It is one week plus hours!

Wow! The time is flying! There is so much to do. I haven't posted because I have been so busy. We leave about 5:30 am, one week from tomorrow! Today we received our itinerary so I thought I would share! Our flight leaves Tupelo Thursday, September 14 at 6:57 am. We will have stops in Memphis, Detroit, Tokyo and finally arrive at Beijing on Friday, September 15 at 9:25 PM. We will go to our hotel, the Radisson Hotel Beijing, and I am sure fall into bed and go right to sleep! Our in-country itinerary looks like this:
v Saturday, Sept. 16th Beijing Sight-Seeing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden
City, & Summer Palace (Lunch & Dinner Included)

v Sunday, Sept. 17th Church service & Great Wall (Lunch & Beijing Duck
Dinner Included)

v Monday, Sept. 18th Morning Flight to Jiangxi
Afternoon - Meet Hannah Ruth Yuxi Culp!! We will hold her in our arms for the first time!!!! We will be staying at the Lakeview Hotel in Nanchang. (Happy Birthday Jill)

v Tuesday, Sept. 19th Civil Affairs Appointment

v September 20th – 21st Paperwork, Sight-seeing, & Shopping

v Friday, Sept. 22nd Fly to Guangzhou. In Guangzhou we will be staying at the China Hotel by Marriot.

v September 23rd - 24th Fill out Consulate Forms & Medical Exam

v Monday, Sept. 25th Consulate Appointment 9:30am

v Tuesday, Sept. 26th Pick up Child’s Visa at 4:00pm

v Wednesday, Sept.27th Depart from Guangzhou
Flight: NW 10 at 8:20am
We will arrive back in Tupelo at 8:27 pm on the 27th. Both going and coming we will be traveling 24 - 26 hours!

We do have some prayer requests. First, pray that Hannah Ruth's transition to us is peaceful for her. I am praying that God will supernaturally prepare her for her forever family. Remember, we know about her, but she is only 10 months old so she can't really know about us. We will not look right, smell right, or even talk right.

Second, pray that we all stay healthy. Long flights are not the best place to stay healthy and we will be in a very different place. We will be as smart about staying as healthy as possible, but I covet your prayers.

Finally, pray for our travel. Traveling can be exhausting and we don't want to be exhausted. Traveling for 24 hours straight is difficult enough, but it will be very hard on a little one.

You all have been great prayer warriors and your prayers have been answered. We will have Hannah Ruth back home before the end of September. God is so good!