FLY, FLY, FLY!

Well, the tickets are purchased and the itineraries are coming together. It has been a long week in making all the right arrangements...but we are almost there, so that I can focus on other things to get ready! So here is the plan:

We begin our journey on July 16th in the late afternoon from St. George to Las Vegas to catch our first flight: Las Vegas to LAX.

We then meet up with the Campbell family (all 7 of them!) at LAX

Together we will take our long flight LA to Beijing - leaving at 1:40 a.m. on the morning of the 17th and arriving in Beijing a day later on the 18th at 5:20 a.m. (the flight is about 12 hours, but with the time change and all, we lose a full day)

We will have some fun tourist time in Beijing for about 3 days (18-21)

Then, I think, a trip to Xian (where the famous terra cotta soldiers are) for 2 days then back to Beijing to see the Campbell kids off on a flight back to the USA on July 23rd.

The rest of us: me, Emma, Karen and Matt, will have one 'free day' in Beijing before I meet up wtih the other adoptive families from my agency for orientation on July 25th.

The next day we fly off to Lanzhou in Gansu province....and that same day we will meet RJ!!!!

We will stay in Lanzhou for about a week completing the adoption and waiting for RJ's chinese passport.

On July 31st (Happy Birthday Jan!) we fly out again - Karen and Matt will fly back to Beijing to catch their flight home; and Emma, RJ and I will fly to Guangzhou in southern China to complete the visa paperwork.

August 6th is our final day of flights. We start in the afternoon and fly from Guangzhou to Beijing (3 hour flight), have a layover of about 4 hours then fly from Beijing to Los Angeles (12 hours), then have a short layover (hopefully enough time to get through customs and change terminals) and fly from Los Angeles to Las Vegas (1 1/2 hours). Hopefully someone will pick up three weary travelers from the airport...and drive us another 2 hours home. That day is going to be an adventure...and a real test of my will and strength as a single mom of two - a 2 year old and a 4 year old. Pray for me!