January 12, 2007
SAYING GOODBYE TO
FRIENDS & FAMILY

Today we had to close a chapter on this journey half way around the world. We said farewell to 8 other families that shared our excitement, frustrations, paperwork strife over the past 2 years and the jubilations of “gotcha day”.

These families fly tonight during the night to LAX. Please say a prayer that they all make it to their homes with health, safety and an ounce of sanity. As we planned for our visas to be issued on Friday, the first flight out was 8 p.m. on China Southern. The only choice for Allison, Grace, Karen and Gabby on Northwest Airlines was Saturday morning. We too would appreciate your prayers for the flight. Gabby has found her personality and will occasionally express it with a touch of crabbiness, if she does not get her way… It may be a bit longer flight than we had with a happy Grace.

Today was spent packing, buying new pieces of luggage (for what was destroyed during the trip to Haikou) and swapping email addresses and digital camera card images. Some of the babies played together as they were accustomed to this at the orphanage. I think that the departures were actually hardest on the 3 & 4 year old girls – when saying goodbye to one another and in their farewell to their China friend Xixi. We will also say farewell to two other families currently traveling with the agency. One family has been stranded here in China since their fingerprints expired on January 7th. They will remain in the White Swan until the FBI clears their fingerprints and updates their immigration paperwork. The other family was delayed in the U.S. during the holidays for Immigration to extend or renew their paperwork.

Tonight we picked up our laundry and a cheese pizza from Danny’s Bagel. All the final items were packed and we are ready for our 4 a.m. wake-up call and 5:15 departure for the airport. Our guide Bob will be with us to make sure we clear the airport without any difficulty. I guess there are several “ambassadors” (a.k.a. scam artists) that will help you through the airport or will get your bag duct taped (for 20 yuan) even though this is not an airline regulation. Not much else to say, but farewell to Guangzhou!