At the airport

We made it to Ohare airport in Chicago.  It was a wet rainy drive, but the only traffic of note was in Wisconsin near Edgerton due to an accident.  Ian, Cami  and Alex slept most of the way and Alex is amped up and ready to go.

Special thanks to our friend Stefan Wahe for riding down with us and then taking our van back to Madison.  His family is going to meet us on the way back.  Just one of the many kind gestures we've received from friends and family.

Packing Frenzy

Today is the day!  We leave at 11:55pm tonight from Chicago.  For me, it's been another low-sleep night.  I go to bed exhausted and wake up a few hours later with my mind racing.  There's always something new that pops into my mind.  Did we pack that?  Are we ready for this?  Whose taking care of that?

Generally, I enjoy researching and planning for trips.  Trying to figure out where to go, what to see, how to get there and so forth.  But this trip seems to be mostly about just getting ready to make the journey.  I haven't researched how to use the subway in Guangzhou.  I don't have a list of sites that we should see.  Only this morning did I find out that the railway connection to Seoul's Incheon airport is now an option for getting into the city. 

But it's ok.  We have many people who will be helping us along the way.  Today, the Wahe family is driving us to Chicago.  In Korea, the staff at the Social Welfare Society (SWS) will be available to help.  Then we will be with the Nam family who will be our guides in Korea.  Once we are in China, we will have the services of a guide provided by Great Wall China Adoption.  We will only really be "on our own" when we are in Hong Kong for a few days.   And we know that God is with us no matter where we go and we are reminded of that by the many people have been praying for us on this journey.  We sincerely appreciate your love and support. 

Before we head out this afternoon, we need to finish packing, get the oil changed in the van, and Ben has a soccer game.  And I'm hoping to get a nap.  We'll see.

Travel Confirmed

On Monday, April 4th, our consulate appointment was confirmed for May 17th.  That's one of the last pieces of our journey.  Today, we finally received confirmation of the gotcha day as May 9th.  That's the day we get to meet Wen De and then he spends the rest of the trip with us.  We have various appointments throughout our journey between May 9 and May 17.

So, we've booked tickets to leave on April 30th at 11:55pm from Chicago O'Hare.  We will land in Seoul at 4:00AM on Tuesday, May 2nd.  We're working with AIAA and SWS, the agencies we used when adopting our other kids, to set up a visit with foster parents on May 2 or 3.  We'll stay in the SWS guest house for those nights.  Then on May 4, we will meet the Nam family (we hosted Brian at our home last summer) and spend time with them.  They have a lot of wonderful things planned for us while we are visiting.  We're excited to have the opportunity to visit Korea on our way to China.  

On May 8th, we'll leave Seoul and fly to Guangzhou.  On May 9th, we'll meet Wen De.

On May 17th, we'll take the high speed train to Hong Kong.  I'm excited to experience real high speed rail with speeds around 180mph.  We'll stay 3 nights in Hong Kong and then return home.  Flights were significantly less expensive leaving on Saturday so that covers most or all of our Hong Kong expenses.  

Excited to fly Asiana

We're excited about our flights because we were able to book Asiana Airlines for a reasonable price.  It helps that Asiana (as well as Korean Air), offer discounted flight prices for children under 12.  We traveled on Asiana to Korea when we adopted Ben almost 13 years ago.  We have fond memories of the wonderful service and amenities on Asiana,  which is on par with Korean Air, and knocks the socks off US-based carriers like Delta.  Hopefully we won't be disappointed since we'll be in the air for 14+ hours!

Note:  For all those criminals out there, don't even think about messing with our house.  Our wonderful neighbors are on high alert, watching over our house.  It's highly likely that you could encounter our good friend and her concealed carry permit.  Plus, there's a mean bulldog named Dozer who'll attack and if he doesn't stop you, then our neighbor's dog Valkyrie, who is part Huskie will take you down.  Assuming you make it that far, mean and ferocious Finli will take a chunk out of you.  Besides, what are you going to do with our house -- declutter and clean it?