We leave Tuesday March 16th for China!!!

Hey Michael, we are coming to meet you and cannot wait to bring you home. As I just read the email that gave our travel information my stomach did a flip flop and I got extremely excited! We are coming.....we know the date we are leaving and it is time to start packing. I am overcome with nervousness, excitement and a whole lot more emotions all in one.

We will plan on leaving South Bend on Tuesday, March 16th at 5:54am. We will arrive in Hong Kong on Wednesday, March 17th at 4:55 pm. That evening we will fly to Guangzhou, Guangdong and spend the night.

On March 18th we will drive to Dapu, Mandy's birth town, with a personal guide. We visit her orphanage, her finding location and explore the town. All of us are excited to be able to spend time together exploring Dapu. I think doing this at the beginning of the trip will be the best option for Mandy and it will be a great opportunity to continue learning more about her story. We will drive back to Guangzhou on Saturday, March 20th and fly to Changsha on March 21st to meet up with 2 other families that will be adopting children from Michael's orphanage.

The big day is Monday, March 22nd ---- we will meet Michael FuWei face to face. We talk about Mandy's gotcha day on a regular basis but as I am anticipating another one, I am amazed at the memories that just come flooding through my mind. These memories are so full of emotion and of falling in love with a beautiful 10 mth old baby girl. I can't wait to have this experience with Michael!

In the next couple of days we will find out more about our itinerary while in Changsha and Guangzhou.

On Saturday, April 2nd we will fly from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. However, we will miss the one nonstop flight to Chicago for the day so we will spend the night in Hong Kong and fly home on April 3rd. We will arrive in South Bend at 6:41 pm on Saturday April 3rd.

One step closer....now if I can just get all of our stuff in the 3 suitcases and 3 backpacks.

Love all of you, Sheila