July 5, 2007 – Tokyo and Beijing
Our connection in Tokyo was smooth – however we needed to pass through another security checkpoint before making our connection. This little detail took some time, and as we reached our gate the plane was boarding for Beijing.

We arrived at the Beijing Airport on schedule and breezed through Immigration/Customs. So far it’s hard to tell what Beijing is like – our pilot told us visibility is 3,000 meters and we quickly see that this is due to a persistent haze in the city.

We were met by our guide for the weekend – Belinda. She is very nice – immediately grabbed us some cold bottled water and led us to our van for the trip to the hotel. As we depart the airport terminal, I am immediately hit with a sensory overload. Lack of sleep, hot humid haze, and a strange, somewhat industrial smell to the air that I find pleasant but also imagine cannot be healthy.

The parking garage is brightly lit, and loud classical music is piped in while we load the van. So far all everything we see is written in both Chinese and English, making navigation pretty straightforward.

Our van driver is not the model of efficiency, on the other hand. He got a bit turned around and had no problem taking a wrong-way detour in a round-about, with large busses bearing down on us flashing their headlights in warning. It was a bit terrifying, but I think we were so tired that we could not even achieve target heart rate in this situation.

The remainder of the drive is uneventful except we notice a heavy police presence in and around the city. Belinda helps up check in and we finally crash for the night at about midnight local time. It’s been a long day of travel (roughly 21 hours since we left Seattle until our head hits the pillow) and sleep is imperative.

Technical difficulties are delaying my posting. Hopefully posting in Nanchang will work out better...

Blog Entry – Realtime July 4, 2007 – or is it July 5?
Happy Independence Day! We have crossed the International Date Line and I am blogging from the future.

Here we are in hour 5 of our first flight. 1/3 of the way complete with our air time today and so far the accommodations are reasonable. We have power at our seats for the laptop and DVD player, but at the same time, NW Airlines has a rather good selection of in-flight entertainment – even for Emma. She watched Monsters Inc on the in-flight player while Karen and I enjoyed Blades of Glory. Now Emma is on to Care Bears and Roly Poly Oly (selections we brought), while Karen is busy assisting our neighbor in queuing up The Bodyguard on her player. There is something about that movie – our neighbor in front is watching his second consecutive viewing of The Bodyguard. Not sure if this is the Whitney or the Kevin mojo, but something must be going on for sure. Must be their on-screen chemistry.

I am watching the real time map and see that we are now over Russia, crossing the Sea of Okhotsk on our way to Tokyo. I’m surprised how far north we’ve flown – I thought this would be more over water. It’s hard to say what time it really is – 8:45 pm in Seattle, but my flight map tells me it's 12:45 pm at our destination in several different languages. And for those counting, it's -50C outside but significantly warmer here in the airplane.

Counting

Today is the day that we leave for China. It's hard to describe how I felt last night in bed. The last time we sleep here as a family of three. The long flights ahead. The unknown of how Zoe will react when she sees us.

We passed the time last night watching Curb Your Enthusiasm on DVD. Larry David is a genius - nice to have a laugh and not think about the trip for 30 minutes.

Anyway, back to the theme of this post. It seems like all we have been doing is counting over these last few days. Counting the number of days until our trip. Counting the number of bags we have packed. Counting our total bag weight compared to our 40-lb allowance in China. Counting our cash to make sure we are bringing the correct amount. Counting the number of diapers we might need. Counting the hours we will be spending in travel. The list goes on and on...

It is hard to imagine that the day is finally here. It's always been an event that is so far off into the future that it almost seems surreal that we are now packing for the airport.

Of course, I need to count at least one more thing. Logging into the China Adoption Forecast today- if we had not chosen to adopt Zoe the best guess is that we would not have our referral until April 2008.

It's been some time since I have posted a photo. Here's Emma with her new passion: jump rope. Rope turning credits to our friends Julia and Curt.

Zoe Gets a Frequent Flyer Number

And Whole Gang gets a new look. I was tired of fussing with the HTML template and decided to use a template that was more friendly to the width of the little widgets that you see on the sidebar. So we go with this for now...

It's true - Zoe now has a frequent flyer number with Alaska Airlines. Shouldn't every 15-month old have one? And Emma just get her first library card. Exciting changes in our house!

Just about 24 hours until full panic, and not much beyond that before we board our first flight to Tokyo.

Travel Itinerary

Here we go - ready to board our flight on July 4 for the marathon of air travel that awaits. Fortunately for us, Emma is a very good traveler. We spent lots of time, however, trying to ensure that we have a power port at our seats during these long flights. We're keeping our fingers crossed that we got it right...

