Day 14--The Final China Chapter--Nothing Left To Do But Bring Ivie Home

Today was a happy-sad day. On the one hand, our throats, appetites, and heads tell us it's time to come home. On the other hand, China has been especially gracious to us. We waited two years for these two weeks. And although the ultimate goal is to have Ivie home, part of us will mourn leaving Ivie's homeland. But, we take solace in knowing we will be back one day, to pick up baby #2 and to show Ivie the land where she was born.

Our last day in China started with a tour of Guangzhou City. We went to a Buddhist Temple first. It was incredibly solemn and serene despite all the people. Two days of every month there is an incense burning at the Temple. Today happened to be one of those days, so the Temple was filled with incense smoke. That and the overall air quality of the city made breathing a chore, but it was worth it. The Temple is actually several buildings and gardens, and one large pagoda. The pictures probably don't do it justice. There are several impressive Buddha statues, and we saw several monks walking the grounds welcoming the worshippers. The highlight of the Temple experience, however, was the "blessing of the babies." Our babies and their mothers took off their shoes, entered one of the Temple buildings ornate with three giant Buddha statues, everyone knelt down, and the babies were offered a blessing by one of the monks. It was quite a moving experience. It felt good knowing that Ivie's homeland had blessed her and wished her safe passage home and a happy and healthy life with us.

Our next stop on the city tour was a Provincial Arts and Crafts center, where we browsed through an impressive array of ivory carvings, porcelain wares, embroidery, and other, well, arts and crafts. We bought several more gifts for friends and family back home.

We then had some lunch and relaxed in our room. Man, we have gotten sick and tired of living out of a hotel room.

After that came another momentus occasion of our trip. We got on a bus and took a 40 minute ride to the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou. The Consulate in my mind would be a majestic, ornate building with tall iron gates and armed personnel outside. Instead, the reality of the Consulate is that it doesn't look much different than your local DMV. The running joke was whether or not we could renew our license plates there to kill two birds with one stone. We went through security with our passports, had some paperwork examined by an official, and then listened to a speech delivered by the Assistant Consular General, who was in charge of the Adoptions Unit.

She told us that every American adopting a baby from China goes through this particular Consulate. In 2005 they processed Visas for approximately 8,000 babies. They are on pace to process that number again in 2006. She also told us that while the U.S. Government doesn't recognize dual citizenship, the Chinese government will and will see Ivie as a Chinese citizen. But, she warned, it is not advisable to travel on a Chinese passport because if she travels to China later on and a problem arises, she cannot rely on the U.S. Consulates or Embassy to help her out. She would be at the mercy of the Chinese system, which, needless to say, isn't as reliable. So, if Ivie wants to travel to China some day, she will travel on her U.S. passport and apply for a Chinese visa.

After the speech we all stood up and took an oath that the information we had given over the past two years had been accurate. We were then congratulated on the conclusion of the adoption process, and received Ivie's U.S. Visa, along with some other important documents. How this works is when we get to Chicago we go through the "foreigners" immigration line. The immigration official will review Ivie's documents. If he's satisfied, and there's no reason to think he won't be, he will stamp her paperwork and Ivie will be a U.S. citizen. We're sure tears will be involved--again. Now mind you this was a very momentus occasion and our little angle slept through it all.

We took the bus back to the hotel and took one last set of pictures of all the babies on those red couches. They are very cute. The babies sat still for about 4 seconds, then 2 babies started to cry, then Ivie started to slouch and then roll over the other babies. Very, very cute and funny.

We then had one last group dinner at the restaurant we ate at last night. It was a Thai restaurant, I think Renee told you. The food was the best we had had in China so far, so we decided to eat there again. Some great food, some hugs and goodbye's all around, and here we are, 9:00 p.m. Thursday night, packing our stuff and getting ready to leave at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning for 24 hours of travel fun. We're expecting the worst, but hoping for something better than that. But either way, we'll see all of you soon and look forward to many formal introductions of Vivienne Chao Fensin.

This will be our last post. It has been one heck of a journey. We wouldn't trade any of these moments for the world. These two weeks, and these two years, will be a lasting memory that we look forward to sharing with Ivie when she gets older. We are now looking at her sleeping soundly in her crib. We can't believe the journey is really over, after two years of paperwork, waiting, questions, frustration, and tears. But the more we think about it, the journey isn't really over--it's just beginning several new chapters, this time at home with our family and friends. Again, we pray daily for Ivie's birth parents, nanny, and foster family. May they take solace in knowing that Ivie has found a loving "forever family."

