Two weeks from today and a new travel blog

Two weeks from today we will be on a plane headed to China! We have been super busy with packing. All of Mia's stuff is officially packed! I will pack for Dan and I the weekend before we leave because I know I will be down to the last minute before I figure out what I will be bringing as far as clothing goes. I am trying hard not overpack and so far I have been quite please with what I have packed so far. We are taking advantage of every inch of space and of course do not want to go over the weight limit or lug heavy luggage around.

We have also decided to change our blogsite while we are in China. I have heard of families being unable to access their blogs from China using blogspot and do not want to take the chance that this could happen. I will post on this site until we leave and after we return but our travel site is www.youbelong.net/thepetersons. We can't wait to share this amazing journey with all of you!

Flights are booked!!!

Whew! I can finally breathe a sigh of relief, at least, for the next hour until I find something else to fret over! OUR FLIGHTS ARE BOOKED! Our official travel dates are July 8-July 24. We just received confirmation of our CA(consulate appointment) in China for July 22. We will take an oath on July 23 and we are free to leave for the good ole USA on July 24!

We have TA!

We received our TA (travel approval) today from our agency! WAHOO! This is the final piece of the puzzle and now we can begin to plan our travel. Our agency is working on scheduling our CA (consulate appointment in China) and after that is confirmed we can book our flights! Our tentative travel dates are July 8th to July 22! We are going to China!

Ebay to the rescue

After the slight initial shock of my bald little beauty and after deciding there is simply no point in bringing the hairbows I have collected for years to China I found a solution on ebay~baby headbands! After three boys there is no way I can go to China without being able to put one hairbow in my daughter's hair or around her head in this case. I have to admit this headband/hairbow thing could become slightly addicting. Some of the headbands with the flowers and such look like they could be bigger than her head! Hopefully she will cooperate and wear her headbands without any fuss. If not at least I made the effort, however vain it may be.

New pictures of Mia!

I opened my e-mail today to find a updated pictures of Mia! It was an answer to prayer because I have really been praying for some new pictures and an update on our little girl! Unfortuantely the orphanage gave her a new "summer do" and shaved her head! Forget the hairbows and bring on the sunblock and summer hats!

I e-mailed our agency because in her initial reports it states that she is in foster care but her update mentions the orphanage a couple times. I am hoping we get our TA within the next couple of weeks so that we can travel in July. For now her new pictures have made my day!

Still making progress

Wow! That was fast! We received our new I-171H today with on fingerprints updated. We were just fingerprinted on June 3rd and I really wasn't expecting our new I-171H for another couple weeks. Maybe since our case has been sitting there since 2006 it moved faster. Who knows but I will take progress wherever I can get it! We also received our Chinese visas back today~less than two weeks after we applied! If only everything and everyone worked this quickly! The next piece of the puzzle is our travel approval (TA). I am going to "guess" because I am feeling hopeful today and still praying for July travel that we will get our TA within the next two weeks. Optimistic, aren't I?

Still praying for an update and new pictures of little Mia. Of course I know that this may not happen but since I am feeling so hopeful I will put it out there. I have this horrible feeling that because our pictures are from when she was a young baby that on our gotcha day I am not going to be able to recognize her. Sigh. I would love to have a little preview via updated pictures of what our little toddler looks like now.

I am still organizing and buying things here in there in anticipation of travel. I am seriously overwhelmed with some of the packing lists I have found. A tub for sanitizing bottles and tongs to remove the bottles from the boiling water? I never in a million years would have thought of this! Who knew? Obviously we have never been to China before so what do we know but I can't imagine having enough room in our luggage to pack half of the "stuff" I have found on packing lists! Did I mention that my dh loathes overpacking? I have a feeling if I "try" to pack all this "stuff" and my dh has to haul it all he may just leave me behind! For those of you who have BTDT I would love to know some of the "stuff" you absolutely could not have done without.

Accomplishments of this week

I managed to dig myself out from the mound of paperwork from travel packet II that we got on Friday. Happy weekend to me! It was happy don't get me wrong I am just tired of paperwork! Oh and I hit a snafu (completely through fault of my own) with our LOA that we received on Saturday. We were suppose to date it year/month/day but somehow I missed it even though it was clearly stated on the letter and signed 5/29/09. I quickly realized "my" mistake and corrected it but not before spending all weekend worrying if this would somehow cause further delays. Fortunately, I e-mailed our agency Monday morning and she didn't think it would be a problem. In fact she said another family just did the same thing. Good now I don't feel quite as stupid!

We mailed our visa applications and the remaining paperwork in travel packet II. Also included was a very substantial cashier's check to our agency for our orphanage donation. That one stung for just a minute! We figure the less money we have to physicially carry on our beings the better!

This is all starting to feel very real. Our world is soon going to change forever. I can't wait to see it all unfold.