In China Itinerary

Inside China Travel Itinerary
Jiangxi Family - Hunsaker
January 17 — January 29, 2008

Jan. 17 (Thu) Arrive in Beijing Flight: KOREAN AIR 853/8:10pm
Stay at Zhaolong Hotel (3 nights)
Tel: 01186-10-65972299 Fax: 01186-10-65972288
FTIA Coordinator: Catherine: 01186-13910937695

Jan. 18 (Fri) – 19 (Sat) We will arrange tours to the Great Wall, Summer Palace and Forbidden City.
(Watch Acrobatic Show on Friday afternoon)

Jan. 20 (Sun) Morning: Beijing to Nanchang Flight: MU 5174 (11:35am-1:55pm)
Stay at Galactic Peace International Hotel (5 nights)
Tel: 01186-791-6111118 Fax: 01186-791-8865088
Afternoon: Go to the Civil Affairs Bureau of Jiangxi Province to receive your child
Local guide: Mary: 01186-13807914383
Jan. 21 (Mon) Morning: Go to the Civil Affairs Bureau of Jiangxi Province to complete the adoption registration procedure. Go to the Notary Office to complete notarization
procedure

Jan. 22 (Tue) – Jan. 23 (Wed) Tour may be arranged and will be optional. Free time available if not touring

Jan. 24 (Thu) Morning: Visit the Nanchang orphanage on Thursday
Afternoon: Pick up all notarized paperwork for your child

Jan. 25 (Fri) Morning: Pick up the passport for your child Afternoon: Nanchang to Guangzhou Flight: HU 7164 (3:30pm-4:55pm)
Stay at White Swan Hotel (4 nights)
Tel: 01186-20-81886968 Fax: 01186-20-81861188
A local guide will pick you up at the airport and will take you to the hotel
Local guide: Helen: 01186-13724018461

Jan. 26 (Sat) Morning: Have visa picture taken and medical exam performed for your child

Jan. 27 (Sun) Morning: Tour may be arranged and will be optional. Free time available if not touring

Jan. 28 (Mon) Morning: Your local guide submits the visa application documents for you to the U.S.
Consulate Afternoon: Tour may be arranged and will be optional. Free time available if not touring

Jan. 29 (Tue) Afternoon: Have the group-oath taken at the U.S. Consulate
Receive your child’s visa
Evening: Guangzhou to LA Flight: CZ 327 Dep.: 9:00pm

Have a wonderful trip!
We have arranged you to visit the orphanage. The round trip from the capital City to the orphanage is about 2.5 hours. The fare has included in your inside China costs.
(Please note: your actual schedule in China may vary slightly from this itinerary)

Christmas lights at Temple Square

After going to to Provo to see my sister's new baby (see post below) we went to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, UT. The lights were amazing - and there were tons of people. We spent a couple of hours walking around, watching the nativity and walking up to see the statue of Christ.

Uncle Nathan and Aunt Heidi went with us (lucky for us.... or I'm sure we would have lost a child or two). Meili would not let Nathan and Heidi out of her sight. They are so good to the kids and they (we) love having them around.

Congratulations Leslie and Tavis!!!!

Introducing Tavis Parker Johnson (aka... Parker)! He was born on December 22nd at 11:45 pm weighing 6lbs and 13 ounces and 19 inches long. We drove down Sunday morning to meet Parker. He is darling and so, so sweet!!! Leslie, Tavis and Mia are so lucky to have their newest addition.
Congratulations! We are so happy he is here and is healthy and mom is doing well too (looking great too)!!!

updated measurements - taken on 11/29

We just received these measurements:

Height(cm) 73 28.7 inches long - 3rd percentile
Weight(kg) 10 -22 lbs - 75th percentile (this is if she wasn't wearing clothes..i don't know if she was)
Head Size (cm) 45 17.71 inches 50th percentile
Chest Size (cm) 46 -18.1 inches
Feet Length (cm) 12 - 4.7 inches
Teeth 6/6 - not sure if the is 6 total or 6 on top and 6 on bottom..??

flights

Well... after a long day of phone calls I have our flights!!! YEAH!!! I was able to use 120,000 frequent flier miles... another YEAH!!!
Here are our flights:
1/16 8:30- 9:29 Salt Lake City to Los Angeles
1/16 11:05 -5:10 pm (1/17 - we lose 15 hours) - LA to Korea
1/17 7:00 - 8:10 pm Korea - Beijing
(no long lay overs... :) )

