We have one day left in Guangzhou. We have had a wonderful adventure in China! Kai-Hui is more wonderful than we could have ever hoped for and this experience has not only increased the size of our family, I think it has strengthened the bond between "The First Four" of us.
The most important part of today took place where I could not use my camera: The U.S. Consulate In Guangzhou. Kai-Hui, along with about 60 other babies, was "sworn in" as a U.S. Citizen. This part of the process is just a technicality, but it is the culmination of much work that went on before. Connie, our guide here in Guangzhou, did a ton of work behind the scenes for us to ensure that all our paperwork was properly completed and submitted. For us, we basically needed to just do as we were told. this is a good thing, as we are pretty much useless, what with timezone shifts, sleep dep, diet changes, and oh yeah, trying to figure out how to parent a toddler again!
It was really meaningful however, and again, I am very grateful that our older boys have been able to be a part of this. We can get pretty cynical about the United States' politics, and foreign policy, but being here in China and seeing this part of the world has given all four of us a different perspective on the meaning of our citizenship, and feel thankful that we are able to share this wonderful gift with Kai-Hui.
After the process was finished we rode back to The White Swan hotel and took pictures with the other two families traveling from our agency. This was really a great group! There was us, the Oppligers, and the Matkins. The Matkins live in Bellingham. right by the Waldorf school, and the Oppligers live near my sister in Marysville. We really have a lot in common. Besides being from the same area, we all have other children traveling with us, and we are all adopting "special needs" children.
A tradition here at The White Swan is to take pictures of the "New Babies" on The Red Couch. So we made our pilgrimage to this little shrine too. The Matkins new daughter, Elena, was done at this point and didn't want to play, but we caught her in the picture too.
We are all ready to be back home, and for dinner tonight we voted "American" and ate at Lucy's next door.
We sat outside and enjoyed our last warm evening in Guangzhou. It's very humid and tropical here, and while the hot, sticky feel is very different for us, the locals are complaining that it's a bit too cool for them at night. We all find this so amusing, as for us this has been a beautiful (if wet) extension to our summer!
A Few More Pictures...
To feed Hui-Hui in the hotel room we have taken to stripping him down and seating him on a towel, then staying out of his way. The nickname has changed from "Monkey-Boy" to "Monkey-King"!
The Trip to the consulate came at naptime.
These are pictures of Guangzhou that I took on our bus ride from Shamian Island to the consulate's new location...
The last two are out opposite sides of the bus at the same time.
This picture was taken from in front of the consulate and is of the tallest building in Guangzhou
This is "Susan's Place" on Shamian Island. Very friendly vendor close to the hotel who took most of my money. She is very good at what she does, and our whole family enjoyed visiting her store.
Actually she did leave me with a few of these little bills - fractions of yuan.
Hui-Hui's the only son I have who will take these from me...
We will soon be on our way home. Thank you for following our adventures, and for all your kind email messages!
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