Oh, the Places We Will Go!

The starred map shows cities that we will travel to in China. It is pretty exciting because Anna is from the south in Guangxi/Guiping City. We stayed in the South the entire trip. This time we start more North in Beijing.

We are using an agency called CCAI. They specialize in adoptions, but also in Heritage/Homeland Tours. I have a friend who did this same trip with them last July, so we know it is a good agency. Another friend that traveled with us in China last time did a Homeland trip last June with another agency. The best party about CCAI is that they worked at getting government grants for the adopted child. We simply sigh a paper once we get to China. That means that all of Anna's in China flights, meals and activities are all fee. Woohoo!! We pay for her for the things we do outside the trip like the first few days in Beijing, as well as the added trip to her first home city. Not too bad of a deal. :) The agency has grouped us into the GREEN GROUP for our trip. We should be grouped with those children going that are around Anna's age. I am assuming groups of 10-15 families in each of the color groups.

So....we hit the sites in Beijing like the Temple of Heaven, Great Wall of China, etc.
Then we will be going to Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. Next will be the beautiful area of Guilin. My dad traveled here on our last trip for a few days. After Guilin, we will have a 5.5 hour drive to Anna's home city of Guiping. We will be by ourselves with a driver and a guide unless another family on the trip just happens to have a child from there. And lastly we will go back to Guilin to catch a flight to Hong Kong and then onto the US. It is a whirlwind trip and it will be exciting, exhausting and emotional all at the same time.

Please pray for safe travels and good health on our trip, health and safety of everyone back home.

See ya in a few days from Beijing. We fly out tomorrow!!!