Last day in China

Inside the White Swan


ooops, double



Julia and me




Karen and Emily




Today is our final day in China, we are getting our stuff together this afternoon and pretty well packed. Shea is taking a nap (a normal long one). Julia is not one for long naps but she has slept through the night from day one...yeah!





This hotel, The White Swan is absolutely beautiful. We have stayed at some very nice hotels in the past, but this one rates pretty high with us. I'll let the photos explain. Guangzhou is a huge city, one of the largest in China. This hotel is situated right on the Pearl River and in the evening, the river banks and buildings are lit up with neon and laser lights.





Last night, Karen and Emmy offered to babysit while Jim and I went out on a date. We had a great time, after walking around the island, we came back to the hotel where we had a very elegant dinner in a restaurant overlooking the river. It was an upscale dinery with live, soft music and no kids! It was great, and probably our last chance for awhile to have a night out, just the two of us.





Julia is adjusting very well and is a very happy child. The first day we had her, she barely ate anything. Now she's drinking 4, 8 oz. bottles, eating some table food and a little baby food. She will put cookies and cheerios in her mouth constantly if you let her. She loves traveling in the Bjorn (a baby carrier) and kicks her legs every time we get it out.





Our experience has been wonderful. The families we've connected with in our group are very special and we are looking forward to futures with them. Our babies will all have special bonds forever.





We are, however, looking forward to leaving here and coming home. The beds are too hard, the rooms are too small, the weather is too humid and we are so so ready to come home. We're excited to see our family, our home and our pets. We ready to get back to our wonderful lives and find our routine again.





We will look forward to our next trip (end of May, start of June) to Branson, Mo. We will celebrate our parents 50th anniversary with our family. We will also celebrate Julia's first birthday there.





Thankyou to all who have commented on our blog. Each comment has been very special to us. I will post one more time on this blog after we get home. Then we will start a new blog with info about our familily.











Love to All,





Sara

Tuesday, April 3

The girls on a shopping trip on Shamian Island


Our liitle American girl



Daddy and Julia in front of the U.S. Consulate bldg.

A New American Citizen

Today Feng Xiao He was sworn in as a naturalized citizen by adoption. When we land in Los Angeles on Wednesday Julia Xiao He Middleton will be a United States citizen. All the paperwork is done. We can legally bring her into the country.

We visited the United States Consulate this afternoon. We were not allowed to take cameras or electronic devices into the Consulate offices, so no pictures were taken of the actual swearing in. In some ways it was a little anticlimatic. We took her Visa paperwork with a copy of our passports to the counter to have someone behind the bulletproof glass verify that Julia looked like her Visa picture and that we looked like the people on our passports. After that a Consulate official came out to the waiting area and gave instructions to all the families. We then stood, raised our right hands and repeated an oath that the information whether verbal or written was truthful to the best of our knowledge. At that point the "ceremony" was done. We waited until we received her passport with her Visa. Then back on the bus and the ride back to the White Swan Hotel.

The bus ride back was a little more exciting. Although the traffic in Guangzhou is more under control than we had seen lately, we still almost crashed. A semi cutoff our bus and clipped the front side mirror as it forced it's way into our lane. China has been a wonderful place to visit but I would never want to drive here.

Jim

Photos from Monday

The group photo (Julia is in middle front)





Happy family



Shea and Julia in their chinese outfits




Visiting a Budhist Temple, the childern were blessed here





The riverboat cruise

Almost over

Today is Tuesday April 3, the day before we leave for home! We are anxious to get home and get back into a routine, especially with the girls. They have both been absolutely wonderful and we could not ask for better behaved children.
Jim started out with his regular Starbucks coffee (some things never change). We are now getting ready to go down to the breakfast buffet.
Last night we took a ride down the river in the beautiful, lighted river boat. They had quite the buffet, and the city sights were spectacular.
Also yesterday we made the attempt to photograph all the babies on the "famous" red couch. It was quite a funny thing to prop them up against each other and keep them from crying.
Today is our final appointment here. Our Consulate meeting is this afternoon at around 3:00. Julia will become an American citizen.
We're here most of the day tomorrow and don't check out until 5 Pm. Our flight arrives in Phoenix at 11:05 PM (US Airways), on Wed. PM (in case any one wants to meet us there).
Today is a cool, rainy day, we'll do more shopping and photographs.
We miss our friends and family so much!

Blessings,
Sara

Photos from yesterday (Saturday)

^Evening walk on the Pearl River

^Some of our group walking through the open market

^Would anyone care for some snake wine?

^Julia is a very happy girl!

^Shea posing in front of a Bonzai at the Pavillion (Nanchang)

The Paper Chase

Well today was my day to handle all the pre-consulate paperwork. Julia and I started out the day by having her visa photo taken. Next came the medical examination. I was never in the military but I had the overwhelming feeling that I was in an induction line medical exam. I kept waiting for them to send us to the barber's chair for a high and tight haircut. Actually they had three stations. Height, weight and temperature at one. Ear, nose and throat plus eyes at the next. Finally a physical examination by the doctor to make sure bone and muscle structure looked normal. Julia came through with a clean bill of health. She weighed in at 16lbs and is 26" tall.

The next stop for me and one parent from each of the other couples was paperwork. We had to prepare our I600s, our I604s, our DS232s, our I864Ws and that only accounted for less then half of the checklist. Our coordinator Cordella kept us on track and had to keep saying "can we move on now". All of that to make our consulate appointment short and sweet on Monday.

After naps was the best part of my day. The girls and I went on our own walking tour of Shamian Island (where we are staying). Shea pushed Julia in the stroller and I got to hold the handle so I wouldn't get lost. All three of us had a great time.

Jim