Julie and her Xiushan "cousins" will be making a 10-12 hour long bus trip to meet their new families. It's a 460 mile drive through 2 mountain ranges!

Our Itinerary

July 6 (1:20 AM)-- Leave San Francisco for Hong Kong
July 7-- Arrive in Hong Kong
July 8-- Group Tour
July 9-- Leave Hong Kong for Chongqing
July 10-- GOTCHA DAY! Julie will be placed in our arms around 7 PM.
July 11-- tons of paperwork
July 12-- medical consult, half-day tour of Chongqing
July 13-- Rest and half-day tour to the Chongqing Zoo (PANDAS!)
July 14-- Half-day tour to the old town- CiQiKou
July 15-- Leave Chongqing for Guangzhou
July 16-- Julie gets her visa physical and photo taken
July 17-- Rest, shop
July 18-- Consulate appointment
July 19-- US consulate oath
July 20-- WE'RE HOME!!!!!

Julie's Bedroom

Just to past the time.... Here's how Julie's room looks like (ignore the scrapbooking material and luggage). You can click on the images for a larger view.

Our Official Travel Dates

We learned today that we are leaving San Francisco to Hong Kong on July 6th. We'll be back with our little bundle of joy on July 20th. We are so excited to get to China and meet the 13 other families who are also adopting from Xiushan orphanage or somewhere in Chongqing. Two weeks and counting....

Tentative Travel Dates!

This morning we found out from our agency that our US Consulate appointment in China is scheduled for June 18th, with the actually swearing in the morning of June 19th! Now that this appointment is set our agency is frantically arranging our travel plans. Our tentative dates of travel are July 5th-21st, give or take a day or two! HOORAY! I'll post again when we have the definates.

Travel Approval!!!

We found out today that the Chinese government has granted us travel approval! Our agency is now requesting our US consulate appointments in China. Once we have that date we pretty much know when we get to travel. I have a feeling we will find out on Monday, so until then I will stare at Julie's pictures and try not to cry at almost anything. Knowing who Julie is has made me so very emotional. Two days ago I started to cry in my car because I liked the melody of a Barenaked Ladies song. Now that is really out of control.

Look at that upper body strength!

Julie at 7 months - Bald is Beautiful

Finally... An update!

We finally have something new to report!! Today was a great day. We received Julie's full translated Development Report and 2 updated photos! I just stare at this baby and feel so unbelievably blessed. So without further ado, here is some updated info about our daughter:

Julie reportedly likes listening to light music and "falls asleep in the pleasant music each day". She has a good appetite, however, at 7 months weighed only a little over 14 lbs. At 3 months she was already giggling and recognized her nannies. As of May 25th, she has no teeth, can sit if supported and can babble. The orphanage wrote: "Little Xiu Xing has fair and delicate skin, a round little face, and a pair of big and smart eyes. She is a cute child." We have the pictures to prove it. The part of the report that makes me cry every time I read it is: "Xing Xing (means 'star'; her nick name) brings a beautiful scene in the sky. We wish our little 'star' will be as beautiful and shining as the star in the sky and become a lovely star in your life!". Thank you Chongqing City Xiushan County Social Welfare Institute. We are forever grateful.

We still don't know when we get to pick our Julie up. It is so hard to wait. I am getting very emotional and NEED to get to China. I hope to find out by next week, but think we should leave in early July. Send us positive vibes....