Yesterday was my first day of leave, and I spent it packing, doing laundry, running a bunch of errands, cleaning house a little, and finalizing 1,000 little details. One thing I did was go to Kinko's and make many copies of all of our documents. I felt so organized!
That didn't last too long. Being me, I cannot leave on a trip without a bit of drama and some kind of last minute snafu.
Around 6:30, I was looking over all our documents one more time in the file we're taking. I noticed something that I had somehow overlooked all of the other times I read over our travel paperwork. We have to take an affadavit regarding vaccinating Anna Kathryn when we get home. The affadavit had to be signed AND notarized before we left the states. No exceptions (I called our family coordinator just to double check.)
Mild panic and a few tears ensued. After lots of phone calls to the various airports and online searching of banks, and several phone calls to friends who might be -- or know -- a notary willing to do their thing at 7:30 PM, my scattered brain remembered something important.
Wal-Mart has banks in many of its stores, and a lot of them stay open until 9:00. I found one -- one!-- in Charlotte, open until 9:00, with a real life notary who was there until closing.
We raced up to town and back in record time, and then stayed up very late (or early, depending on your perspective) packing and repacking, trying to get our suitcases under China's rather stringent weight limits.
Whew.
So, we're here, and we are trying hard not to fall asleep, since the first burst of adrenaline for today is wearing off rapidly.
Here's our planned itinerary:
Thursday, Sep. 11-- Depart for Beijing
Friday, Sep. 12-- Arrival in Beijing, collapse in hotel
Sat., Sep. 13-- Beijing sight-seeing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Great Wall, Beijing Duck Dinner
Sunday, Sep. 14-- Church service, Summer Palace
Monday, Sep. 15-- Flight to Nanchang, Jiangxi province (Also: Chinese National Holiday: The Moon Festival)
Tuesday, Sep. 16-- Gotcha Day!! Anna Kathryn BoDi is placed in our arms and will forever be part of our family.
Wed., Sep. 17-- Civil Affairs Appt.-- the adoption is finalized today
Thursday, Sep. 18-- Sightseeing & shopping
Friday, Sep. 19-- Flight to Guangzhou, Guangdong province
Sat., Sep. 20-- Medical exam (for AK-- a requirement for her travel visa)
Sunday, Sep. 21-- Do more paperwork, hang out, sightsee?
Monday-Wed., Sep. 22-24-- Sightseeing & shoppping in Guangzhou
Thursday, Sep. 25-- Consulate Appt. (get all the documents to bring AK home as a U.S. citizen)
Friday, Sep. 26-- Pick up AK's travel visa, last day in China
Saturday, Sep. 27-- Travel home. Hug family and friends at airport. Collapse for real.
Thanks to all who posted comments-- what an encouragement! I hope we can view them in China. :-)
