Consulate Appointment...

Wednesday Sept. 12th

Today we, along with the Foote family, had our US Consulate appointment. Basically we stood behind a glass window, held up our right hands and swore the information in our files was true.After that we spoke with a consulate representative for maybe five minutes and then we were done. After the process in Nanchang it was kind of a non-event. Not sure why but I was expecting for it to be more formal or something. In any event Emily will be granted a visa and allowed to enter the US. Once we land in Chicago on Friday morning she is officially a US citizen.

Cameras are not allowed inside the consulate office but we were able to take a couple quick pictures in the lobby.

 

Lobby sign for the consulate

 

 

Josh, Kelly and Amy







Tonight is our last night in Guangzhou, tomorrow we leave for Hong Kong. We are ready to go home and sleep in our own beds, eat American food, and see our family. This has been an amazing but exhausting trip.

 

Emily continues to amaze us as each day. Every day she shows more and more of her true personality. She is a spicy and stubborn little one; and has no problem letting you know what she does and does not like. Think she has a bit of the Lewis side of the family in her, lol.  She is getting stronger every day and shows an amazing amount of curiosity for the world around her. She is in perpetual motion and only stops when she finally passes out to sleep. Speaking of sleep, this last week it has been more and more difficult to get her to go to bed. I’m hoping that once we are home we can get her into a routine and get that issue resolved. 

Group Pictures...

Tuesday Sept.11th

Today was mostly a free day except for meeting for group pictures. Unfortunately the China Hotel doesn't have anything like the infamous red couch of the White Swan Hotel so our group pictures we done on the lobby stairwell. It was a bit chaotic but we finally got a couple that were okay.

 

 The Foote Family

 

 

 

Our attempt at a couch picture

 

 

We stayed in the rest of the night and kept it low key. Tomorrow is a big day because we have our consulate appointment that makes Emily ours in the eyes of the United States. Two more days and we head home ;o)



Carrefour and Group Pictures...

Shopping...

Monday Sept. 10th

After the medical exam we went shopping with Ann from Red Thread. Josh Foote made the arrangements since both of us had used her services to deliver care packages to our daughters. Ann met us at the hotel and we took the subway to a wholesale mall.

The mall had 5 or 6 floors and was jam packed with all kinds of little shops from silk dresses to the kind of junk you get at your local Spencer's store here. We've never seen so many cell phone cover places! Ann got us some great deals on silk dresses for the girls.

Emily found a bouncey ball that lit up and had to have it ;o)

 



 

One pooped little girl!

 

After shopping we had a short meeting about departing Guangzhou and went with the entire group to dinner. About 30 of us piled into taxi's and went to Tequila's to enjoy a Mexican dinner.We had a good time chatting and getting to know everyone a little bit.

 

On the way back to catch a cab we saw the saddest thing. There were some severely disabled men laying in the middle of the sidewalk begging. They were so disabled, their bodies thin and twisted, it was obvious someone had to have put them there becasue they were not capable of getting there themselves. It broke my heart to see and yet again I was so grateful that Emily would never be in a position to be out on the street begging for her survival. China is a beautiful and strange place yet we find ourselves longing to be home and starting our new lives as a family of 3. Three more days and we start the trip  home.



Medical Exam...

Monday Sept. 10th

Today we went with the group to get all of the kids in the group their medical exams. The exam wasn't too bad, really wasn't much to it at all. There were 3 stations - one was to weigh and measure her. At the 2nd she got a general look over including listening to her heart and lungs. Finally, at the 3rd they checked her eyes, ears and nose. Combined it took about 20 minutes tops. We spent most of the time playing with the other kids and waiting for the rest of the group to get done.

Shamian Island - Part II

Sunday Sept. 9th

 

Outside Lucy's

 



 

Best purchase was the stroller, she loved it!

 

3 Generations of Chinese Women, this a famous sculpture

 



 

The Chinese love children

 

Emily playing with the puzzle of China we bought her on the Island

 



 

Some of our purchases; we saw the panda scroll painted ;o)

 

 

After our trip to the island we had a group meeting to work on our visa paperwork. I was shocked when I got there and there were 8 other families there in addition to us and the Footes. The Footes and us were the only families in the traditional program. The other 8 had been to Hunan and we all in the waiting child program. After our paperwork was done we decided to stay in for dinner and went to the hotel dinner buffet. I have to say there are some strange things on the buffet at night. Needless to say I ate noodles and rice again, lol.



Shamian Island...

Sunday Sept. 9th

Today is basically a free day so we decided that we would catch a cab to Shamian Island and do some shopping. Shamian Island was once used as a port for foreign trade between Guangzhou and Europe. The island itself is not large and is marked by colonial European buildings and tree lined streets. Bronze statues depicting colonial life are all over the island and in the park. At the park we saw older women playing mahjong and some gentlemen practicing swords. The park was peaceful and it seems like a lot of Chinese people go there to relax.

 There are a lot of shops although we had several shop owners tell us that business is not as good as it was when the White swan Hotel was open and the consulate was still there. At Susan’s the family that owned the business were especially nice. They made some fresh tea and invited us to have a cup with them which we did. We purchased some nice gifts and then went to Lucy’s for a break from the stifling heat. Lucy’s is a restaurant that serves Western food and seems to be quite the draw for adoptive families looking for a taste of home. We ran into several other families there and in various shops.