The first book we read when starting the adoption process was entitled "I Love You Like Crazy Cakes." It was a moving short illustrated story about a mother traveling to China to adopt a daughter. We cried when we read it. We now know why. We can't imagine loving someone more.

Day 13

Well I was just wondering what to post today because nothing very interesting or exciting happend, when Ivie cured that problem. We were just getting ready to give her a bath. Scott undressed her and took off her diapers in the bedroom. He then said "please don't pee on daddy". Well of course that jinxed it and Ivie peed on him when he was getting ready to put her in the tub. All over his clothes, shoes and the bathroom%2Day 13

Well I was just wondering what to post today because nothing very interesting or exciting happend, when Ivie cured that problem. We were just getting ready to give her a bath. Scott undressed her and took off her diapers in the bedroom. He then said "please don't pee on daddy". Well of course that jinxed it and Ivie peed on him when he was getting ready to put her in the tub. All over his clothes, shoes and the bathroom floor. There's funny and then there is baby peeing on daddy - the highest of comedy. So parenting lesson number 2 for the trip is don't take off the baby's diaper until you are ready to stick her feet in the tub.

Other than that, the highlight of the day was my trip to the Pearl Market. I have been waiting for this for a long time and I was expecting it to be a farmer's market type - outdoors with each vendor having a little wooden stall to sell their wares from. Much to my surprise, the market was located in a three story shopping mall type building. We went to a pearl store first - where I purchased some beautiful high quailty pearls to make necklaces for myself and Ivie and earrings as well. The price was high but it was still much less than I would have spent in the states. We then wandered around for a while, looking at all the stalls with the different gem stones. I purchased two strands of amethyst rondells, four strands of garnet (Ivie's birthstone) and some agate as well. I was surprised because the prices were not that cheap, a little cheaper than wholesale in the US. I was searching for really good deals and did not find too much. But it was fun nonetheless.

While I was out shopping at the Pearl Market and the stores on our island - Ivie had some quality time with daddy.

We had our Consulate appointment today. We did not have to go to it, instead our guide Grace took all of the paperwork I filled out yesterday and did it for us. One parent had to wait in the hotel room in case there were any questions, they could call us. There were no questions and we got a call that everything was ready for us to bring Ivie home (yea!).

Tomorrow we are going to a Buddist temple in the morning where there will be a blessing of the babies. In the afternoon, we go to Consulate and take the oath for Ivie. The rest of the day will be spent packing and getting ready to go home.

Renee

November 8 - Happy Birthday Uncle John

Red Couch Family Photos

The Yamaguchi family - Wade, Joey, Kirk, Jane and Grace

The Hawley Family - Chris and Sylvia

The Winnigham Family - Nicki, Payton and Brett

The Cowherd Family - Susan and Emily Ruth

The Johnson Family - Christina, Zoe and Cameron

The Mosher Family - Eric, Jake, Dorie, Parker and Diana

Day 12 - Big Day in Guangzhou (I miss counted the earlier days - blame it on a lack of sleep)

Today was the busiest day we've had in China so far - nonstop activity.

First we went to get Ivie's visa picture taken. It was so cute - she looked just like a little bird. I wish we could have kept the photo but we could not.

Then we went to get a medical examination which is required for the visa process. Ivie was so brave - our little trooper. She did not cry at all - she only fussed a bit when the put the tounge depresser in to check her throat and really who can blame her. She even laughed when they were trying to hear her heartbeat. She is 16.2 pounds and 68 centimeters (I did not do the conversion on that one - feel free to do it yourselves). She is the smallest in our group. Its funny, the one baby who is younger than her is much bigger and the oldest baby Zoe is almost exactly the same size as Ivie just a few more ounces and one centimeter bigger.

On our way back to the hotel we ran into a military group doing karate like exercises. Of course being tourists we were taking photos. One of the military guys ran up to us shouting "No Pictures! No Pictures!" I guess they are afraid we will leak some sort of state secret. So in the interest of safe passage home, I will not post any of the pictures but they are pretty cool.

