Today at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China, as Grace’s parents, we took the oath required to make her a US Citizen. Grace’s official reign does not begin until the immigration officer at SFO stamps her passport. That is when she is absolutely, undeniably an American Girl!!!! At 2:45 pm this afternoon we were taken by bus with approximately 17 other new families to the US Consulate across town. The US consulate is located on the fourth floor of a large but fairly non descript building. What is interesting is there are no flags, signage, or anything considered official on the outside of the building. The only flags we saw were either on the arm sleeve of security personnel or in the room where we took our oath. And it was hidden discreetly behind a pillar. Security reasons? After our oath we headed back to the hotel for pictures of Grace sitting on the infamous “red couch”, and with the waterfall in the background.
This morning, before our CA, we went walking and stopped in at Jordan’s for some shopping. Our shopping time lasted only about as long as Grace would allow. She falls asleep on my shoulder, that’s when shopping comes to an abrupt halt. I thought Mom would return with us. She just looked at me and said “I’m fine, I will be just fine”. So we left her on her own and returned to our room. We rested until time to go to the Consulate. Grace got to wear her Red, White & Blue’s! One more post after this one and were home. Here’s Mom.
Love
Sarah, Don and Grace
Don’t worry Rich and April, Kevin was happily tucked away in the room while I was out. When I returned I grabbed Kevin and took him on a walk. We walked around this tiny little island, crossed the footbridge over the Pearl River and went on an adventure. I told him there was a McDonald’s at the end of the road so come on!! We walked past the area market or bazaar for the locals. Very colorful and lots of “spicy” smells. Kevin was a bit anxious and very quiet until he saw the dried beatles in stacks on the sidewalk. Did you see that? “Those are bugs”. I tried to reassure him that he didn’t have to experience everything local. We found our way to McD’s, had lunch and to Kevin’s surprise, we made it back to the hotel! I’m very happy to have been present for Grace’s oath of citizenship. Sarah, Don and I all got teary (this family and our tears!). Sarah, Don, and this family have all “come a long way” for this beautiful child and none of us have taken one moment of the process for granted. She is truly a blessing. Home in two days, unbelievable…
