We're Off!

We start the travel portion of our Journey to Jenna tomorrow, May 17th. We plan to leave Wilmington around 3:00 for an overnight stay in Raleigh. We have to be at the airport by 6:00 Friday morning and then off to Washington and then to Beijing. We are all running on low fuel - having a lot of restless nights. Madison is so giddy she can't sleep either - she is so excited about finally meeting her little sister - she, of course, plans to carry Jenna on her hip like the little mama she is. Please continue to pray for safe travel and for God to prepare Jenna for our arrival.

We would like to say "Thank You" to everyone who has contributing to our effort to get to China. Thank you to everyone who donated items for us to take to the orphanage and the monetary gifts we will use to purchase more items such as school supplies for the kids in the Fenyi Orphanage. May God Bless you all! It is amazing the things we all take for granted like having paper to write on, a pencil to write with that this kids live without on a daily basis. You have all helped enrich the lives of the children in such a huge way. I pray God will continue to guide us and show us how we can to help these children in the future. Most especially, we Thank You all for your prayers as we know first hand that He is definitely listening and has opened many doors for us throughout this journey.

We will post a message when we arrive in Beijing.

Blessings, Rick, Teresa and Madison

IT'S OFFICIAL!

We received our airline tickets, visas and passports in the mail yesterday - it's official, we are traveling May 18th. It seems more real now that we have the tickets in hand - and my anxiety level has shot up 1000%. We are all getting very excited around here and Madison is counting down the days 'til the 18th. I hope this will be an exciting, wonderful, lifechanging experience for Madison and for our family. Please continue to pray for smooth transition for us all and for God to prepare Jenna's heart for us.

Our Intinerary

We are gearing up to travel on May 18th. Please pray for safe travel - we are all a little anxious about the many plane rides.

May 18: UA7120 Raleigh Durham (RDU) Washington (IAD) 843A 948A
May 18: UA 897 Washington (IAD) Beijing (PEK) 1223P 155P (Arrive Beijing on 19MAY)
May 19: Arrive Beijing, Stay at Wangfujing Grand Hotel

May 20: Sightseeing the Forbidden City and the Great Wall

May 21: Fly to Nanchang by MU5174 at 10:50, Arriving Nanchang at 13:05,

Transfer to Jin Feng Hotel in Nanchang; Meet the Child in the afternoon

May 22: Registration and notarization

May 23: Local sightseeing

May 24: Local sightseeing

May 25: Local sightseeing

May 26: At your leisure

May 27: Getting baby’s passport, Fly from Nanchang to Guangzhou by CZ3536 at 14:30, arriving Guangzhou at 15:45, transfer to White Swan Hotel

May 28: Photos for the baby & Physicals for baby

May 29: Visa appointment at 10:30

May 30: Swearing in ceremony at the Consulate, getting the visa

May 31: Fly from Guangzhou to HK by CZ301 at 08:30, Arriving HK at 09:30

May 31: UA 896 Hong Kong (HKG) Chicago (ORD) 1245P 220P
June 4: UA7592 Chicago (ORD) Raleigh Durham (RDU) 1115A 206P

Received Consulate Appointment!!

Finally, we have a consulate appointment to complete the adoption in China. However, due to our consulate appointment falling on the week of a holiday, we may have to stay for an extra day in China. Looks like we will be flying out of Raleigh on May 18, 2007. We will post our itinerary once we recieve that information from our agency.

Received TA TODAY!!!

We received TA today - Halleluah! Now, we wait again for a secured consulate appointment in China - once we receive that appointment travel arrangements can be made and hopefully we will have definite dates by the end of this week or first of next week - our agency is hoping to get us in with the group who will be departing on May 18th.

TA IN THE MAIL!!

Finally!! We received word today from our agency (CWA) that our TA paperwork was mailed to them yesterday and they anticipate receiving it either Monday or Tuesday of next week. Hopefully, we will have some definite travel dates by the end of next week. Please continue to pray for Jenna, our family and my sanity - the wait is driving me nuts!

Acceptance Letter

Today, we received a phone call from our agency, Christian World Adoptions, letting us know that we will receive our Acceptance Letter in the mail tomorrow via over night mail. Yippppeeeee!!! We are all so very excited to finally have some news. CWA's best guess for our departure date is either May 18th or May 25th. However, depending on when they can secure the consollate appointment, this could change. We will update the blog once we receive our TA, which should arrive in the next 2-3 weeks. Please continue to pray for God to prepare Jenna's heart for her new family and our family for all of the many wonderful changes we are about to experience.