We then ran into a group of kindergarten kids walking through the park. They were walking two by two, holding hands. Each one also had a pad of paper with them on which it appears they had drawn some nature scenes. They were so cute. Not one block beyond this, we saw groups of children marching out of the local school. They marched in formation and stood in groups. They waited until all of the groups were out and then began to do some sort of exercises to music. I am not sure if this was recess or gym class. But it was so neat to see. Scott is planning on taking the video camera back tomorrow to film it.

When we got back to the hotel, I along with one parent from each group went to our guide Grace's room to fill out the visa paperwork. Scott had gone to do the last round of paperwork and being a lawyer he read everything and did not pay attention to what they were saying - so he asked questions that had already been answered. They made lots of fun of him for it. I think they were disappointed when I walked in. But it was a good thing because there were about 10 forms and Grace told us what to put in each box. If Scott had gone, he'd still be there.

After this we went and had lunch. I had a tuna sandwich because I am a bit sick of Chinese food. Then we went shopping. I will spare you the gory details but suffice it to say I bought gifts for the folks back home, gifts to give Ivie on the anniversary of Family Day for the next 18 years and of course some things for me (and yes dad, I did buy a purse). All of this was only $100. So there will be another trip tomorrow before we go to the Pearl Market.

Late in the afternoon we had the second most anticipated event on our trip - the Red Couch photo. Almost all of the girls dressed in traditional Chinese clothing and then we put them all on the couch. Imagine 7 babies on one couch. Most of them posed rather well but my little wiggle butt only sat still for about 30 seconds. The photo I have has her leaning back with her legs in the air and her diaper showing - typical Ivie.

To cap off the evening we went with the Johnsons to a local restaraunt. It was lovely - there were tables outside right on the river - on the other bank of the river all of the buildings were lit up in neon - very Vegasy. The courtyard had lots of paper lanterns hanging from the trees and the Spagetti Bolognase was not that bad. We were feeding Ivie baby food carrots and she seemed to like them. To keep her occupied during breaks while we were eating we put some Cherrios on the tray of the high chair. She grabbed two fistfulls and tried to feed herself. This did not work to well because she ends up putting her whole fist in her mouth and does not open it. So she got frustrated with this and decided to bend over and pick them up with her mouth. This worked with varying success - she managed to get some in her mouth but the majority stuck to the baby food on her face and nose. It was hilarious - not exactly behavior I want to encourage but we were all laughing histerically. She would put her face down and come up with two Cherrios stuck to her cheeks. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera to capture the moment for posterity - lesson learned.

Well only two more days here and then we leave the hotel at 5:30 Friday morning or about 3 pm Thursday afternoon Milwaukee time for about 24 hours of travel - fun.

As much as we have enjoyed this trip - we are anxious to get Ivie home where we can be surrounded by friends and family. See you in a few days.

Day 12 - Baby's first airplane ride

Today we left Nanchang and flew to Guangzhou. In a way we were glad to leave because it meant we were one step closer to being home. But on the other hand, our guide Evelyn took such wonderful care of us that we will miss her so much. We took some last group photos in our hotel and made our way to the airport.

We were a little nervous about Ivie's first plane ride. You really take for granted the value of a carry-on bag until one of your carry ons is a diaper bag. It had to be extra-special prepared. Nowhere to obtain needed supplies at 30,000 feet.

Ivie was great all the way onto the plane. She was great through take off. She was great through about 30 minutes of a 1 hour and 15 minute flight. Then all heck broke loose. She was way off schedule, late for both a bottle and a nap. So she started to cry, and Cry, and CRy, and CRY!!! But Ivie wasn't alone. A lot of the other girls were crying, too. It was like our own little symphony. Some of us parents had to walk our litle girls up and down the aisles of the plane to calm them down. Ivie and I walked up and down about 6 times, and by then she was calm. By the last 5 minutes of the flight, Ivie was asleep. We thought that photo would perfectly capture her first flight.

When we landed the theme of our adventure through the airport to our luggage was poop. As first-time parents we're learning a lot about poop. Baby poop comes in distinctly different forms. The forms we've been used to so far are the (a) normal poop (self-contained within the diaper) and (b) the "blowout." Now, the blowout isn't any fun. We'll spare you the details, but suffice it to say, blowouts require far more, uhm, cleanup. Ivie led us on a parade of a different poop from the gate to the baggage claim, (c) the small poop nugget, again, the title should aptly describe it. These are fine, requiring minimal cleanup and minimal time. But Ivie left three poop nuggets for us on the way to the bus. And let me tell you, poop nuggets smell no better than options (a) or (b). So they need to be dealt with right away. So we held up the rest of the group getting on the bus.

