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| September 30, 2003 We went to the Bethany Waiting Families Meeting tonight. We got to meet some wonderful travel mates -- Keith and Christy Connors. If everyone in our travel group is as nice as the Connors we will have a fabulous trip. We learned a lot at the meeting from families who have been to China and back recently. Unfortunately, no information about travel approvals. Sigh... I learned that everywhere is crowded! The person compared it to a Pacer's Game. I assume she meant the concourse during half time. Hard Rock Cafe Beijing has good hamburgers. Don't take a lot of clothes. Have your laundry done over there. I can't wait to go. October 1, 2003 Yeah! TA's are in! We have to wait until next week for confirmation. I am hoping we travel after Halloween. It would be nice to be here to watch Bridget in the Day Nursery Halloween Parade. She wants to be a unicorn again. Or maybe The Cat in the Hat. October 3, 2003 Received a call at work from Caring Hands (the courier service we used to get our visas). They are on their way to us! Yeah! They should be delivered to Joe's office on Monday. Bridget told me she wants Katie to go with us to see "Monsters on Ice" at Conseco in December. I thought that was sweet. I'm not sure Katie will be going or staying home with Daddy. October 10, 2003 Wahoo! We have dates! Our consulate appointment is November 20 (Katie's 1sr birthday)! We must be in Nanjing on November 16. I assume to get our baby! We should get our itinerary later today. October 15, 2003 Not much going on. Just anticipating our journey to the Middle Kingdom to meet our wonderful Katie! I have a horrible cold and I've blown my nose so much I look like Rudolph! Better now than next month in China. This weekend I will finalize (I hope!) our packing list. That will give me something to do while we await the "final itinerary" with our China information. I can't wait to find out what hotels we are staying in. October 17, 2003 We are off to a Pacer game tonight. We are going with our friends, Pat & Christina Bosler. The house is a mess so I am rather glad we could find someone to watch Bridget at our home (heehee). I have a lot of work to do before we head to China. We need to take down the guest bed in the girls' room so we can set up the crib for Katie. We will probably do that the first week of November. November 10, 2003 I thought leaving Bridget at the Grannan's house would be the hardest thing ever! I was wrong! I forgot to bring her medicine (Tylenol, etc..) and dropped it off at Jordon School of Ballet (Maria had a class). I thought I could slip in without Bridget seeing me, maybe catch a glimpse of her watching Maria. See saw me. I will never forgot her screaming for me down the hall! I bawled all the way home! November 11, 2003 We made it to the airport in plenty of time. Check-in wasn't too bad. Unfortunately, our flight to Chicago left late, making us miss our flight to Beijing. While sitting on the tarp waiting to take off we contacted Becca Piper at the travel agency and she told us of flight to Tokyo which we managed to get on. It was a fast pace morning! The flight over was filled with watching movies, sleeping, and reading. The seats all had mini movie screens and we had a choice of 5 or 6 different movies. I watched "The Search for Nemo". We arrived in Beijing around 9 p.m. (China time). Since we were so late we did not expect to be met at the airport. We were very surprised to be met by Selena, our guide from the in-county travel agency, hired by Bethany. What a relief. The bad part -- our luggage didn't make the trip. It was still in Chicago. |
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| One of the gardens at the Forbidden City. |