Travel Plans

It is so fun and yet so stressful to make travel plans. So many decisions to be made and deciding what is best for everyone. Many times with international adoption, families forget that the main purpose for their trip is to bring their child into their family. With so many opportunities and things you have never seen or experienced it is easy to get wrapped up in wanting to "do it all". Another thing that is difficult is, it is EXPENSIVE to travel and to experience the country and culture while you are in country. When looking at individual cost, one may want to eliminate and try to keep the cost as low as possible but this is not an easy task to balance. So, as I sort through (and my head is exploding) I am focusing on one top priority- Susi-Yue. Second priority - Graci Jia. Every thing we do and everything we experience has to be in the absolute best interest of these girls. One who will be leaving the only life she knows and meeting total strangers whom she will spend the rest of her life with, and the other whose life was that 4 years ago and now is going back to the country of her birth. Graci is very knowledgeable of China and all it has to offer but at five years old her biggest question about going back is "will my China remember me?" That is a tough question to answer to our precious girl. No, we will not meet anyone in China that remembers you, Graci. But, we will spend every chance we get to tell you what we remember about your China and the time you became our daughter. Her stated mission for going with us to China and picking up Susi is (how she simply explains it to Dax) : I have to tell Susi about God because I am her big sister and we both have the same China. So, every decision being made and every plan for our trip is to make sure that our precious girls 100% know that the only reason we are in China is because of them!

August 10 - leave Phoenix for Portland then Portland to Beijing
August 11 - arrive late at night in Beijing
August 12 - MEET SUSI
August 14 -Leave for Siping City to visit Susi's original orphanage and finalize adoption
August 19 - Leave for Guangzhou
August 23 -US Consulate
August 24 -Leave Guangzhou by train to Hong Kong
August 25 - Leave Hong Kong for Tokyo then Tokyo to Seattle then home same afternoon (time differences are so fun and weird)
August 25 -Arrive in Phoenix and HUG all my seven at once!