Our new guide for our brief stay in Guangzhou is Grace. She is very nice. Unfortunately, it will be for Grace how it will be for the quarterback who follows Brett Favre--a no-win situation. Following Evelyn will be nearly impossible.

Guangzhou is much different than Nanchang. First, it's about 3 times as big. Second, it doesn't feel like China at all. It feels more like Cancun. It is very hot, about 86 degrees when we landed about 4:30 p.m. Also, because every American who adopts a Chinese child must go through Guangzhou, it is packed with Americans and therefore it is distinctly catered to Americans. We had burgers, fries, and shakes for dinner. No such thing in Nanchang. While the food there was excellent, 10 straight days of Chinese food was enough for one stretch.

Our schedule for the next few days is as follows. Tomorrow we take Visa photos of Ivie and take her for a medical exam. Then we meet with our guide to fill out Ivie's Visa paperwork. Then, the moment we've all been waiting for, the group "red couch" photo. Long ago, one of the first groups of adopting families wanted to take a group photo at this hotel (called the "White Swan"). They borrowed an ornate red couch. Well, taking group photos on the red couch has since become a tradition, so much so that the red couch is roped off to the public. It is a very special moment for any adopting American group coming through Guangzhou. We are very excited.

Wednesday Ivie's Visa application will be delivered to the U.S. Consulate. We will then take a group trip to the pearl and jade market (Renee has been waiting for this trip). Thursday we will have a group city tour and then will travel as a group to the U.S. Consulate to take the citizenship oath on behalf of Ivie. She will then have the U.S. government's permission to travel to the United States on an immigrant Visa. Once she passes through customs in Chicago, she will be a United States citizen.

Friday we leave early for home. We arrive at Mitchell Field at approximately 3:15 p.m.

So that's our schedule. We will post each of the next four days. Thanks to everyone for all the well-wishes.

Scott, Renee, and Ivie

Day 11 - Nanchang Zoo

Today we went to the Nanchang Zoo. It was kind of a depressing zoo because they have everything in cages with no sort of habitat at all. There were all sorts of things we had never seen before, such as yaks, vultures, giant snakes, and leopards and jaguars living with wild dogs. But by far the star attractions were a real live Panda and the opportunity to feed the elephants.

The Panda is on loan from another zoo - they call it LazyBones because usually all it does is sleep. However, we were lucky enough to see it awake and eating eucalypus leaves. Obviously, since Pandas are Chinese treasures, by far the biggest group of people were around it's cage. This was really neat.

We all got to feed the elephants. Seriously. Hand feeding elephants. For one Yuan you get a stack of sugarcane. The elephants are in a lowered pit but their heads are almost at ground level, so they can reach their trunks up onto the ledge and take the sugarcane right out of your hand. Again, very cool. We have never been so close to an elephant - you could actually touch their trunks if you want, which we did. The hands you see in the pictures are ours, feeding an elephant and rubbing its trunk. And, yes, we used several disinfectant wipes afterwards.

Again we attracted crowds of interested, friendly people. Ivie and the other little girls were the stars of the show, of course, but there was also interest in the American tourists. Although it gets quite claustrophobic in a tightly wound group of lots of people, all the Chinese people have been most gracious and pleasant, even venturing to practice a little English with us.

After the zoo we went to lunch and Ivie helped herself to two lotus rolls and two pieces of watermelon. She was a mess afterwards, but very, very cute, as always.

Right now we're spending the last afternoon in Nanchang hanging around our hotel room listening to Ivie cry as she tries to fall asleep for her nap. She's had a long week, just like us. We can't explain how spiritual and moving this journey has been. She's just perfect, our little angel. We think she's getting used to us more and more each day. We hope we're collecting enough memories to share with her when she's older. While we're ready to come home, we'll miss Nanchang and we'll look forward to the next visit. We continue to pray for Ivie's birth parents, nanny, and foster family. We hope our prayers will reach them so they can rest assured that Ivie has found a loving family to take care of her and love her for ever.