Jul 04: WEDNESDAY

• Fly Seattle to Beijing, connecting through Tokyo on NW 7 and NW 11
• Depart Seattle 2:50 pm; Arrive Beijing 9:20pm the next day

Jul 05: THURSDAY

• Beijing – Arrive Beijing at 9:20pm. Stay at Wangfujing Grand Hotel

Jul 06: FRIDAY

• Beijing - Tour of TianAnMen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace

Jul 07: SATURDAY

• Beijing - Tour of the Great Wall

Jul 08: SUNDAY

• Fly from Beijing to Nanchang – Flight CA1511 (11:50am – 2:10pm)
• Arrive Nanchang at 2:10pm. Stay at the Gloria Hotel

Jul 09: MONDAY

• Meet Zoe!!
• Interview with Justice Dept. Apply for baby’s passport
  

Jul 10: TUESDAY

• Nanchang – City tour and shopping

Jul 11: WEDNESDAY

• Nanchang – Visit suburban Nanchang
  

Jul 12: THURSDAY

• Nanchang – City tour and pick up the Notary documents
  

Jul 13: FRIDAY

• Nanchang – Pick up Zoe’s passport
  
• Fly from Nanchang to Guangzhou - Flight MU5231 (5:10 – 6:35pm)
  
• Guangzhou – Check-in Victory Hotel
  

Jul 14: SATURDAY

• Guangzhou – Zoe’s medical check up, picture taken and fill out forms

Jul 15: SUNDAY

• Guangzhou – City tour
  

Jul 16: MONDAY

• Guangzhou – Interview with U. S. Consulate
  

Jul 17: TUESDAY

• Guangzhou – Pick up Zoe’s visa
  

Jul 18: WEDNESDAY

• Fly Guangzhou to Seattle (note the early departure!!) Flights NW10 and NW 8
• Depart 8:20AM and arrive Seattle 8:45AM

Ling Gets Her American Name

Today we finally decided we needed to stop referring to Ling as "baby-sister" and finally call her by her new name. Emma suggested that we make sure we decide in advance of our travel meeting at our agency. So, without further ado (hold your applause please), let us introduce:

Zoe Ling Rose Laplante

Our TA is here!!

Well - after a process that was initially slower than molasses, we received approval from China in May, and received our travel authorization (TA) this month! Next up, our consulate appointment, which basically sets our travel date. Wouldn't you know, this also happened quickly, and suddenly we are ready to be airborne for a two week adventure starting July 4!

Certainly lots more has happened in the intervening months. We have been fairly consumed by this process and thus my blog posts are a bit heavily weighted to the adoption process. There is lots more to tell but I am not sure quite what to say. Today we have our travel meeting at our agency where we will go over our itinerary as well as the details of the trip. Changing from a turtle pace to this rapid clip has been a bit surreal.

In the meantime, summer is starting to show its face in Seattle and we are trying to have some other fun besides our exciting journey ahead. Here is a photo of Emma and me being chased by the fountain at Seattle Center.

Meet Ling Cha Ge

Well - here she is:

A Shangrao child (Jiangxi Province), Ling Cha Ge was born on March 19, 2006, and abandoned 1 day later. She is polydactly - which means she has an extra finger on her left hand. The finger happens to be adjacent to her thumb, but beyond that, we don't have many details. Here is her photo - serious kid!

Now all we needed to do is take ourselves off the traditional track, apply for this particular SN child, and hope that the paperwork moves smoothly through the system.

Our agency told us that it would not be unusual to expect a late summer or early fall approval from China, and then travel a month or so thereafter. WOW! Much better than the Spring 2008 (or much later) time that the traditional adoption may have taken before a match.

The Roller Coaster

As we continued to wait, we started visiting the rumor web sites and other sources to try and find any information about our projected time until we would be matched with our daughter. But then, in a stroke of luck, we received a message from our adoption agency that some special needs (SN) kids may be available.

Karen and a quickly logged in to the website to check out the details. Two girls immediately stood out to us, and we settled on one in particular that just looked like the perfect match for our family. We emailed our interest to our agency, but were told that we were far down the list of eligible parents and unlikely able to match with this particular girl.

Lo and behold - a few days later, we got a phone call - we were first in line! We quickly gathered all of her medical information, forwarded it to our Doctor friends, made some frantic phone calls and 24 hours later decided that this was a no-brainer...

Wow - SO much news

As you can see, it has been over a year since I posted. For a much of that time, we were awaiting news (and for those of you following the China adoption scene, you all know that it was not sounding good.)

Our initial estimates of traveling in the Fall of 2006 to finalize the adoption were way off. Our dossier had a log in date (LID) of 3-1-2006, and throughout last year, the matching of kids and families began to slow to a crawl.

Fast forward to last November. Our friends in West Seattle finally traveled to China to pick up their new daughter. A bright spot to be sure, but this family had a LID several months before ours. Our estimated matching date continued to project farther and farther into the future.

Karen and I started to consider other options. Do we pull out of the China entirely and see if we have better luck with a new country? Should we reconsider domestic adoption? Will the processing begin to speed up to match its historic rate? Lots of questions but no real answers. Any course of action seemed like a gamble.

Spring 2007 - the Roller Coaster Ride begins...

{please ignore the cheat - I am backdating this post for the dramatic effect}