Today is Wednesday Evening. I know that I am a few days behind on the blog and am going to try to catch you all up on what has been happening. There have been a lot of highs and lows these last few days. All is good now, and soon I will be on my way home. But for now, I will give you a snap shot of what has been happening this week so far.
Sunday
Sunday was a free day for us. We didn’t have any paperwork to do for the adoptions so we did a little sightseeing as a group. Our days don’t start very early so we don’t really accomplish a lot during the day. Normally we get going by 10:00 or so, after everybody has enjoyed an awesome breakfast buffet. Kathryn loves breakfast and eats a ton. She really likes yogurt, I can’t seem to get it in her mouth fast enough. She also enjoys conge, eggs, and bananas. Once she has had her fill I can typically get a little for myself before it is time to go.
Our outing for today was to go to the Chen’s Ancestral Hall. This building was amazing. The craftsmanship that went into building this is inspiring. All of the architectural decorations in the building are of varied topics; they are wood carvings, brick carvings stone carvings, pottery sculptures. I took a lot of pictures and some of them are on the blog. There was also a great courtyard in the back that I took a quick video of all for you. It was very peaceful in the courtyard. (I am sorry I am not able to get the video to load right now. Having technical difficulties. I will continue trying.)
After Chen’s Ancestral Hall some of the group needed to go grocery shopping. I didn’t need anything so I just stayed in the bus while they quickly shopped. Kathryn was able to get fed and even took a short nap. All of this has taken us several hours to accomplish and it was very hot out. So the group ended up back in the hotel. The hotel we were staying in was right next to a McDonalds of all places. I went with another family and had a quick bite to eat. After going back to the hotel Kathryn proceeded to take a 3 hour nap and so I was able to get some work done that I needed to finish up.
After Chen’s Ancestral Hall some of the group needed to go grocery shopping. I didn’t need anything so I just stayed in the bus while they quickly shopped. Kathryn was able to get fed and even took a short nap. All of this has taken us several hours to accomplish and it was very hot out. So the group ended up back in the hotel. The hotel we were staying in was right next to a McDonalds of all places. I went with another family and had a quick bite to eat. After going back to the hotel Kathryn proceeded to take a 3 hour nap and so I was able to get some work done that I needed to finish up.
When Kathryn woke up from her nap we took a little walk around the hotel and chatted with some people. My friend Kimberly was coming in late that night to join me for the last week and to help me bring Kathryn home on the plane. I was looking forward to some company and also to have some help. The other families I have been traveling with have been extremely helpful to me and I have been very appreciative. I just knew it would be nice though to have a familiar face with me.
Kathryn and I stayed in for supper and the night went by quietly. Kimberly made it to the hotel about 10:30 and all went well with her travels. I knew that tomorrow was a big day. We had our consulate appointment at 8:30 in the morning so I was a little keyed up. We needed to get up early so we can leave the hotel by 7:45. Our plan was to go to the appointment and then come back for breakfast. So much for the best laid plans…….
Monday
Monday started out with all of us being a little tired. I needed to get up and get ready earlier than I have at any time since I have been here. I was also on a mission not to be the last family downstairs. What I didn’t know is that the clock in my room was about 7 minutes fast. So when I was frantically trying to get all of the last minute things together I really had time. We made it downstairs to the lobby and nobody was there. That is when I found out my clock was wrong. Oh well, better early than late.
Three of the four families had their appointments on Monday. The other family had their appointment on Tuesday morning. So the three families loaded on the bus and away we went for our big day. We all had our packets of necessary paperwork so we could obtain our visa’s for our children to enter the US and become US Citizens. This is a big day.
The process at the consulate is that all of the families with the 8:30 appointments will line up and then be checked in by a guard before being let in to go upstairs. We were somewhere in the middle of the pack of what appeared to be about 30 families. I was the last family of the 3 in our group. So, as you get up to the guard, he checks your passport against his list and lets you in. When it was Trish and Jay’s turn to get checked in there seemed to be a problem. Their name was not on the guards list. The guard asked them to step aside and turned to me. Guess what? My name was not on the list either. This is NOT good. We were told by our adoption agency that we had appointments at 8:30 but the consulate is telling us that we don’t have appointments. So we wait…..
Grace our guide starts making many phone calls to figure out what is happening. In the meantime we decide to sit down at this little restaurant to wait out our fate. And we wait….Grace has spoken with the director at the consulate to discuss our case. The consulate has our appointments down as May 2, not April 2. I can’t tell you how many things go through my head as I hear this. Staying in China until May 2nd is not really an option for me. What am I going to do if they can’t take us today? The stress starts to build.
By now, the families that were able to go to the 8:30 appointments are coming out. Only 1 of our 3 families made it. I am very happy that they are almost done with the process. They will get their visa on Tuesday and will be able to move forward. Then the next appointment time starts to line up. I think we are at 9:30 or so. We see all of these families come and go, and still we wait. Now remember, we did not have breakfast so by now all of us are starving, except of course the babies. At least I was smart enough to bring another bottle for Kathryn.
Around 10:00 Grace receives a phone call from the consulate that they will take us at 11:00. Yahoo!! We are going to get in today. That means we still may be able to get a visa by Tuesday and stick to our original travel plans. So the group waited another hour and finally we were able to go up. Our name was now hand written on the list, the guard let us through and so we proceeded on. It was a little eerie, because this place that earlier had so many families just had us now. We found our way up to the counter, talked to the consulate people, handed in our paperwork, took our oath. Then of course there was plenty of conversation of what could possibly have gone wrong. That of course will be a conversation for another day. I was very grateful they let us proceed. The process was going to go on as planned without any more drama. At least that is what I thought…..
The rest of Monday went fine. We had lunch, the babies were blessed in a temple, the group did some quick shopping and went back to the hotel so the kids could take naps. At least for Monday the drama was over. More to come tomorrow……
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