Trip to China
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Monday, December 7, 2009 ADOPTION DAY! Today was Ava’s official adoption day! However, we had a couple of other things going on which took away from the focus of the day. I explained some of our hotel issues in the last posting. The hotel was not suitable and I was very upset last night. Our guide had been working to remedy the situation. It just seemed like one thing after another. First the hotel room then a 60 minute wait for 4 ham and cheese sandwiches late last night. During the wait Ava had a meltdown which all of a sudden hurried the wait staff along. This morning they charged me for breakfasts even though breakfast was supposed to be included in our hotel rate. Just one thing after another. So, by the time the guide met us at 8:30am this morning I was still very wound up and on the verge of tears. We got in the van and headed off to the bank. Instead of the normal 20 minute timeframe to exchange funds for the adoption process, it took 50 minutes and 8 forms. Well, actually 1 original form that had to be redone 7 times. We were then off to the Civil Affairs office to complete the adoption paperwork. We arrived to the office after 10am and the office was FULL of families being united. It was actually MAGICAL to watch all of those Gotcha days happening. I have never really *watched* it all happen before since each time I am at a Civil Affairs office I am having a Gotcha Day! It took about 1 hour however there was what seemed like a lot of chaos and confusion with documentation since Brandon wasn’t traveling with me. I was happy to leave the office and the only photo I took was at the end of the meeting with Ava’s orphanage director. Afterwards we had to go to the new hotel to check out the rooms then back to the old hotel to get our bags then to McDonalds then back to the new hotel to check in! We were settled in by 1:30pm. We hung out in the hotel room until 4pm when we ventured out and walked about 4 blocks to the local mall and ate dinner at Pizza Hut. We have been relaxing back in the room since then. Tomorrow we travel to Ava’s orphanage to pay our fees. I believe we will be sightseeing in the afternoon. Is it time to go to Guangzhou yet??? I am so ready to move on to the next destination! At this point I am just glad to have a door separating our room and bathroom!!! Until tomorrow!!!

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