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Columbia, SC
65 °F (65 °F)
Nov
26
Today is Morgans Birthday (November 26th, 2004). Happy Birthday Morgan, we’ll see you soon.
LOVE!!! Becky & Pete Creighton (AKA Mom & Dad), future parents of Fu Chuan Ke soon to be Morgan Chuan Ke Creighton.
Just for fun we did some research and found out the following:
- Beijing is the same latitude as Pittsburgh, PA or New York, NY.
- Nanchang is the same latitude as Orlando, FL.
- Guangzhou is almost the same latitude as Casa Blanca, Cuba (we’ve never been there but it looks hot).
That should give you some idea of what our trip will be like when in China. Just imagine trying to pack for a trip like this. Here is our revised itinerary; this is how our 13 days in China should go.
12/03 – Fly to Beijing.
12/04 – Sightseeing tour to the Great Wall, Forbidden City and Tian An Men Square.
12/05 – Fly to Nanchang.
12/06 – GOTCHA DAY. Go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to do the adoption registration and get Morgan then go the Public Notary office to do the paperwork.
12/07 – Shopping for Morgan.
12/08 – Sightseeing tour to Tengwangge, a famous ancient Attic.
12/09 – Sightseeing tour to Xianghu Park.
12/10 – Get Morgan’s passport.
12/11 – Fly to Guangzhou and then take Morgan’s visa picture and get her medical examination.
12/12 – Half-day sightseeing tour. Doing INS form in the afternoon.
12/13 – Guide goes to the American Consulate to hand in Morgan’s documents and then we go to the American Consulate for interview.
12/14 – Get Morgan’s visa.
12/15 – Fly Home.
FYI – China is 11 or 12 hours ahead of the US on the East Coast.
WE CAN’T WAIT!!!!
Nov
24
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Ok, we got a reply from our email to Ginger at GWCA about plane seating. I have to admit our email wasn’t very nice, but she was very understanding and quick to reply and that was very much appreciated. Basically, she confirmed that when we get to the airport we can arrange our seating. I was kind of expecting that. I figure I’ll just turn on the charm and Morgans cuteness (is that a word?) and we’ll Woo the airline people at the airport. Otherwise you’ll probably see me on the nightly news in an international incident (just kidding). We are going to keep trying to prearrange our seating before we go, but we are more at ease about this than before. We got a confirmation email that GWCA received their payment of $3,500 from us. Not to be confused with the $3,500 we paid to the travel agency. We also sent in our Travel Checklist and Updated Home Study to GWCA. We are done, nothing else to do but pack and wait. We put up a gate at the top of the stairs in our house and I’ll bet that 2 of our cats won’t be too happy about that. Only Wheezie is skinny enough to get through the bars, I think. I know the cats are going to think what is that, when will it go away and make it stop when Morgan arrives. Sounds like Grand parents are getting ready for our new addition. I find myself talking more to the pictures of Morgan and can’t wait to get her. The 4 pictures we have of Morgan are now engrained in our minds and I keep wondering what she looks like now. We also talk about the upcoming Gotcha day (12/06/04) will she cry, will we cry. I can’t wait. This will be the best Christmas present EVER!! The best part is we get her early. I can’t wait!!!!! We can’t wait!!!!!
Nov
22
We got our tickets
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Horay we got our tickets today!!! Lesson #1 never trust your agency (Great Wall) no matter how much you spend. We let our agency set up our flight arrangements for us through a third party travel group called Delight Travel. However there is nothing delightful about them. They booked our flights but didn’t bother to get the seats together. Now that wouldn’t be that bad if it was a 1 or 2 hour flight but 15hrs is a bit long. We also purchased a third seat for Morgan but that seat is somewhere on the plane not next to us, I hope it’s somewhere near us. Do you think Morgan will travel well in her own seat next to strangers, since we can’t get seats together? Apparently Great Wall and Delight Travel do. We are now working on fixing another mess caused by an agency that we are paying to make our adoption experience pleasurable. Guess how angry we are right now…
Nov
20
Welcome home Terri Zummach
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Our good friends Fred & LaWanna came back from China last night with their new daughter Terri. She’s beautiful and Fred & LaWanna appear to be calm and relieved to be back in the US. Once we saw Terri, the urge to go and get Morgan started to increase. We had it under control but now with questions like when are we leaving, have we packed yet, when will we get her, etc., it’s starting to make us anxious. Don’t get me wrong, we appreciate the questions. It makes us feel good knowing people care and are interested so keep the questions coming. I knew the urges to get Morgan were coming as time grew closer but I was just hoping we would have a few more days of care free time. This weekend we slept in and I suspect next weekend we will try to sleep in. After that, the next time we will get to sleep in will be a long time off. As time approaches, I fear that the last day before we leave will be the worst. I know we told LaWanna that once she was on the plane the nervousness, stress and anxiety would disappear. For us that remains to be seen. I hope it’s true. Our days of being DINKs (Double Income No Kids) is rapidly coming to a close. It’s less than 2 weeks before we go to China. Have I said, “I CAN’T WAIT!!!”?
Congratulations to LaWanna & Fred on getting their BEAUTIFUL daughter Terri home!
