Down to 10 days

The Stum house is an exciting place to be these days. If you like to listen incessantly to Delhi hotel options, flight times, packing ideas, to-do lists, the car-vs.-train-to-see-the-Taj-Mahal debate, our promises to Luke that we will NOT forget peanut butter crackers, and Dosen asking for the 1,000th time if Luke is adopted, too, then come on over! The more the merrier.

While all those things are truly on the forefront of our minds, we're remaining fairly calm. We set out on our great big adventure in just 10 days (gulp). Lord willing, here's our plan:

• July 28 - fly from Atl to Chicago to London
• July 29 - arrive in London for a one day stop-over - We are thrilled about this!! It is a special treat for our fearless traveler, Luke. We should land around 7 am, and we are planning to do every last touristy thing we can do in 24 hours.
• July 30 - London to Bangalore, India (we land at some awful time)
• July 31 - get our bearings in Bangalore.
• August 1 - meet up with another adoptive family from London. The mother is fostering her son in India until their paperwork is complete, so she invited us to chill with her on Sunday since we won't be able to see Vee until Monday (we think).
• August 2 - MEETCHA DAY!! Waaaahooooo! We have no idea what to expect, but we're preparing ourselves for however he may react. Of course I hope he comes leaping into our arms, but the chances of that are quite slim. A few smiles and some pleasant playtime will be counted as success.
• August 3 - GOTCHA DAY!!! If all is going well, little buddy will leave Ashraya Children's Home to bunk with the new fam. I'm simultaneously thrilled and pained by it.
• August 4 - Goodbye day. Ugh. Nuff said. We will also hop a plane for Delhi that evening. "Hey little boy who just met us, we're now going to put you on a giant loud machine and whisk you away from everything you've ever seen. Now don't cry."
• August 5 - Embassy and doctor visit - requirements to complete the in-country process
• August 6 - Complete the Embassy appointment (we hope--insert prayers here if you haven't yet)
• August 7&8 - Sightseeing and a trip to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal.
• August 9 - more sightseeing and wrap up any embassy stuff if we weren't able to on Friday
• August 10 - Heading home via Delhi-London-Boston
• August 11 - Boston-NY-Atlanta - V.P. Stum will be HOME!! Come on down to the airport and witness the miracle of airport homecomings. Not much is sweeter.

Whew!! It is a really long trip. We plan to fully engage in our time in India, but our sweet Dosen will be here in the states. He won't suffer one single second at Hotel Papa&Honey, but we will miss him so very much. It breaks my heart in a million pieces to leave him, but India is not the easiest country to navigate.

There are several things that must happen perfectly for this to itinerary to go smoothly, but I'll share those soon. Thank you for all your well-wishes, your prayers, and your enthusiasm. We have a tremendous support system, and you all make it easy to jump heart-first into God's calling for our family to adopt. We are so very grateful.