Goodbye Jinan

Max had another great night. We went down for breakfast and knew by our mellow little man that he was not feeling well. He started running a fever today and has not been his bubbly self. He has a bit of a cough but is also cutting some of his back teeth. I just can't imagine what his little mind and body has to be going through with all these changes. He has been handling it like a champ but we also know he has to be feeling the stress of it all.

This morning we went to go pick up Max's passport.

The officer wanted a picture of us and our guide said "You are famous now!"

Is it not the cutest document you have ever seen!

We had a pretty uneventful morning packing up and cuddling with our sweet boy who wasn't feeling well. I didn't even get any pictures today of him playing because he was in one of our arms sleeping most of the day.

At 1:30 we left our hotel for the airport. I didn't realize the emotions that would surface as we drove through Jinan one last time on our way to the airport. The tears flowed once again as I looked around Max's city not knowing if we will ever be back. This is the city he was born. This is the city he spent 17 months of his life. This is the city that our son was placed in our arms and most importantly this is the city that Fu Zhi Da became our Max Lei Fu. Jinan will be a city that I will never forget.

We got to the airport and emotions surfaced again as we said goodbye to our sweet guide Lillian. We were so blessed to have her this week. She has such a great personality and took such good care of us. She was the one who was there when Max was put in our arms and the days that followed. She walked the orphanage halls with us asking our questions for us and interpreting the answers. She walked around the train station with us and walked through all our official business to make Max ours. She took care of every little detail for us, all we had to do was focus on Max. We are praying someday our paths will cross again.

Today was another big first for Max, the airplane ride. He has been so good and has hardly even fussed since he has been placed in our arms. We were wondering how the flight would go with our little guy who was under the weather.

The first part of the flight went great. He played with this little wrapped mint forever. He ate some dinner and downed a bottle. He was so tired but just couldn't let himself fall asleep. He didn't cry hard or loud but fussed for quite a while before he finally fell asleep. So it wasn't great but could have been a lot worse.

Here are Eric and Max hanging out in Guangzhou waiting for our luggage.

Our Holt guide was eagerly waiting for us. We got to ride to our hotel with one of the other couples we had met at orientation. It was fun to see them again and meet their little girl. Lucy and Max are the same age and had fun checking each other out and we had fun reconnecting and sharing stories. We are happy to be in Guangzhou and ready to experience the city and take care of business here. First on the agenda is Max's medical exam tomorrow morning first thing.

I will leave you with a sweet picture of our boy even though he has a crusty nose he is still pretty cute. Look at those eyes even when he is not feeling well! We are hoping he is back to his bubbly self tomorrow. Good night from Guangzhou!