will we travel in October???

Will we travel in October???
Here are two things that could make our travel more complicated.

One: National Holiday - the first week of October is the National Holiday - just about everything is closed in celebration, including government offices.

Two: Guangzhou Trade Fair with an influx of tens of thousands of additional people into the city, takes place the last two weeks of October so flights, hotels, ground transportation, etc. is next to impossible to secure during this time. Guangzhou is where the US Consulate is and we can't take Willem home without a stop there.

update on Willem

We have some updated stats on Willem. What a tiny peanut!

Height 30.0 inches
weight 17.6 pounds
head circumference 19.1 inches
chest circumference 19.7 inches
foot 4.5 inches
teeth 2

I800 & Alaska

We're still in a waiting period before we'll know anything more about traveling to get Willem. I dropped off some more immigration paperwork yesterday. One form is a petition to classify Willem as an immediate relative instead of an orphan - basically saying that he has parents now. The forms have to be reviewed by the US government, then sent to the U.S. consulate in China who will pre-adjudicate them (whatever that means). After that, a document is sent to the Chinese government telling them that we're all set. That's what they need in order to issue a travel invitation. Once that comes we can make our travel plans. It will likely be October before that all happens. But that's just our best guess. I'd love for the time to pass quickly - at the same time, I'm in no hurry for this summer to be over.

Henry and I recently returned from a cruise to Alaska to celebrate our 10th anniversary. It was an amazing trip. Here are a few pictures:

Our ship: the Sapphire Princess

sitting on the deck, eating french fries while cruising past Alaskan wilderness= a slice of heaven

A humpback whale: whale watching was the highlight of the trip for me. The weather was incredible and we saw about 16 whales. We observed a whale breaching, a group of whales using bubble net feeding and many whales diving.

There were also Orca feeding in this area. This group of Orca were about 50 feet from our boat. Amazing!

crusing along the glaciers of College Fjord


First formal night on the cruise
(We missed the second one because we both got motion sick.)

riding a camel

We went to the zoo yesterday with a group of people from church. This was Meili's favorite part:

dentist and paperwork

Our LOA (Letter of Acceptance) has arrived from China. This means that our paperwork has all been checked and officially cleared by the Chinese government. Now we have a few forms to mail back and then will need to wait for our TA (Travel Approval) to come. That's been taking about 6-9 weeks for most families. After that TA comes, we can get plane tickets etc. One step closer!!!

Meili had her first dentist appointment today. She was wonderful and especially loved the bag of goodies she got when she was done. The hygenist gave her sunglasses to wear when she was getting her teeth cleaned. Meili thought that was so funny!