Our uncertain timeline

Since we don't yet have a photo of Miss Maryn on her 747 en route to America, this one will have to do. After our long flight home with baby Carlyn from Beijing via Tokyo in April, 2003, we somehow had the presence of mind to ask for a photograph with one of the pilots. Among our many hopes and wishes is that Maryn will be a good flyer like her big sister.

We've been asked frequently about when we'll leave. The short answer is: not soon enough! The other answer is that we don't know but fervently hope it's before mid-September. That's because we'll need two weeks in China to complete the necessary adoption-, passport-, and visa-related paperwork. We need to get out before the October 1 National Day holiday because government offices will close for three days. Beyond that, in October, there is a major, three-week trade fair in one of the cities we need to visit. So, if we don't get into and out of the country before October, our trip might be on hold until nearly November, which would be excruciating.

We sent off our visa applications this week and our adoption agency instructed us to write that the earliest date of arrival in China would be September 1. The travel liaison went out on a limb and said he is hoping we'll be able to depart the U.S. around the 9th. Adoptive families make a science of parsing the statements of their adoption agencies. My reading of his comment is that he's optimistic, maybe even strongly optimistic, about our chances of leaving then. Otherwise, I don't think he'd get our hopes up.

We'd love to be in China for what is called Mid-Autumn Festival, held this year September 22-24. I've made the world's most inauthentic Chinese Moon Cakes, a traditional holiday treat, and would like to taste the real thing!

In the meantime, we continue to think of and pray for our little one, twelve hours ahead of us on the other side of the world.