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.