Goodbye China

Here we are on Day 13 already. We leave at 5:45am tomorrow. Today we had the famous "Red Couch" picture. For all adoptive families that stay at the White Swan, it has become a tradition to take a picture on the red couches that are in the lobby. All the girls wore traditional Chinese silk dresses. (I'm bringing a whole suitcase of them home - they are only about $5 each!!!)

After the picture, we all loaded onto a bus and headed over to the American Consulate. It was a welcoming sign to see the U.S. flag. We were handed our daughter's passport with a visa stamp inside. This visa indicates that the moment she steps foot on American soil, she will be a citizen of the U.S. The administrator at the Consulate told us that they have processed over 70,000 adoption visas for U.S. families that have adopted from China, making that Consulate the busiest in the world for adoption visas. All the families had to raise their right hands and take an oath stating that all information that has been provided to the government is correct and that we intend on being the new parents of our daughter. Unfortunately they did not allow cameras so there are no pictures.

Tomorrow will be a bittersweet day. On one hand, our daughter will become a U.S. citizen. On the other, Ella is leaving her home country, its heritage, and the only 'sisters' she's ever known. Tomorrow also marks the one year anniversary of the death of my grandfather. He would have wanted so much to see another great-grandchild of his. I'm sure he would have been tickled to meet Ella and see her personality.

We have made some wonderful friends on this trip. We hope to stay in touch for years to come, with annual reunions and periodic updates of how the 'sisters' are doing. It's been amazing to see the progression in each of the girls just since a week ago when they were handed to us. I can't imagine what a month at home will do!
















We can't wait to get home and see Ian - we have missed him very much. Thanks to all who have emailed and posted well-wishes to us....we love to read them! We just can't wait to get home and start the next part of our life together as a family with our new daughter!















If you would like to view more pictures from our last day in Guangzhou, click on the More Pictures link at the top right of this page. Then choose the folder called Day 13 - Tuesday.