We are going to China!

We received TA on the 19th which is CRAZY fast!!  Most people wait at least two weeks for it and that's totally what I was expecting.  I about fell over when the adoption agency called and said, "It's HERE!"  

And then today we got our final thing needed from China.  We needed to get our US Consulate appointment set so we'd know when we absolutely had to be there.  This also lets the facilitator in China know when to set up the days/times to meet our girls.  (This is called "Gotcha Day" in the adoption world but I don't really like that term.  Not sure what we'll call it, if anything.  May end up calling it Gotcha Day anyway just because that's the language everyone speaks.  I don't know. . .)  So that Consular Appointment (CA) is set for Aug 20.  

We're still trying to figure out the flights and stuff.  Our travel agent is working hard right now!  We'll most likely be flying out on Aug 2 and arriving in Beijing on the 3rd.  Then we fly out that same day to Xi'an.  We'll actually be meeting Grace on Sunday, Aug 4.  Usually Gotcha Days are on Mondays but the orphanage requested Sunday.  One day closer to her is OK with me!!!  We'll spend the rest of that week in Xi'an and possibly (hopefully) catching a flight up to the city where her orphanage is.  We'll fly out of Xi'an to Nanjing on the 10th and we'll meet Emily on the 12th.  We'll hang out in her province and hopefully visit her orphanage as well.  Her's is a little closer to the capitol (Nanjing) so we could actually drive there.  It's all up to the orphanage directors though.  We'll fly out of Nanjing and head to Guangzhou on the 16th.  The girls will have their medical appointments on the 17th and our US Consulate appointment will be early in the morning on the 20th.  We'll fly out of Guangzhou back to Beijing on the 22nd and spend a few days there touring the Great Wall, Forbidden City, etc. with the girls and then we'll be headed home on the 25th-26th.  That means we'll be home for Josh's birthday!  We'll all be dead tired and won't feel a bit like celebrating but we'll be home!!

I cannot believe this happening.  I knew it would, but we are leaving NEXT WEEK!  Holy cow.  I've got some serious stuff to do!