Shopping and the Ceremony

Thursday morning we went with our group shopping at the Pedestrian Street and Li Wan Plaza. The pedestrian street is a walking street just full of shops, and restaurants, and neon. It seemed like there was a McDonalds and 7-Eleven on every corner! We heard the area referred to as the Time Square of Guangzhou. We found an incredible deal on DVD's at the Li Wan Plaza. We were able to buy DVDs for $2.25 USD each!!! We bought all sorts of kids DVD's like Toy Story 3, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Nanny McPhee (the one that's still out in theaters back home).........etc. We bought 17, but could have bought more........just wasn't sure if we would have the suitcase space on the way home!

This afternoon, we went with our other agency families to the American Consulate for the swearing in ceremony. The consulate had already received our paperwork from our guide and today they just verified we are who we say we are, and had us sign a form. Then as a group (there were 34 other families there), we raised our right hands and promised that all the information we had given was true. There are 5 staff members and 2 managers that process all the adoptions in China for the US. About 1/3 of all children adopted internally in the US are adopted from China. The consulate processed 3,000 adoptions last year. Of those 3,000, 57% were special needs. This year they estimate 67% of the Chinese adoptions to the US will be special needs! After the ceremony, it was back on the bus for the 45 minute ride back to the hotel. Tomorrow afternoon we will receive Lily's Visa and then we are free to leave the country.

Once back, we quickly changed Lily into her Chinese outfit and then headed over to the White Swan for the traditional Red Couch picture. I don't know when it started, but it's become a tradition for all adopted children to have their picture taken with the other children in their group on a red couch at the White Swan hotel. Actually there are a few different red couches and you can pick any one.

Once the photo shoot was over, we went out to dinner as a group at a local Chinese restaurant. The food was ok. There was a lot of strange looking stuff on the menu (like eel that looked like worms!), that might have been fun to try, but we stuck to more normal looking fare for the kids. After a stop at 7-Eleven for peanut butter, it was back to the hotel and bed.

I really can't believe that we are leaving in only 2 more days. I don't know if I'm ready to leave yet. It's nice to have someone cook for us, do our laundry, clean our rooms...........I'm getting a little spoiled! We've also just really enjoyed this experience and have had a lot of fun together as a family. It helps that the boys have been such great travelers. Of course there have been moments...........fighting, pushing, grabbing..........but that goes on at home too. Overall though, everyone has gotten along really well. Lily continues to come out of her shell. Lots of smiles and laughter today. Alex has been great with her and so patient when she wants to play with him. She's also starting to interact more with her other brothers too.

Tomorrow we will be doing a little last minute shopping and we'll start the packing. Now I think I'll get some sleep in preparation for the long plane ride home on Saturday!



The pedestrian street

There really is a McDonalds on every corner!

"Time Square"

Li Wan Plaza

Family picture taken prior to the trip to the Consulate. Cameras are not allowed in the consulate, so this picture was taken in our hotel lobby.

Lily posing in her new outfit

Red Couch picture. All the kids are watching 2-yr old Maria cry!

The kids and all the siblings......plus Dad trying to keep Maria happy!

Our kids. Check out Michael's expression! That's the new face he likes to make for pictures.

The Red Couch family shot

Trying to get the 3-yr olds to look at the camera and smile

Isn't Michael just a crack up!