Nov
19
Our trip should be something like this:
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Day One – Beijing Arrival / Acclimate
- Most likely, you will arrive in Beijing in the late afternoon or evening (usually Friday).
- After you exit customs, your GWCA guide will meet you, usually holding a green flag.
- Your GWCA guide will take you to your group hotel.
- Recommended to immediately try and adjust to China Time.
Day Two – Sightseeing / Enjoy the City
- Day Two is usually on a Saturday.
- You will wake up bright and early for a full day of sightseeing including:
The Great Wall
The Forbidden City
Tiananmen Square
Day Three to Seven – Province / Receive your Baby
- Day Three is usually on a Sunday.
- You will fly to your child’s province in the morning or afternoon and stay for at least 5 full business days.
- Each day you will have a set of appointments necessary to complete the adoption.
- When you arrive at your child’s province the following will occur:
You will complete the adoption paperwork
You will usually get your baby during this time.
Since this is handled differently by each province, occasionally parents will receive their baby a day later (Monday) at the Civil Affairs Office.
* You may or may not visit the orphanage since this is strictly up to the Welfare home and the Civil Affairs Office.
* Advised to talk with you guide regarding the possibility of visiting your child’s orphanage. Please remember many times the orphanage is a great distance away from the capital city where you will be staying and doing the paperwork process.
- You will have time to sightsee if you so desire.
* There will be some tours set up for families all depending on what there is to see in your specific province.
* Please keep in mind you are in your baby’s province on business and your child may or may not like crowds so you may not be able to go on tours as your child’s needs come first.
* You may need quiet/bonding time with your child as well and your child may need to stay on his/her usual schedule for naps etc.
- You will receive the following documents in the Province:
Adoption decree/abandonment certificate
Immunization record
Your Child’s Passport
Day Ten (approx) – Guangzhou / The American Consulate
- From your child’s province you will fly to Guangzhou which is usually on the following Saturday and stay for approximately 4-5 days. The American Consulate is located in Guangzhou. At The American Consulate you will Have your child’s Visa appointment at a pre-approved scheduled time.
* Note: Your child will have a very general medical exam done before your appointment with the American Consulate. No blood will be taken. You will then pick up your child’s exit Visa the following day (usually at 3pm-3: 30 pm).
You will depart Guangzhou the morning after you pick up the Visa.
Day Fourteen (approx) – Arrival to U.S. / Home with Baby
Upon arrival on US soil, you will hand over your sealed Visa packet that was given to you at The American Consulate appointment and hand to the INS (CIS) officer at the point of entry. You will receive your child’s alien registration number upon entering the US. You will also receive a permanent resident card anywhere from 1-6 months after arrival. When you arrive home with baby, your post placement information packet will be waiting for you. This important information will guide you through the process on how to apply for your child’s U.S. passport and U.S. birth certificate.
We got our Visa’s today. We are ready to go!!!
Nov
17
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Delight Travel lightened out account by $3,500 for traveling to and from China. Now we get to wait to see how much we get Bilked (oops I meant Billed) from our agency for in country stuff like lodging and travel. No need to think about cost now we’re committed or should we be committed?? Morgan we are on our way, we’ll get you December the 5th, “Gotcha DAY”. I CAN’T WAIT!!! We are still calm, no fighting yet.
Nov
15
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We got our TA Date (December 2nd) so I decided to take all of December off; I always wanted to do something like that. Becky and I are surprisingly calm right now and all packing arguments have been resolved (I think I won most of them). Becky is in agreement that we need to pack light. I told her that if we need something in China we’d just buy it there. Remember everything is made in China so I’m sure we can find it there. Right now we are mock packing and then will seek approval from several friends that have recently gone over to China. I hope this calm state of mind will continue till the day we travel. I don’t think we realize it yet that this is really going to happen. We’ve been close before. We are trying to enjoy what little free time we have left before we become parents. What have we gotten ourselves into? Morgan we are coming soon. Oh, expect pictures when we are in China. I want everyone to see just how Beautiful my daughter is. I CAN’T WAIT!!!
Nov
9
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Filling out the Visa forms
Nov
5
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This morning I was in the shower and we got a phone call. I didn’t know we got a phone call until Becky came in the bathroom Beaming and Shouting that Fred and LaWanna called from China. That really made her morning. She said that LaWanna sounded really good and that Fred was a little out of his element. I’m expecting our experience to be a little something like Survivor and the Great Race. I don’t do well out of a normal or how about an American environment.
Nov
2
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Last day for our friends Fred and LaWanna they are leaving tomorrow for China. We are both excited and jealous for and of them. Our day will come soon I hope, we don’t have out TA yet. We took Fred and LaWanna out to eat at Brix and you could just see the nervousness and stress written all over each of them. Becky was trying to reassure LaWanna that once she gets on the plane the weight of the world should lift (or so we have been told) and that there is nothing more that she can do except sit back and relax and enjoy the ride. Fred was much more guarded around me. Becky was also letting LaWanna know that a month from now we would be the basket cases. I’m already working on my day before plan to distract Becky. While hanging around some of our friends with kids I’ve learned that I will need to become a master of redirection (Jedi Master), that and also learn to appreciate a poopy diaper.
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