September 6, 2008

We can't believe we are leaving in less than 5 days. The anticipation is building as our departure gets closer. Everything is finally packed and within the airline weight limits! We have gratefully been graced with offers from 2 different wonderful friends to take us to the airport and meet us on our arrival. The itinerary, which arrived a few days ago, says that we will be in Beijing for 4 days with nine other families touring the Great Wall, the Cloisonne Factory, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. The Acrobatic show, an orientation meeting, and a tour of Hutong round out the activities. From there we fly to Zhengzhou with only one other family, where we will receive our long awaited son, David Dongsheng, on the 16th. We will be there 3 days while we do the adoption registration and notarization. A tour of the Henan Provincial Museum is scheduled, but our stay in his province was shortened due to a convention in their capital city. On the 19th we fly on to Guangzhou to spend 2 free days getting to know our son before his appointment for his medical exam. On the 23rd we have our Visa appointment. The next day we take an oath and pick up his Visa. Due to our shortened stay in Henan Province, we will be leaving ahead of the other families in our group to fly home on the 25th. We can't wait to get him, but at the same time it is so hard to leave our other children! Believe it or not, it's the first time we've ever left them behind.