Travel Details

Our Consulate Appointment has been confirmed!

This appointment is the crux of everything in adoption-land.

Once you have a CA, you can make travel arrangements.

So today, I have been busy doing just that!

Our rough itinerary looks like this:

August 22:  Drive to Chicago, stay in hotel, shuttle to airport the next day

August 23:  Fly Chicago-Hong Kong-Shanghai  (Total of almost 18 hours in air, with a 1 hour layover in HK)

August 27:  NOLA DAY!!!!!

August 31:  Fly to Guangzhou

September 1:  Nola's Medical Exam

September 4:  Consulate Appointment

September 5:  Pick up Nola's Visa

September 6:  Fly home!  Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Chicago!!!!!

We're on our way!!!

Travel Approval!!!!

We have TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!

I cannot believe it!

It has been 10 days since our Article 5 was picked up, so we were expecting it to come early next week!

Our agency will confirm our Consulate Appointment on Monday (or Tuesday) 

and we will have definite travel dates then.

We are planning to leave August 23, meet Nola August 27, and get home September 7.

Holy cow!

I am so excited!!!

We're coming, baby girl!!!!

Excitement!

I just got word that our Article 5 was picked up yesterday!

That means we are OFFICIALLY waiting for Travel Approval!

Right now it is taking anywhere from 6-21 days for TA's to come, 

our agency says it should be right at 2 weeks.

(But we can still hope for 6 days, right?!)

On another note, I got unexpected pictures of Nola on Monday!

She is getting so big!

I know there's a smile in there just waiting to come out!

Nola's Room!

We have been working hard over the past month or so to get Nola's room ready for her.

When we bought the house, the previous owners used that room as an office, and it looked like this:

We painted it (with some help from a super-excited Big Brother!)

I made her name out of a chipboard "N" that I Mod Podged scrapbook paper on and cut the other letters out of Cricut vinyl.

 Need to find something for the wall above the dresser.  The dresser will also double as a changing table, so it needs the pad and a basket for diapers, etc.  

All it needs now is a baby girl!!!