After all the visa issues were settled, we traveled to the American Consulate for our swearing in ceremony. This is a very informal, group ceremony where the parents all vow that the information they provided is correct and true. It is the official “graduation” from all the adoption paperwork. We received our children’s visas to travel to the U.S. and our children will be officially American citizens when they land in the U.S.
We had dinner with our friends from Beijing tonight at Lucy’s. We took some pictures of the girls in a park nearby. Lollipop, though, screamed through the pictures because I wasn’t holding her. Mind you, I’m just out of camera shot, but that wasn’t good enough. Although it’s endearing to have a little one so attached to you, once we’re home and settled I hope she becomes a little more comfortable and secure.
We had to say goodbye to both our Beijing friends, and also our Hefei friends. We got pictures with both families and all the girls to remember them all. Of course, in this day of email, it is easy to keep in touch and share pictures.
A last task today was to finish our shopping. I bought some more pairs of squeaky shoes, a few dresses, and a few gifts. Shopping in Guangzhou is very fun, and it’ll be exciting to get all these new items home to try them out.
Most of our items our packed now. We have three suitcases: small, medium, and large. The issue isn’t getting all the stuff in the suitcases; it is keeping the largest suitcases under the 20 kilogram weight limit. We put the heaviest things in the smallest suitcases, and I think we made it. I’m glad we bought L.P. a suitcase at the Walmart in Hefei. We definitely need it now!
Tomorrow we’ll get up, finish packing, enjoy our last breakfast at the White Swan, and head to the airport. We have a short flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, and then a 12 hour flight home. We should be back home Thursday afternoon. So long from China! It was a trip of a lifetime!
Lollipop would rather grab the camera than pose for it. This is her trying to get the camera.
The squeaky shoes, and no they're not all for her.