On Friday our Travel Approval came a few days earlier than we were told. Our agency was able to set an appointment at the Consulate for December 8th and we bought our tickets to Shanghai a few nights ago. Todd and I will leave very early on Sunday November 28th we will connect in another city and make it to Shanghai around noon. We will leave Evangelia and Elijah here since we will be coming back Tuesday November 30th and we are still figuring out the details of who will be watching them. Todd and I will arrive in Shanghai and we will go to where Ian was found. Then on Monday we will get him! I am not sure who is bringing him but since we are not with a travel group they may bring him to our hotel room. We will spend Monday getting to know each other and we will take a trip back to his orphanage to see where he has spent his last 15 months and then most of Tuesday we will be filling out more papers. Tuesday night we will leave and get into our city around midnight. I am hoping and asking that Ian will sleep in the Ergo.
We will arrive back here and have a time for our friends here to meet him and also say good bye for the next 6 months. We'll be here only a few days and then our entire family will leave for Guangzhou either December 5th or 6th. Most likely we will be traveling again at night so we hope that all 3 kiddos will do well. We have quite a travel schedule. To get to Guangzhou we have to connect in another city first. We will not only be traveling with 3 kids for the first time but we will also be traveling with everything we will need for the next half of a year! I am packing right now and hoping to get our items in only 5 pieces of luggage. So that means in total we will have 5 possibly 6 large bags, 4 backpacks, 1 large stroller, 2 adults and 3 kids - 4yrs, 2.5yrs, and 1.5 yrs old. To leave the country we will probably be flying to the capital and spending the night and then leave the following day for our long 24 hour trip back to America. It will seem like we are traveling for a week to get back to America since we will leave our home on either the 5th or 6th and arrive back in America on the 11th or so.
Ian will still be on his schedule and we will have to work with him and around our family's schedule. I am pretty hopeful that Ev and Elijah will do well with all the travel. For their young ages they are pretty seasoned international travelers. I hope they both will stay busy with the many things I am packing in their back packs so I can tend to Ian. I am asking that he will go with the flow and that he won't get too stressed out by the several airplane rides and everything else that is new to him.
I still have a lot to do. We are hosting Thanksgiving I am cooking the turkey and a few small items. Todd is still going to class this week so I am just praying that I can get everything done that I need to in the next 6 days!
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