And now from Gaungzhou

Greetings from the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou. On Friday, we started the day by traveling to the police station in Nanchang to pick up Piper’s passport. Mommy and Daddy were very happy to have the passport and be one step closer to coming home. However, Piper thought the passport was just another great thing to put in her mouth. Back at the hotel, it was time to pack. It became clear very quickly that we had purchased more things in Nanchang than we realized. After some careful planning, and a lot of stuffing things in any free space we could find, we had everything ready to head to the airport. At the airport, we said goodbye to our Nanchang guide. It was much more difficult to leave than we thought it would be. It was an emotion we didn’t expect to feel as strongly as we did, and one that is very hard to explain, but as we prepared to leave the only home Piper has ever know, we both grieved with and for her.

Piper’s first airplane ride took place in an Airbus A320. After some formula during takeoff, it looked like Piper would sleep through most of the flight, but she quickly went from sleep to very awake. She did great and enjoyed looking out the window most of the time. After a quick walk to 7-11 for some water, it was off to sleep for the very tired family.

The White Swan is beautiful and everywhere you look you see new families. We started the morning with a wonderful breakfast, and then it was off to get id photos for Piper’s visa and the medical exam. At the exam, we learned that Piper weighs 13.7 lbs, and is 26 inches long. Both tasks were complete in about 1 hour total, leaving lots of time for shopping. We have visited numerous shops, all with wonderful items ranging from squeaky-shoes, to kites, to porcelain tea sets. For lunch, we joined another family from the group at Lucy’s. We all had hamburger and fries. It wasn’t the best burger we’ve ever had, but it was the best one we have had in a while. After dropping of laundry and hitting a few more shops, it was back to the process of getting Piper’s visa, and something we should be use to by now… more paperwork.

So far everything is going as scheduled with no problems and we still are on course to arrive at the airport at 9:45 on Wednesday. If anything changes with this, we will let you know.