REEB and Unidentified Fruit

Well I figured out how to get my pictures loaded!  Here is John with his first example of Chenglish this trip.  If you look closely you will see that the drink that he bought is "REEB" - also known as BEER in the US!

We were given a bowl of mystery fruits upon checkin.  Jack and John described the one pictured below with Jack as a cross between an orange and a peach.  Not sure what it is but they both had one!

We Made It

We made it to Shanghai. It is in the mid-forties and rained lightly as we taxied from the airport to the hotel. Our flights were on time and we had no problems getting through customs. We are staying at the Hilton. Since we are only here one night we decided to use Mom's Hilton points. The hotel is exactly what you would expect from a Hilton property. Beautiful executive lounge on the 38th floor with views of the Central Business District and the Bund.
Jack is in heaven because we have a king bed, which means we all get to sleep together (we only have a queen at home)!
The boys have gone for a walk to check out the neighborhood while I volunteered to get our electronics working and let everyone know we made it here. Our phones both have a strong signal but we do not plan on calling anyone unless there is an emergency - the rate is $2 / minute.
The only problem I have so far is I am unable to attach my pictures to blog at this point. I have downloaded them to the laptop, so hopefully we will figure that issue out when we get to Shenyang.
We're basically going to check out the city, eat and go to bed. Tomorrow is the big day and we will be leaving for the airport directly after breakfast.
We are all very excited to meet our little girl. We pray that she will like us!
Danelle

MingGe We're On Our Way!

We leave Kennebunk, ME for China tomorrow morning at 3:30 AM!

MingGe will meet us at the airport in Shenyang on Sunday! We cannot wait. We are beyond excited.

We will post updates from China assuming we can get to the Internet!

Our schedule looks like this:
Leave Boston Fri, Feb 27 at 6:30 AM, Arrive Shanghai Sat, Feb 28 at 15:30.
Eating and sleeping one night in Shanghai.

Leave Pu Dong Airport Sun, Mar 1 at 11:10, Arrive Shenyang Sun, Mar 1 at 13:10.
MingGe will meet us at the airport!
This is where we will complete the Chinese side of the adoption.
Staying at the Liaoning Mansion in ShenYang.

On Sat, Mar 7 all four of us will take a high speed train from Shenyang to Beijing.
Three nights in Beijing at the Luxury Serviced Residence Beijing.

On Tues, Mar 10 we will fly from Beijing to Guangzhou.
This is where we will complete the US side of the adoption.
MingGe will be sworn in as a US citizen on Friday, March 13!!

Immediately following the swearing in ceremony we will take a train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. We will spend 2 days at Disney's Hollywood Hotel at Hong Kong Disneyland before flying back to Boston on Monday, March 16.

That's it for now. Wish us luck!

Love,
Danelle

Thank You Migyeong!

MingGe is very fortunate to have Migyeong in her life. We are thankful for Migyeong’s love and support.

Waiting for TA

CCAA was closed last week for Chinese New Year.

We are patiently waiting for Travel Approval.

As soon as we get the call we will be requesting our Consulate Appointment. We are praying that we can leave next Thursday. If February 12 does not work out we will leave on February 19.

The wait is killing us but we can't wipe the smile off our faces. We are so happy to know that we will be with MingGe very soon. We pray every day that she will be happy with us and her transition is as smooth as possible.

We're almost there!

Danelle

Happy Birthday MingGe

Today is MingGe's 4th birthday.






We also had great news today from USCIS. Our I800 has been approved. It was just sent via overnight mail on Wednesday (waiting for LOA) so that is 3 business days! Thank you USCIS!! This is important because it is required to schedule our consulate appointment. Now as soon as we get Travel Approval from China we will be able to make our appointment and go. I am so happy!!

Elaine also let me know that MingGe's birthday package arrived safely. We sent her some stickers, birthday cards, including hand made ones from Jack and Ruby, as well as some hair elastics. They will bring it to MingGe tomorrow. I hope she has a great day.

D

LOA! LOA!! LOA!!!

We were very fortunate to receive our LOA after 82 days! This means we will be traveling to China soon to bring MingGe home!!!

Our LOA is being sent to us via overnight mail, we will sign and overnight back. It will go back to CCAA who will issue Travel Approval. TA usually takes 3-4 weeks. As soon as that is in hand we can request a consulate appointment. All travel arrangements will hinge upon the consulate appointment in Guangzhou.

As soon as I hung up with our agency I called John's cell. I can't believe it but he actually had it on and answered (this must be a sign). Even though I was crying I managed to get the words out and John was able to celebrate the news with the lunch bunch.

I sent a note to Elaine and Migyeong since it was the middle of the night. I also had to call Ali and my mother. Don't know Maria or Nick's numbers at work so they will have to wait until tonight. I also called Nana and Papa. Papa was skiing but Nana was thrilled to hear the news!!

I can't believe this is really happening. Thank you Lord!!!!

Danelle