Travel Journal - Day 9

Passport Office and Flying to Guangzhou

Today started with a trip to receive Taya’s passport. We had to drive by bus to an official office, show them our passport and let them look at Taya and compare pictures to make sure we have the correct girl, and then we were done. The rest of the morning was spent packing up and preparing for our trip to Guangzhou, which is the final leg of our journey. I just can’t believe that we have already been here nine days already!! I am glad that the time goes so quickly because Taya needs to be with her brothers, AND, her parents need to be with their sons! (: Our flight from Nanchang to Guangzhou was only around one hour, and it was a good test flight for all of the parents on what out 16 plus hour flight home will be like!! Taya was amazing, and was the happiest girl on the whole flight. Let me say that she is not the somber little unhappy girl of days gone past, but one that is loving being with her parents and grandparents. She now will easily go to all of us, and she was miss busy body on the flight!! Squirm, squirm, and squirm some more, and we loved every minute of it. Taya is such a peanut of a girl that we wondered if those little legs and arms had any spunk in them. She is letting us know that she has energy!! She now is able to crawl to us in her own unique way, scooting on her bottom, grabbing on to us and pulling herself up all on her own. She also showed us today that she can hold onto a table, bend down with both legs, and pull herself up without help, still while holding on to the table. She is a little ways away from walking, but we can already see her getting stronger. She smile is endless and easy to get, and she only gets grumpy when she is tired or hungry. This time around being parents has been nice because both Dana and I are more relaxed and just flow with the day and what it brings. Once we landed in Guangzhou we were bussed to the China Hotel. It is a 5 star Marriot hotel and it is a welcome change from our hotel in Nanchang. The first level of the hotel is all little shops, and they even have a Starbucks!! McDonalds is right next door too. This last leg of our journey is sort of a homecoming with all of the other families that went to other provinces to get their kids. Now we are all together again, and it really is fun to see all of the beautiful little girls. This whole trip has been planned to the smallest of details, and we have been taken care of by our guides exceptionally well. You can tell that these guides have done this before and know every little detail that needs to be addressed. Well, we are now in our BEAUTIFUL room at the China hotel and are thinking that maybe room service sounds good. Our luggage is still not here, so we need to wait here in our room until it gets her. Tomorrow we leave at 9:00 with 2 bus loads of people to get our daughters Visa’s. We then are heading to a department store for some shopping. The rest of the day is free. Until tomorrow, See you!! Amy and Dana----And princess Taya tooo!!! ( :

Dustin and Jonah: We finally got to talk to you both on the phone and it was GREAT!~ We miss you so much. Only 5 more days left!! Can’t wait to see you!!

Mom and Dad