Each new day brings a new beginning! Hope has had a very good day today. She had been experiencing some digestive problems the past 4 days so we decided to try some maple syrup in her oatmeal at breakfast. She ate all of her oatmeal and even had a few small bites of a scrambled egg. The old fashioned maple syrup remedy did the trick! After breakfast we played with the girls in the room for awhile. Hannah and Holly snacked on Cheerios while Hope intensely watched them. Hannah placed a Cheerio in Hope’s mouth and then proceeded to make chewing motions with her own mouth. Hope ate the Cheerio. Holly then fed Hope a Cheerio. Tracy then assisted Hope in feeding herself a Cheerio. This is the first time she has even been willing to try something with a different taste and texture. What a major breakthrough! Praise the Lord!
Cordelia came to our room around 2:00 p.m. this afternoon with some paperwork that need to be filled out before our arrival in Hong Kong on Friday. She then took us down to the lobby and took some family photos for us while we waited for the hotel shuttles to arrive. There was a large crowd of families waiting along with us to go to the Consulate today. No one is allowed to bring strollers to the Consulate appointment. While we waited Cordelia showed me the bundles of colorful towels and washcloths that she had purchased on our behalf for Foshan SWI (Hope‘s orphanage). The director of the orphanage had told Cordelia that this is what they had need of the most. It was then time for all the families to board the two large shuttle buses for the journey to the US Consulate. After we arrived at the Consulate building and cleared the security check points we were ushered into a large waiting room filled with many chairs and a small play area. The girls were excited to see a playhouse just like the one they have at home. Cordelia went over everything step by step that would take place while we were at the Consulate office today. She told us the guides are not allowed to stay with the families during the Consulate procedures but showed us the room where she would wait for us. During our wait I was able to get Hope to eat some small bites of a Chinese rice cookie. The waiting room was filled with 48 families waiting in anticipation. It is so wonderful to see so many children united with their forever families! The windows were finally opened and the officers inside started calling out one by one the Chinese names of the waiting children and the adoption agency they are with. They called out Chan Wen Fen’s family with Faith International to come to window 20. Tracy was directed to sign the documents in two different places and then they gave us a copy of Hope‘s passport. We returned to our seats to wait until all the families had signed their documents. A US Consulate official then greeted the entire group. He asked by a show of hands how many families were here to adopt for the first time, second time, etc. He then acknowledged the children who had birthdays this month which included our sweet little Hope. He took a census of how many families had registered online with the Consulate office before traveling to China. There were not very many families whom had registered with their office prior to traveling including us. He explained how important it was for the Consulate to know when people were traveling out of the country in case their services were needed. He told us tomorrow we would receive a brown sealed envelope and even though it is Christmas time not to open it! It is to be given to the immigration officials at the port of entry of the airport when we arrive in the U.S. After we go through the port of entry our children will automatically be U.S. citizens. We then as a group all stood up and raised our right hands. We repeated the oath after the Consulate official. I looked down and Hannah had her right hand raised as well. So sweet and so very special!! We are not allowed to take our cameras with us to record this most meaningful event. However, we were allowed to have our camera held at the security counter along with Cordelia’s cell phone. We were able to take some pictures just inside the main entrance and on the outside steps of the Consulate building.
We have made a lot of special friends with some of the other adoptive families during our stay here in China. We joined Karen, Eric and there daughter Emeline along with another family for dinner tonight at an Italian restaurant. We met a family who is also here with our agency while dining at the restaurant. Hope ate some of my spaghetti while she was waiting for her steamed rice!! It is so great to see her trying some new foods!! Good company and good food made for a very nice way to celebrate such a special day!!! We know we have lots of people praying for Hope. Thank You for your prayers!!! Just two more nights and we will be home!!
From China With Love,
Ann, Tracy, Hannah, Holly and Hope
