A Place For EVERYONE & ANYONE...

{an open invitation for those who have always & will continue to support us}

OK seeing how today marks ONE WEEK until we leave for China, it seems I am finally getting extremely excited and once again nervous! After thinking about it for some time, I decided to make some changes to Benjamin's site!

The first change was ~ I made his web site a site for EVERYONE! Yes for EVERYONE! With a click of the mouse, I made his site a site for ANYONE to post comments! All you need to do is, click on the Comments link below each journal entry (do not click on the "link to this post" link) and wait for the pop up box to appear. Once that pop up box appears, you will see a "Leave Your Comment" block (you may have to scroll down within the pop up box to get to the block to type your message). It is there in that box that you can start typing your message. Once completed, please remember to sign your name to the bottom of the message within the Leave Your Comment block (so I know who is leaving us the message) and scroll down until to see "Anonymous" and click on the circle located just before it (make sure the circle before Anonymous is highlight). And than last step is, click on "Publish Your Comment" (big orange button listed directly below "Anonymous" and within a few seconds, your message will appear! It is that easy! And now EVERYONE & ANYONE can leave us a comment!

Second change was ~ I set up for each & every comment left to not only be posted within the comment link but also a copy of your message to be sent to my email address! Seeing how some Internet sites are blocked in China {and Blogger - at times - being one of them}, I will find it difficult when in China to read all your messages. So with another few clicks under the setting bar, I was able to add my primary email address so I can read every one's message that is left!

There is one thing I want to make clear & it is really sad that I must say this, but I would really appreciate that no one leaves "unwanted" "nasty" or "rude" comments. I have seen it happen before to others and while everyone might not agree with our life style, our decisions, or our beliefs, please don't leave your opinion here! This is an adoption web site for a little boy who will finally be united with his family after a year of surprises, joy, heartache, tears and excitement. YES, this web site is all about our Benjamin. So if you feel the need to tell us something that may not be so nice, please email me privately ~ remember this HERE is not about us, it is about a little boy who has been waiting for a family for over 2 years now...(plus please keep in mind if there is a comment we DON'T approve, it will be deleted)

With that said, I truly hope you all join in on following along in what is most likely going to be our final adoption journey to China. So many of our family & friends have followed us along in the past and left some beautiful comments along the way. I am so looking forward to reading each & every one of the comments that will be left. You just don't know how much your words mean to us and will mean to our son ~ in the future...

So post away {that's comments I mean}!!!!

Our Travel Schedule!

Listed Below is the details of the Travel Schedule we received from CCAI!

6/23 Leave US for Beijing

6/24 Arrive In Beijing

6/25 (my sister's birthday) Tour Beijing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Hutong Tour and Acrobatics Show...As for Keith, Francesca, and I this will be a free day for us (we decided not to do the tours this day)

6/26 Still Touring Beijing: Great Wall and Mings Tomb ~ which we are doing!

6/27 Depart Beijing for Zhengzhou

6/28 BENJAMIN'S FOREVER FAMILY DAY!!!! Sometime in the afternoon, we will FINALLY be united with our Benjamin!!!!

6/29 (Keith's birthday) Adoption Registration in the morning & Lotus Shopping Center in the afternoon

6/30 Free Day!

7/01 Free Day!

7/02 Receive Chinese passports and leave Zhengzhou for Guangzhou

7/03 Have Benjamin's health physical completed, TB test done, and visa photo taken

7/04 Free Day!

7/05 Free Day!

7/06 Have TB test checked out at clinic and than Free Day!

7/07 Consulate Appointment ~ completed by our CCAI representative

7/08 Our Consulate Appointment ~ Taking the Oath!

7/09 Free Day!

7/10 Leave Guangzhou for Beijing where we will catch a flight home bond!

Flights Booked!

After what seems like forever (seriously I was working both online and the phone line this past Friday to find decent priced flights)...we finally found amazing flights to and from Beijing!!!!

Flight out on the June 23rd and Return home on July 10th!

{two little letters we have been so waiting for} TA!!!!!!

As of today, we have finally received our TA which is our travel approval!!! We are currently waiting on CA (Consulate Appointment) confirmation before booking any tickets...

We were told that we could be traveling as soon as June 16th or June 23rd ~ only time will tell! As soon as I have our dates, I will be posting them here!

Again THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us along the way to be united with our son! Words will never be able to express how truly blessed we are to have family & friends out there like you!

Visas & a New Car Seat!

Monday morning Keith headed into DC to drop off all our paper work for all the visas we will be needing for our travels to China! We should have official visas all stamped within our passports by the end of this week! (another "to do" to check off my list)



and...



Also on Monday morning, I finally got around to ordering Benjamin's car seat! Just the though of having three little ones riding around with us is getting me very excited! Oh how I can't wait until it arrives!

Here is a photo of the exact one I ordered this morning from Walmart.com. At a price of under $44 and with a shipping fee of $.97 ~ I just could not pass it up! (plus it is another "to do" to check off my list)

Hope to be posting soon on our TA....

Article 5 (second LOA)

Finally, after what seemed like ~ forever ~ we received notice that our Article 5 has been picked up by our agency's rep in Guangzhou at the US Consulate and is being delivered to the CCAA in Beijing! Once the CCAA reviews all the information provided, they will than issue us TA (travel approval)!

Only a few more weeks until we know WHEN WE WILL BE LEAVING FOR CHINA!!!!!

Thinking ~ praying ~ that it will be the second week of June (if not sooner)....

Waiting...

As of Monday, we have been waiting one week for our Article 5 (second LOA) to arrive at our agency. When we received our NVC letter last Saturday, we had to wait until Monday to fax a copy of it to our agency ~ which we did! So as you can see, we are still waiting...

It is starting to look like we are traveling some time in June. Not sure when...but I will keep you all posted.

Next step after receiving our Article 5, we than wait for TA....