Sunday, June 17, 2007

Dreams
One last day to travel,
One last stretch to go.
One more day to forever,
Just to let you know.
The wait is finally over—
The journey now is through.
And now this comes to let you know—
Dreams really do come true.
~ Unknown

This is such a sentimental day for me. Not only are we one day away from meeting our precious Jenna, but today we flew to Changsha, the city where we first became parents. (And on Father’s Day, no less. How perfect is that!) I have such vivid memories of our few days here in 2001…and I know our next 5 days here will be just as incredible.

Kaylee is from the city of Yueyang, and Jenna is from Huaihua—both in Hunan Province. All adoptions occur in the provincial capital, in this case, Changsha. Thus, although the girls are not from the same city, we will again be adopting in Changsha.

We are so happy to be in the same travel group as Madeleine—it would have been awful if the girls had to say goodbye in the airport today. You would never know that they just met yesterday.

Our flight this time was only an hour and a half. When we landed, Madison said, “Why over so fast, MaMa?” Personally, after flying Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday of this week, I’m happy to be settling in one city for the next 5 days. :)

We met our guide Daphne—who is absolutely wonderful—and traveled to the Dolton Hotel. We all ate dinner together tonight at the “Western” Buffet at the hotel. After I walked down the line and saw snake, river turtle, octopus, pig blood curd, ostrich tendons, marinated duck tongue…and much, much more, I ended up with paying 100 yuan ($13) for some fried rice and watermelon. Others in our group were far more adventurous than I am. Nina said the snake was excellent—but a lot of work because it’s so boney. Sean said he would have tried everything up there if Amy weren’t with him. As for me, I don’t think I’ll be hungry for days…

OK…we’re off to bed. (I hope I can sleep tonight!) Tomorrow’s our big day!!!