Day 14 Guangzhou/Hong Kong

What a day! We had the swearing in ceremony at the US consulate today with about 30 other families. The gentleman who led the ceremony did a nice job and gave a little talk about the wide range of families who were there to adopt. California and Colorado had the most families today. Gage did not seem to have any idea what was going on and he really wanted to play his Gameboy, but I coaxed it away from him for the meeting. We were asked to raise our right hands to promise that everything we had put in our documents was correct - as if there is any way at all you can cheat this system! We were lucky that it went fairly quickly because we were hoping to catch the 5:05 train to Hong Kong. We made it in plenty of time thanks to our efficients guides.

Hong Kong is really indescribable. We got out onto the walkway along Victoria Harbor in time to see the multimedia show which includes individual buildings doing light shows at various times. There is music and an announcer and it is all quite marvelous. There are so many beautiful buildings all around the harbor and they are lit up like daylight. There are also boats crusing around the harbor with decorative lights. We did a little walking in the shopping areas and ate in a food court.

The business center is closing and we don't have internet in our room so I need to make this brief. We will be up at 4:45 to catch the airport bus at 5:30 and will fly into LAX via Tokyo. Gage is really looking forward to getting to the United States and hasn't showed any remorse about leaving China. Our flight gets in to LAX at about 9:30 Friday morning the 31st. When Gage places his foot on American soil, he will become an American Citizen! What an incredible day tomorrow will be!

Thanks for all of your good wishes and prayers. We will post when we get home and will share the Hong Kong pictures with you.

Day 13 Guangzhou

Lucky day 13! We didn't have to do an official thing today. One of our guides Bob took our documents to the US Consulate and handled everything for us at a 10:00 meeting. He called at 11:00 to say that it had all gone through just fine. I had no idea we weren't required to attend any of these things, but we will go to the swearing in tomorrow. One bit of really good news - I now have NO more envelopes of money to hand over to officials! I started out with 7 and it was very intimidating to carry all of that cash around for the better part of two weeks. I wore a satchel thing that went around my neck and nobody was going to wrestle that thing away from me! I feel that I am traveling light right now, although we are very close to going home.

Today was relaxing and fun. We got up and ate breakfast at the fabulous White Swan breakfast buffet which was a treat. We met our guide Linda at 9:30 and she and the driver took us to Six Banyan temple which was quite extraordinary. Today is the first day of some lunar thing so there were tons of people bringing flowers and burning incense in worship. There is a large courtyard inside the temple with several buildings with Buddhas. The main one has 3 huge Buddhas - we will try to upload a picture - and there was a monk chanting. The worshippers rock back and forth with their hands in a prayer like form, moving their hands up and down. It was especially interesting to me because I have always had a hard time picturing the people in the Old Testament worshipping graven images and this was the real thing.

After that we went to a beautiful park with flowers and statuary. There were some incredibly cool things there, especially trees with unusual shapes. The ambience was enhanced by a darling bride and groom posing for photographs among the flowers. Next, Linda took us to a place that sold very inexpensive dvds that were mostly American movies translated into Mandarin or with Mandarin subtitles. Since they were just about $2 each, we let Gage pick out a lot of them, perhaps 20 or so. I picked out the Simpsons movie for him - he had never heard of it, but said it was fine if Mommy thinks so - bad Mommy! He also got a couple more Game Boy games which he was excited about.

We came back to the hotel and had a great swim in the pool. It was hot today, at least 85, and we could really feel and see the humidity. We had talked to our daughter Christine earlier today and she asked if we could find a knock off of a certain Luis Vuitton purse and, wouldn't you know, Jake found it in a shop by the hotel. While we were there, we got into shopping mode and I got a really fabulous traditional Chinese dress for my niece Rachel's wedding November 8. It is gold silk with hand embroidered flowers, full length. The shop didn't have a dressing room so I tried it on back at the hotel - Gage took one look and yelled "good!" You can imagine how happy that made me feel. I must tell you though, this dress is so tight in the hips! All I can say is that a medium size Chinese woman must have a very tiny butt! 

Gage is doing just beautifully, we are truly amazed and  thankful to God for blessing us so profoundly. He is quite easy going and really goes with the flow. His smile is something to behold! He seems to be happy with us and we haven't seen any signs of fear or regret. I brought a book on attachment in adoption in case we had to deal with initial lack of attachment, but I haven't had to open the book. He accepts hugs and kisses at least as well as any 12 year old boy. One morning when I had to wake him up, his arms automatically went around me and he said "mommy." What a thrill!

Thank you, dear ones, for blessing us with your love and support. This journey is much better for being shared with you and we are grateful for your loving presence. 