Tomorrow we leave for Guangzhou at 1:40 p.m. (Monday afternoon). The flight is about 2 hours. We'll spend Monday night and Tuesday hanging out, our Consulate appointment is Wednesday (recall, for Ivie's immigrant Visa), we'll hang out Thursday (including the famous "red couch" picture), and we'll fly home Friday at 11:00 a.m. We are so excited to see everyone and to introduce everyone to our precious baby girl.

Love,

Scott and Renee

Day 10 - Let's go shopping

Today was the group trip to the Free Market. The Free Market is a very large building with about 6 floors. Each floor has about a million little shops selling clothes and little trinkets. We went to the baby floor and looked around. I thought I'd pick up a few cute outfits for Ivie. There is no heat in China in the winter in a lot of buildings so they bundle up. Our guide Evelyn says she will wear three layers in winter because she does not like the cold. I have seen pictures of babies wearing multiple outfits who cannot bend their arms and legs. So since we are approaching winter - all the baby outfits were quilted and padded. They'd be fine for outside but there is no way she could wear them inside back home - she'd be roasting in the heat.

So I managed to find three really cute pairs of shoes for 100 Yuan or about $13. I was trying to find squeaky shoes - which are hard soled shoes with the little squeakers that they put in toys so they squeak when the babies walk. Apparently the babies all love them and it helps them learn to walk - so we will try to find a bunch when we are in Guangzhou. I also bought two little barrettes for Ivie's mohawk. The one seemed to stay in pretty well but when I went to readjust it the felt part fell off of the metal part (but you get what you pay for 5 Yuan for 2 or $.30 a piece).





As we made our way down the floors towards the ground level I started getting a bit claustrophobic so we decided to go outside and wait for the rest of our group. We found a few others waiting near a luggage kiosk (they bought a suitcase for all the extra stuff we are buying). As usual a few people gathered around the babies. Scott had Ivie since I had to be free to shop and spend spend spend. Evelyn said she heard a few women commenting on Scott carrying the baby and said I must be a very strong / powerful woman (even they could tell who wears the pants in the family). Anyway Scott showed our card to the few people who approached and before long there were about 50 people around us - mostly teenage girls and boys. A few of them spoke English so Scott was talking to them and asking as many questions as they asked him. But after a while it got a bit crazy - they just kept coming and coming. A lot of them took pictures of us with their camera phones - they liked my blond hair.

One of the babies had to be changed so they decided to put the changing pad on one of the suitcases. When her mom took her pants off one of the ladies - yelled at her because the baby would be cold. The changing of the baby drew another large crowd because most Chinese babies wear split pants and will just crouch down and go when the have to go - so people aren't used to seeing diapers.

All of the insanity went on for about a 1/2 hour before the bus showed up and we were wisked off to the safety of a group lunch. Again there was plenty of food (although I did not think it was as good as the last few places we went). Although this was a bit more expensive 40 Yuan per person or about $5.50.

The boys took the babies back to the hotel and the girls went to a store where they will get the original finding ad for you baby out of the newspaper. When a baby is going to be placed for adoption, the government runs a finding ad in the local newspaper to make sure that no one will claim them and they are truly orphans. All of the babies from our orphanage in our group were in the same paper. At the store they also had traditional outfits that you could have made in the fabric of your choice. We did not think we could do it because we are leaving on Monday but they told us the clothes would be ready by tommorow. So of course I had no choice but to order a little dress with matching shoes and hat - I decided to go with white so she can wear it for her baptism too. They also had silk wall hangings that they would embroider with the baby's English name, date of birth, province and Chinese name - in characters. I also go her a chop (which is a stone pillar with the baby's zodiac animal on top and a stamp with her Chinese and English names in Chinese characters). All of this will be delivered to our hotel room tommorow (for 550 Yuan or $70.50)

We are trying to buy Ivie lots of little gifts which we will give her on her birthday every year until she turns 18 - so there will be more shoping in Guangzhou (I'll try to spare you all of the details but China is a bargain hunters dream).

We are just going to hang out in the room for the rest of the afternoon and have dinner in the Chinese restaraunt downstairs.

Thank you all again for following our adventure in China. It means so much to both of us and I know that Ivie will appreciate how many people loved her and prayed for her before she was even home.

Renee

Baby-palooza

I thought this would be a good time to post pictures of all of the Ivie's "sisters" so you could see them. Its so funny we've just met all of these people and now I feel like we will be friends forever.

