Friday, June 28, 2019

It's finally time to head out!

United Airlines 777-200 Departing San Francisco
It's finally time to head out! I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are to have this moment finally upon us. Every day, multiple times a day for the last month, we've been checking the message portal from Bethany Christian Services, our adoption agency to see if there is any new travel info for us that will give an idea of when we're going. Three months ago, Bethany  told us that travel typically happens about three months from when you receive the "Letter of Acceptance."  Well, they nailed that prediction to within one day.

Wednesday morning (July 3) we'll catch a puddle jumper to San Francisco and then spend the next 12 hours on a United 777 on our way to Beijing. (Aviation geeks click here to see the flight track of yesterday's flight.)

Nanchang - Jiangxi Province
Sunday the 7th, we head to Nanchang where we'll finally get to meet Emilia (that's what we're naming her) for the first time and spend the week settling in and getting to know each other.  Leading up to this, we've assumed Nanchang to be kind of a small town for China - you know, maybe the size of Fresno. Well... I guess we really need to rethink our understanding of "small" in China, because Nanchang is a small city of 5 million!

US Consulate - Guangzhou
Saturday the 13th, we're off to Guangzhou where we'll spend the remainder of our time securing her Visa to enter the U.S.  And then we'll finally catch a non-stop flight on China Southern back to L.A. (Airbus A380 double decker - And our seats our in the center section - very last row.)

China Southern A380 Landing at LAX
We cap that day off with a quick hour and a half flight on Southwest back to Sacramento and then it's time to truly begin living in this next chapter of Carey Family Life.

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

We think we have a departure date

We just got word yesterday that there's a pretty good chance we'll be heading to China next Wednesday the 3rd. We're waiting on the US Consulate in Guangzhou to grant our Visa appointment, and then we'll know for sure.  I'll keep you updated!

Thursday, June 6, 2019

China is getting closer

Just in the last few days we received confirmation from our adoption agency that the US Consulate in Guangzhou has received our DS-260 documents. What does that mean you might ask?  Well... it basically means that our window of travel will be anywhere from 1-4 weeks from June 18 (when our Article V approval is scheduled to be issued.)

Given that most families depart the U.S. on a Wednesday, we can pretty much narrow our departure to one of four dates:  June 26, July 3, July 10 or July 17.  This basically depends on how many families they are able to get together to travel at the same time.

Here's a little breakdown of what the trip will be like:

It will take roughly 14 days.  We arrive in Beijing (RED pin on map) on a Thursday and spend a few days getting acclimated to the time and culture, while also getting to be tourists.  (Peter's going to love this!)  This part is key in helping families get settled and rested before they start in on the very unsettling process of removing a child from the only home they know.

After about thee days in Beijing, we travel to Nanchang, (BLUE pin on map) the city where Emilia lives in the orphanage.  We'll take custody of her almost immediately and begin our new lives together.  We're told that the next several days are incredibly hard.  They'll be spent finalizing the adoption on the China side, getting her passport and just taking care of her, while doing everything possible to establish positive bonding.

From Nanchang, we'll travel to Guangzhou, (GREEN pin on map) the home of the U.S. Consulate. We'll be there for a few days, doing some touristy things, and then the final major step... obtaining her Visa to enter the U.S.

The trip home comes next and here's the cool thing:  Based upon the fact that the U.S. and China have adopted the policies of the Hague Convention, the moment she passes Immigration coming into the U.S., she becomes a U.S. citizen.

So there you have it.  Thanks for joining us in praying for our sweet Emilia and her transition into the Carey family.  More to come!

Saturday, June 1, 2019

A few pictures

In case you've been wondering what she looks like, here's Emilia. (This is the name we are giving her.)  The name she was given is Yun Xi.  She was born in March, 2018 and will be 15-16 months old when we pick her up.

1st Birthday

This is the first picture we got to see of her.

She has no trouble smiling.