One More Night in Guangzhou

Pics: Family picture day and with the Doerr's the other Oregon family.

Today was 'wall' day. When runners race in a marathon there's a point in the race when they're close to the finish but their bodies are telling them that they can't go any farther that's the point in the race called the wall. That's how it felt today. It's been a great trip but we're ready to come home and settle in to a routine.

Today was our swearing in ceremony at the US Consolate. The room was full of familes all adopting children. The woman who administered the oath began by giving a little speech about the US foreign service which seemed to drag on forever. I was holding Gracie and she decided to fuss and start getting loud which prompted the woman to get on with the oath. No I did not pinch Gracie she did it on her own.

Tomorrow we get Gracie's US passport and visa which means she will be a US citizen the minute we touch down in Portland, OR. Hooray!

Today Gracie said 'ma ma' for the first time, of course Diana was in the other room and didn't hear it. But at least Sarah and I heard it and could tell her.

We also took group pictures today with all of the familes and kids. It was quite a crazy few moments.

Gracie didn't take a nap today so she's pretty fussy tonight. She has been chatting alot today and when we walked by the duck kitchen she reached out her hand and pretended to eat the duck. She also started hopping around like a bunny in the room this morning. Too cute!!

Tomorrow evening we get to take a 'public' bus from Guangzhou to Hong Kong they told us the ride is 3 - 4 hours long. I'm hoping the bus is like a Grayhound bus, but we'll see.

We'll spend the night in the hotel at the Hong Kong airport. There will be one other family from our group staying at the same hotel so we'll have some company.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to make an update before we head out on Saturday morning, but if not we'll see you at PDX at 7:50A on Saturday, Nov. 7. NW Flight 0786

Quick hitters:

The Chinese buracracy is more efficient than the US one.

Shopping in China is raw capitalism at work. More so than America. Almost everything is negotiable.