Travel Day

This morning we bid farewell to Jinan and flew to Guangzhou where Peter will have a medical screening and we have our appointment at the US Consulate to obtain his visa.  We were originally scheduled to fly out of Jinan at 7 p.m. today. Our agency schedules such late departures from the child's home province to Guangzhou to leave time to correct any paperwork issues that may arise.  Thankfully, Charlie from the orphanage applied for Peter's visa a week early, and our guide John was on top of everything.  This allowed us to change our flight to a 12:30 departure for a suprisingly low change fee.  Had we stayed with the later departure we would not have gotten to our hotel until after midnight and would have had to kill an entire day in Jinan. But now (7:30 p.m.) we're here and Peter is already asleep in his pack and play.  We are so grateful to John and Charlie for doing the legwork necessary to make sure everything was done on time and correctly.

So off the airport we went for Peter's first airplane ride. Our flight was delayed a bit and he got fussy while we waited, mostly due to being tired, but once we were on the plane he was a champ and played with whatever he could get his hands on until takeoff. When the plane took off he got scared and immediately crawled into Allie's arms where he promptly fell asleep and slept for more than half of the three hour flight. It was so sweet and encouraging to see him seek her out when he was scared and to see the early signs of attachment.

As for Guangzhou, HOLY HUMIDITY BATMAN!  This place is hot and humid and humid and hot.  We look forward to exploring the area after the medical appointment tomorrow although we miss the comforts of the Crowne Plaza in Jinan. The China Hotel Marriot is nice, but it's not the same as the Crowne Plaza.

We continue to covet your prayers for sleep. Peter slept better last night but was still restless. I (Matt) slept okay but Allie had another bad night.  To complicate matters we have both lost our voices and she is battling a head cold. Please continue to pray for good, sound sleep for all of us and good health.