1/29 9:00pm - 5:50pm (January 29 - getting the day back-notice we get back before we left) Guangzhou to Los Angeles
1/29 9:20 pm - 12:05 am LA - Salt Lake City (I think we will get a hotel in SLC)

I am so happy to have a direct flight from China back to the US. Hopefully we will sleep the whole way home. (but that may be bad because we will need to sleep again when we get home)

Travel dates

Mckenzie and I will be traveling to China on January 16th, 2008 and returning home on January 30th, 2008. We are working on flights and hope to use frequent flier miles (looks like it should work) but we will know more shortly. After we have the flights the China staff (for FTIA) will start making plans for our in-China travel and sight seeeing. We are flying to Beijing (get there pm on the 17th) and will probably spend the next day or two touring. I am excited to have this time to spend with Mckenzie... hopefully we will create some wonderful memories and it will be nice to get our feet under us before we travel to pick up Lili (I would guess the 20th or so).
We should have our itinerary by the end of the week!!!
YEAH!!! This does not feel real yet!!! I'm sure once we have all 5 kids home it will... aghhhh...

Lili is19 months old today.
I just received word from our agency that they think we will travel the week of january 14th. We will know for sure by the end of the week. I hoped we would be able to go a bit sooner but with the holidays this will probably work out better. We should have her by about the time she is 20 months!!! Yeah!!! (hopefully, with this longer wait they will potty train her :)... I am not having any luck getting Meili potty trained ... maybe that is what I should concentrate on for the next month)

TA...TA...TA...TA!!!!

I received the phone call around 9:30 that our agency received our travel approval today!!! YEAH!!! She said that we will travel with the group traveling the 16th of January... I begged her to try for the 2nd of January. She is going to try but she did not seem too optimistic!!! Regardless, Mckenzie and I are going to China to get our baby!! Mommy's coming!!! (This is why I am so superstitious.... with a lady bug sighting the day before - how can I not be?) Happy day!!! The lady who does travel arrangements at FTIA is out of the office today (go figure) and will be back in tomorrow and we can ask about the 2nd. We should have US Consolate appointments confirmed by the end of the week!!! Yahoo (Yaboo!!!)

Ladybug, ladybug...

Ok, call me crazy BUT...

I was sweeping my kitchen floor this morning (remember, it is December and it has been freezing temperatures for a good month and a half now) and after I was done I noticed a tiny, little ladybug walking around on the floor. We all thought that it was pretty amazing that the ladybug has stayed alive this long BUT I'm taking it as a sign that good luck is coming. :) (Ladybugs are known through out the international adoption community as a sign of good luck.) Maybe, just maybe we will get our Travel Approval tomorrow (or at least soon) :)

Here is Miss Lili

Our agency received this cute picture today! I love the look on her face. Look at her teeth and her LONG eyelashes and her bushy eye brows. Isn't she cute!!! The hemangiomas don't look so bad - we wonder if they are going down a bit. Her skin looks like it recovered well from all of the bug bites.

We are in love!!!

Only a few more weeks and we will have her in our arms. I can't wait to see what she really looks like- we keep getting pictures of her hemangiomas instead of her - better than nothing :)

snowy day

Well, we finally have enough snow for the kids to play in. I think Meili ate a couple of gallons of snow and the boys had a good snowball fight with Mckenzie and Lexi (the boys claim they won). After everyone came in I was getting a bit frusterated because I could not find Mckenzie and I needed her. I finally found her out shoveling our widowed neighbors driveway... wow... that made me happy :) Meili loves the sunglasses she just found at the bottom of the toy box and loves to pretend that she is mom (or various other people) driving around in her car with her baby.

I hope everyone is having a great day!

Melanie

I love this song...

My friend, Lora, just sent me this beautiful song on you tube. Jodie gave it to me last year but Meili hadn't spent any Christmas' away from us so it did not affect me too much. (I loved it and thought it was beautiful last year.) It hit me much harder this year! I think I would have cried big tears if my kids weren't laughing so hard at me. Anyway, here it is. I think it is beautiful http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7285661691084173302&q=third+day+merry+christmas&total=17&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=7

Scott just left for Texas. His trip was canceled last week an hour before he was supposed to get on the plane... so, he'll be gone this week instead. The boys cried when he left and now they are ready to "get the party started"... ugh... they wear me out! Gotta love it!!!! Enjoy your quiet week Scott!!! We love you!!!