Consulate appointment

It is pretty windy and cool here today so we spent most of the day in the hotel. We had our consulate oath this afternoon and our BIG groups rode the hotel bus to the US consulate. No pictures allowed. Thirty one children's families took the oath. We swore that all we said in our documents was true. An officer gave a quick speech. She said that so far this year over 3,000 children from China have been adopted in the US! Wow, 3,000 less orphans!!!! Once we land in the US and go through immigrations, Sarah Lan Stevens will be an US citizen!!!! Our guide will pick up Sarah Lan Lan's visa Thursday afternoon and we will fly to Hong Kong Thursday night. We will spend the night there and fly to NY on Friday morning! Wow, two more days until we leave and three more days until we are reunited with Ron and Manon!!!! Sarah Lan Lan is happiest around other children so I am oh so excited to have her meet Manon! I am sure they will have some "moments" but all in all I think they will be great friends! Sarah is now calling Manon - Manon instead of Mei Mei.
Sarah Lan Lan is doing very well. She still does not like to hear no too much but what kid does???? She is doing much better though! She is understanding much more of what I say to her. I am happy our time alone is coming to an end and we will soon be with our family! I think she finds me a little boring right now! We have met some wonderful families and are hoping to stay in touch by email.
Tomorrow we have our "red couch" photos. In the lobby of this hotel there is a group of red couches that most adoptive families get their children's picture taken on. First they do a group of just all of the kids and next a group photo of all of the families. I bought Sarah Lan Lan a beautiful green silk Chinese dress for the picture.
Tonight we are hanging out in our room starting to pack and get ready to leave. I have to pack and repack to be sure I can get everything back in our two duffel bags! Not an EASY thing to accomplish!
Thanks for following along on our journey!
Brenda and Sarah Lan Lan