Red Couch Day!

This was our last morning at the breakfast buffet. I will miss it. It was wonderful. Most of the families seem to have gone home. Some are still around, just starting their first week.

Bao is getting better and better each day. She has warmed up to us over the last 10 days and gave Eric a really big smile. She is constantly offering Megan choice tidbits and even called her Ling Ling once.

We bought this outfit for Megan Ling yesterday.

And of course, the red couch photo. We didn't really get a great head-on shot. It was hard to get them all to smile at one time. Ling was really sucking on her fingers. Bao kept reaching over and taking them out and Ling stuck them right back in and grinned. She is quite an imp! The video shows the whole story.









This is us on the steps of the US consulate building. It used to be located next to the White Swan but it was moved to a larger location about 35 minutes away. We were not allowed to take photos inside, but it wasn't that big of a deal anyway. We received our children's immigration paperwork and visas and rechecked everything for accuracy, then a man read an oath and we swore everything we put in our application was true and he said Congratulations, you're parents! I did cry a little tear of relief that the whole thing was official. Because both parents traveled, our children will become American Citizen's as soon as we go through immigration upon our return to the USA.

We went to dinner at Lucy's, an American style restaurant. Megan Ling shared my spicy chicken enchiladas and Matthew's fish, and she ate ALL of my Purple Onion! Wow, that girl is amazing!

Here is Matthew, reading the Chinese-English Dictionary (another gift from Uncle Marty). He can already recognize many characters on the signs and buildings around town.


Mary Alice, Megan Ling and I shopped a lot this afternoon. It rained on and off today and luckily, our shopping took place during the break. Because of this, and some gifts from Marty and Cindy, I did not think all the stuff was going to get back into the suitcases. Thank goodness for those wonderful space bags. It took me hours, but it's all in there. We have a 4:30 AM wakeup call for tomorrow morning and our bags have to be out of the door by 5:40. Our flight to Hong Kong will only take one hour, and we have to travel into the city to get to our hotel. I hope it isn't a hassle for us, as in my family we have 8 available hands (not counting Megan Ling) and 7 rolling suitcases, one set of art scrolls (gifts from the foster mom) and Megan Ling. Hopefully, the one extra hand can hold her hand and she can hold the scrolls or pull a bag. It will be interesting. We will leave our guide Kelly behind at the Guangzhou airport and thus the end of the hired drivers. We will take the express train shuttle to the downtown area with all that luggage. I hope it isn't too difficult.

It will be bittersweet to leave here. I am very excited to get home, but home still seems very far away. I have had such a wonderful time with my new friends and my family. Eric and I feel like we have been given an awesome gift and responsibility in being able to come into this precious child's life and share our love with her and hers with us. She is soooo sweet and we love her so dearly. It is as if she were born to us right now and we could not love her more if I had carried her myself. Again, I find myself thinking deeply of her birth mom and dad and I hope that they can somehow know that their child will always be safe in our arms.

I better get to bed. Again, I am amazed that I managed to post. I am glad I have pushed myself to do it each night. It would have been so easy to go straight to bed. The effort is well worth it and I am proud of myself for doing it.