Preparing for the Journey

Our dining room table has become the staging area for our trip.  Though we have a generous baggage limit for our flight to China, we have to pack based on the guidelines of our inter-country flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou.  I about fell out of my chair when Brandon revealed this consists of 1 carry-on (not to exceed 11 pounds) and 1 checked bag (not to exceed 44 pounds) per person. Sadly, these limits are not typos, and yes, we are traveling to China in the dead of winter for 2 weeks. Nice.  We have picked out 7 outfits for MeiLin and 4 outfits for each of us. (So excuse the repeat of outfits in photos throughout our trip!). We won't be doing our "dry run" for packing until Wed afternoon so please pray that the medicine, wipes, diapers, sippy cups, toys, etc all make it within the weight limit!  I have the diaper bag all packed but have a call into my sis to give me the contents of hers to ensure I am not missing anything!

I have begun obsessively reading blogs of other families in China picking up their new kiddos. The latest one talked about her trip through "hell" as she described her plane ride from Shanghai to Guangzhou...which happens to be our same itinerary.  Hopefully, by going in with the knowledge that I will feel like a "chicken in a chicken coop" will help it to seem a little more bearable...  On a positive note, fellow travelers have confirmed the cracker-jack-box-sized hotel rooms, which makes me excited about the room upgrade so MeiLin will have space to learn to walk.  We have received so many blessings toward our journey!  How did we get so lucky?

 I can officially announce that the nerves have set in. I see sleepless nights in my future between now and Monday we when met our little girl, MeiLin, for the first time - Gotcha Day!