Dorie Mosher. She is from Feng Cheng orphanage, which is different from the other girls.

Emily Ruth Cowherd with her mom Susan. They have adopted two other girls from China.

Sylvia Hawley with her dad Chris. Her mom is at home with their two other girls from China and their new "surprise" baby.

Peyton Winingham and her dad Brett. Don't you love the little Alfalfa tail?


Grace Yamaguchi with her big brother Joey.

Zoe Johnson and her mom Christina. Zoe and Ivie had the same nanny at the orphanage while they were there.

Day 9. Hello again from sunny Nanchang. It's 3:00 p.m. local time on Friday. Ivie is fast asleep for her afternoon nap. She's quite a stubborn little girl when it comes to nap time. Renee was out shopping so it was just Ivie and Daddy. Daddy tried to put her down in her crib, and she sobbed for 5 minutes straight. I tried to be patient and let her cry herself to sleep, but I couldn't stand it any more so I picked her up and played with her some more. She started rubbing her eyes, and eventually laid down on her side and started to sleep. I waited a few minutes, then picked her up and laid her in the crib again. Again she started sobbing, but this time only for 30 seconds or so, after which her head hit the mattress and she fell sound asleep. Quite the little battle of wills.

Today we went to the local police station to get Ivie's Chinese passport. It is so very cute. The way this works is she is a Chinese citizen with a Chinese passport. So, she needs the U.S.'s permission to enter the United States. We will apply for that permission at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou on November 8. She will be given a U.S. immigration VISA, which means once she passes through customs in Chicago she will be a United States citizen. We will have to apply for a U.S. passport and turn in the Chinese passport. The U.S. government will nullify the Chinese passport, but send it back to us as a memento. That means when she comes back to China with us to pick up baby #2, she will need a Chinese visa to enter the country.

After the police station, which only took about 30 minutes, we went to a local porcelain shop. Evelyn, one of our guides, specially scouted things out and found a reputable shop for us. The best porcelain in China, and some of the best in the world, is made in this province. Other than agricultural products, this is the most important product produced here. We didn't think it was a good idea to have a wide awake Ivie Chao in the porcelain shop with us, since she is an expert kicker and wiggler. You know the expression, "like a bull in a China shop," well this would have been similar, we think. So Scott took Ivie in the hip hugger and Renee went into the shop to buy gifts and mementos.

Ivie fell asleep in Scott's arms in about 2 minutes. Soon thereafter a group of 15 or so local older women crowded around Scott pointing at Ivie and motioning that I should cover up the bottom of her legs. Now understand we dressed her today in long pants, socks, shoes, a onesie, and a jacket. This little girl couldn't have been cold. But the hip hugger caused there to be about 1 inch of skin between Ivie's pants and her socks. The local women were having a fit. Before things got too out of hand, our bus driver, who speaks virtually no English but treats us like his own family, shooed them away. This was none too soon, because one of the local women tried to grab a little girl from our group, Zoe, out of her father's arms. Yikes.

After the porcelain shop we went with two other families to a local restaurant across the street from our hotel. Now, every time we've crossed a busy street we've had our guide, Evelyn, with us to literally direct traffic. Traffic around here stops for no one, not even mommies holding babies. The food at the restaurant was excellent as always, and just as cheap. The bill for all of us ended up being 146 Yuan total, or about $6.50 per family. And we were not want for food, let me tell you. The best part was the owner of the restaurant, which was very, very crowded, spent the entire time with our group to make sure everything was just right. Apparently it is good for business that he can show locals that the food there is so good that even foreigners eat there. Evelyn stayed with us until the food came, then had to leave to help our other guide, James, with some paperwork. We were left to settle up the bill (no problem, since the owner wrote down what we owed). We tried to leave a tip, but the owner absolutely refused to accept it. Can you even possibly imagine that happening in the U.S.??

Now on the way back to the hotel, we didn 't have Evelyn to help us direct traffic so we were left to try to direct traffic and cross two busy, busy streets on our own. It was very much like our own game of "Frogger."

We have a meeting in about an hour to finish up our paperwork necessary to register the adoption with the local officials and prepare for our Consulate appointment in Guanghzou. Then we'll probably just chill out in our room the rest of the day.

Thanks to all of you who have been reading our posts and lending us support from back home. We really appreciate it.