our girls on 8/28 in Nanchang, the capital city of the Jiangxi Provence. You can read some interesting facts about the city by following this link.

We expect to spend 7 nights here after a brief two night stay in Beijing, and followed by 4 nights in Guangzhou, 2 nights in Hong Kong.

Cool.

China Bound, Soon...

We made our flight purchases to and from China. That was a relief, and it makes it feel "for real". We also decided that we will stay a couple of nights in Hong Kong on the way back, and connect through Tokyo to home. With two girls, this should be an adventure. :)

The adventure begins in less than two weeks!

Oh, while in Tokyo, I will totally snap a picture of Godzilla if I see him, I promise.

Cuties

While we're waiting to go to China, I thought I would post another pic of the babies.

I'm hoping the disposable cameras we sent over to China will get used so we actually get some more recent pics of the girls while they are still in the country.

Back to work...

Got The CA, But....

Today we got confirmation of our American Consulate appointment in Guangzhou, for September 9th. So...this now means that we will not be traveling on 8/17, but one + week later on 8/25!

UGH! Yes, another friggin' delay. I had high hopes that maybe, just maybe, this last part of the process would happen as planned. But no, of course not. That would have been too easy.

Anyway, I am excited but still a little pissed that every single step of this process has taken longer than we were told. I mean everything!

One more week to wait to see our babies.

Sigh...

Waiting for the CA

On Friday we stopped waiting for our travel approval, and began waiting for our American Consulate appointment (CA). We were given a 2-7 business day time frame, and as of today we haven't received it. So, as always, we wait.

We are still scheduled to travel around the middle of the month, so hopefully we can remain on track.

Congrats to Rachel and Shawn

As a result of needing to travel soon for the adoption, and the backlog of tasks we need to complete before then, we were unable to attend my cousin Shawn's wedding today in California. :(

So, I wanted to acknowledge their special day and say congratulations Rachel and Shawn!!

Hopefully we will see you soon, perhaps on our next trip to Cali.

And We Have it...

Today we got notice that we have our travel approval from China!

Now, we need to wait (yes, another waiting period) a few days for the U.S. Consulate appointment in Guangzhou, but hopefully we will have that by early next week.

Tentative travel is set for 8/17 which just happens to be our 11 year anniversary (5 years married, 11 together). That will be pretty cool if we actually begin our trip on that day.

Summer in Seattle

With all this adoption stuff going on, I seem to have overlooked the fact that it is still summer in Seattle.

The Blue Angels are in town for Seafair, the ferry (where I am at this moment) is packed full of tourists, the weather is perfectly mild, and I am sipping on a brew as I type.

Summer in Seattle totally rules.

The ferry crew is announcing our arrival at Bainbridge. Time to go!

Finally, Something...

Agency now says TA is on the way. We may travel in mid August after all.

Approaching Six Weeks

Yep. We are rapidly approaching six weeks since our referral date, and still no travel approval, no word from our agency, nothing.

Not sure how 2-4 weeks turned into six or more, but then 6-9 months to referral turned into a year so I guess like everything else it is natural that this part of the process would take longer than normal, too.

The closer we get the further away it seems.

I did install the cars seats last night, so at least something is getting done.

Another Day, and No TA

So far today, I have heard about other agencies sending out travel approvals, but (surprise!) not ours.

Amazing. They said 2-4 weeks for TA. It's been FIVE+!

Ugh!