TA and CA and Flights Booked....Oh My!!!

Ok, so that might have been a little cheesy, but I couldn't help myself!  Please forgive me, I'm a giddy mom who's about to go wrap her arms around her little man that she's been waiting for for nearly a year!  So what does all of that mean?  It means this:  As I had posted on Monday, we received our TA (Travel Approval,) from China.  By 9pm that night, we had our CA (Consulate Appointment,) confirmed by China.  This is the date that really determines what your travel schedule looks like.  As of 10pm last night, our tickets to China were purchased!  Can you even believe it?  Because we still can't :)

So what is our plan?  well, due to flight prices, we are now getting into China a day earlier than expected, which gives us a day in Beijing to do whatever we want.  So what will we do, you ask?  Oh you know, probably go to visit the Great Wall.  No big deal.  (Please note the sarcasm in that sentence!  I'm SO beyond excited to be able to add it into our journey!  It was really the only thing I felt like I would miss in not going to Beijing!)

What is up after our mini visit to Beijing.  A little town that they call Zhangjiajie.  We want to go there because it looks a little something like this....

Photo courtesy of chinafacttours.com

Breathtaking.  We cannot wait to experience more of God's marvelous creation and amazing artwork!!  If it looks familiar at all to you, it's because the movie, Avatar, was partially filmed in this area.  The idea of the floating mountains in the movie was inspired by these tree topped peaks.  Oh one little thing that I forgot to mention....there are cable cars.  Like, crazy high cable cars that you need to take to get to the top.  I'm afraid of heights.  Cable cars + fear of heights = need for lots of prayers!  

Photo courtesy of paulchong.net

See?  I wasn't kidding!  The views from the top are unbelievable though, so I know that I have to do it!  I get nervous just looking at that picture.  AND...some of the cable cars have glass bottoms.  Really people?  Is that necessary?  I think I might have to resort to either looking up, or just shutting my eyes and spending the entire trip to the top in prayer :)

Moving right along, we will spend two days in Zhangjiajie, and then travel onto a city called Changsha, which is where we will get to meet our little man and have him join our family forever!  This will be on Monday, November 3rd in China, which of course with the time change will be Sunday, November 2nd in the U.S.  This probably means nothing to you, but if you are familiar with the world of adoption, you may know that in the U.S., November 2nd is National Orphan Sunday.  A day that churches and other organizations set aside to recognize our call to care for the 150 million orphans worldwide.  But this Orphan Sunday will be a particularly special Orphan Sunday.  There will be 150 million orphans MINUS ONE!!!!!  It is absolutely no coincidence in my mind that this will be the day that we meet the newest member of our family.  What an amazing and faithful God we serve!

I will end by asking you to consider being a partner in prayer with us during our journey.  We would love to have a group of our family and friends who are interested in covering us in prayer, and do have specific requests for specific points during our journey.  If you are interested in being part of our prayer team, please message me through Facebook, email us, or call us!!!  Thank you so much to all of you who have already been praying for our little man and this process.  We are so grateful and so blessed by all of you!