Getting Sydney - Day 14 - Last Day

Last day in China Today was the big day...today we visited the US Consulate in Guangzhou and swore that everything in our adoption application was true. That was it...it took about 3 minutes. We were in and out of there in no time. Unfortunately, the don't allow any bags (or even umbrella's) in the consulate building so we couldn't record anything. Later this afternoon we should be receiving Sydney's passport with a US visa attached. When we land in Newark and the department of Homeland Security official stamps her passport...she will be an American citizen. Thankfully the INS department in New Orleans faxed over our missing Visa and we're coming home tomorrow...yeah!!!

I had a little Chinese currency left over an it was burning a hole in Ginger's pocket so we had to go pick up some clothes before we left Shamien island. (A husband has to pick on his wife about her spending, but in truth she has been a very frugal shopper and has spent our money very wisely.) Truly the Lord spoke when he gave me Proverbs 31:12 in answer to my prayers concerning our lives together (in high school no less.)

As we wandered Shamien Island for the last time...I couldn't pass up this photo op: reminiscent of "A Christmas Story"..."It's smiling at us"


How much is that girlie in the window?


Since this is our last day with the other two families our guide took us to a Dim Sum restaurant and we tried some more exotic foods. Here's Sydney ready to go:


The waitresses brought out lots of dishes and placed them on a revolving glass table so we could just rotate it and take what we wanted. Here's what Ginger thought...


when she saw this dish:


It wasn't nearly as scary as it looked though...it was actually a desert. It was just jello in a fish mold. It was an interesting flavor...rose-petal water with some cinnamon mixed in.

Here was another scary-looking dish:


But it was actually quite delicious. It was a very delicate sweet roll with a dab of mashed sweet potato in the middle.

Here's Sydney trying her hand at feeding herself. She does very well at the feeding part, just not the scooping part.


Then it was back to the hotel for a nap. Here are a few shots of the Garden Hotel where we are staying:
The Lobby:


and the garden area:


Then we said goodbye to the Keegan family as they headed out for Hong Kong. They are spending the night there and will be taking a very early flight back to the States tomorrow. They have been great friends and we will miss them terribly!


Here's Sydney waking up and yawning sweet little yawns while snuggling her Mommy:

Sydney says "Thank you Jesus for my new family"


And so ends our China journey (at least this chapter of it.) Thanks for joining us and for your prayers and well-wishes. We would appreciate your continued prayers as you go to sleep tonight...we will be starting our long Friday flight home. We're leaving the hotel at 6:30 AM, flying to Hong Kong, then catching a flight to Newark. We're scheduled to arrive in New Orleans 10:30 PM Friday night, but we're trying to get re-routed to Baton Rouge, still arriving at 10:30, but much closer to home. For those of you planning on meeting us at the airport, we should know something for sure by 3 PM and will call your cell phones to let you know.



Videos:



Chinese/American baby, in China, enjoying French fries




Not so sure about ketchup though