Day 12 Guangzhou

It feels strange that we are getting so near the end of this trip, but we are so looking forward to starting" "real life" with Gage back in Irvine. Certain details of the trip are starting to run together in our minds and we can't remember exactly where we did a certain thing or ate a certain thing. I have noticed that many Chinese restaurants don't offer wine so tonight I was happy to be handed a wine list at dinner. I really just wanted a glass so I ordered the only wine that was offered as a glass. It was listed under the category "Plain Chinese Wine" which didn't seem like a bad thing so I ordered it. It arrived as a perfectly clear liquid in a small glass with a pull top lid - very odd looking. A couple of staff members had a tough time opening it so when the guy finally pulled it open, it kind of sprayed around the table. The fragrance of it gave me the first clue that this was a nasty beverage. I took a tiny taste and it was some type of straight alcohol, certainly a cheap drunk at about $1 American, but nothing I could stomach. I won't risk boring you by providing details of yet another menu, but suffice it to say this menu featured "heads" of a lot of different species. 

Our local guide Linda and I took Gage for his physical at 7:45 this morning. I felt bad waking him up so early since we were up until about 1 AM with the long flight etc. I also felt bad waking him because he is so cute when he sleeps! He did fine with all aspects of the physical, but it turned out he needed 4 immunizations. I was really anxious about it because he has been through so much, but Linda told me she had already told him about it (in Mandarin) and he was perfectly composed. The nurse made a big production of the preparation of the syringes, medicines and all. (I much prefer it when they bring it in on a tray all ready to go.) He watched without any apparent nervousness and actually smiled through some of it. The first 3 shots were fine and he did make a bit of a face on the fourth one telling Linda it hurt. This was amazing to me because certain of my older children (and you know who you are) have resorted to hiding under the doctor's desk or even running into the parking lot wearing a hospital gown when an injection was mentioned.

Tonight at dinner, I was practicing pronouncing some Mandarin phrases with Gage and he was in hysterics. Kathy had made up a list for us of common phrases so we could survive without her (we can't) and the staff in the restaurant was having a good old time looking at it and enjoying Gage's laugher. When we first tried to study Mandarin, I thought it might not be too hard since there are no verb tenses, but the tonal part of it is a killer. Speaking of Kathy, she called tonight to check on us and we miss her all the more. We are very lucky that she has two sisters living in LA and will surely visit us in California some time. She took a special liking to Gage as all of you will!

Dave and the boys are down in the game room of the hotel. It has pool and some arcade games I think. Gage was blown away when he saw it this afternoon and kept reminding us it opened at 5:30. He didn't know what to call it, just kept saying "5:30." We went to the pool today - yes, the fabulous pool with the waterfall at the White Swan - and bought Gage some water wings. He is timid in the water, but very interested in learning so we will arrange lessons for him when we get home. There are so many things he has never had a chance to do or to learn. Jake has noticed that he changes his mind a lot and we are assuming that is because he has had so few choices in his life that decisions can be hard to make. On the other hand, he really knows his way around Dalian which is a very sophisticated city so he has had some nice experiences outside of the orphanage too. It seems that philanthropic groups in Dalian provide some great outings for the children.

We did lots of walking in the markets today which was awesome. I especially loved the pearl market and Linda had a certain vendor to recommend. There were many pets for sale in the markets and Jake tried to hatch a scheme related to turtles and the indoor ponds at the White Swan. He seemed to think he would be doing something benevolent for the turtles, but we weren't buying it. 

Tomorrow will be a sightseeing day and our guide will go to the US consulate and get Gage's visa. I'm amazed that we don't have to do some of these things ourselves, but I'm not complaining! Love to blessings to all.

Day 11 Shenyang and Guangzhou

We are now in Guangzhou where we will do the US Consulate part of the process. We had a successful day with yet one more meal at the wonderful dumpling place and then a van ride to the Shenyang airport. The flight here took about 4 hours and it was so much fun to experience AiJun's first airplane ride with him. He was making all kinds of motor sounds and was thrilled with the whole thing. I am happy to report he had no motion sickness in either the airport vans or the plane. 

We are at the White Swan Hotel which those of you have adopted from China know well. We just arrived and it is midnight so we won't be able to explore much until tomorrow. All we have scheduled tomorrow is Gage's physical which should just take about 30 minutes. The bad news is that we have to meet our new guide Lynda at 7:45 AM to go to the physical. I will probably take him and let Dave and Jake sleep a little since we are up so late. Plus I slept 13 hours last night since I was kind of wiped out with a cold.  We will also have the photo taken for his visa tomorrow. I am down to just two envelopes of cash to disperse for adoption related fees and I will be happy to part with those.

We got Gage's Chinese passport today and his picture is so cute! I can't believe he is ours. Our guide explained that China doesn't allow dual citizenship so when Gage becomes an American citizen on Friday, his Chinese passport will become invalid. It is a sobering thought for him to make such a huge decision at such a young age, and we don't make that decision for him lightly. We are pleased to know that he really wants to be adopted, really wants to come to the US and really likes us! We know he will have a wonderful life with us and are happy that it has finally begun.