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

Getting to the Homestretch

We had a busy Sunday morning going on a tour of a Buddhist Temple, Old Chen House and a shopping center for jewelery, jade and silk. The Temple was interesting but they were burning a lots of incense so I had trouble coughing there. There were lots of locals worshipping the Buddhas. They would give offerings of water and oranges on the alter. The Pagoda is over 1,450 years old and leans to the left. It was been rebuilt many times over the years. It is about 9 stories tall. There were many beautiful Banyan trees there.

Next we went to the Old Chen House. It was built in 1888-1894 for the Chen families. It was to warship their ancestors and an academy for their children. Chen is the most popular surname in the province. Once the school became open to the public the Chen family turned it over to the government in 1959 because it cost too must to keep up and they no longer needed it. It is a museum now. There were many Chinese children drawing there. They seem to not even notice us watching them. It was also interesting to see. Lots of art work.

Our next stop was an expensive government run jewelry, jade and silk store. It was very expensive there so we just window shopped. Lan Lan Sarah is learning that I can not buy her everything she wants! We are a work in progress! There were many interesting shops and stores near the store so Ive posted some pictures of those. There were lots of bins with strange items in them at the local market.

We spent the afternoon walking around the island, doing our visa paperwork and resting. Even though the air seems better here, I continue to cough and not feel too well. We had an early night and I am feeling a little better today. Our guide takes our paper work to the US Consulate tomorrow morning and then we go to the US Consulate tomorrow afternoon to take our oath. On Thursday afternoon our guide picks up our children's visa and we leave for Hong Kong on Thursday night. We spend the night in Hong Kong and leave Friday morning for the good old USA!!!!! I am counting down the days now and oh so happy to almost be done! Sarah Lan Lan is doing well most of the time but we still have our moments of pouting and some unhappiness but we are making progress - - - It is tough to hear no!

Today we may go to the pearl market but am still thinking about it. I am getting a little tired of the tours but they are something to do at least. It looks sunny and humid out today.

Pictures with a Few Days to Go.

Just some pictures with no post for now. . . Put on some elavator music and enjoy.