Cruisin' Along

Today has been pretty laid-back. Rebecca took the paperwork for all 6 families in our group to the US Consulate. We got a call at 10:26 am that everything went fine. Some of our gov't paperwork had messed up my name (I suppose it's easy to get confused with my maiden and married names both being Brown), so we were worried the consulate might get hung up on that. Tomorrow, we'll actually have to appear before the Consulate to say an oath, and that will be our final step in the adoption process. We'll be able to pick up Virginia Grace's visa on Thursday.

We did a little more shopping (and bartering) and found two knock-off Northface jackets for Carter and Grace. They are so cute! We also met the cutest shop owner named Jenny, and she is a believer! She said there are actually lots of young adults who have accepted Christ on Shamian island. She gave us two small copies of the Bible in Chinese for Grace and Carter. So encouraging!

This afternoon, we took the official "Red Couch" pictures with our group. It's a tradition for all adopted children to dress up in traditional Chinese attire and have their picture taken on the red couch at the White Swan Hotel. Grace LOVED her squeaky shoes. I'll give it one more day, and then I'm taking those little squeakers out of the sandals. :)

Getting ready for the Red Couch.

All the kids in our travel group...they were all a bit confused!

She was distracted by the waterfall. I love how she has her foot in the air!

Our entire group.

Tonight, our group had tickets for the Pearl River City Cruise. It's beautiful to see all the lights of Guangzhou. The dinner didn't offer much that looked appetizing to Americans, so our group ate lots of noodles and rice. I am already starting to feel better, though I haven't ventured back to much "real" food yet. Thank you for praying me through it.

We've loved getting to know the Wrights while we've been here. Carmen, Tim, and their 3-year-old, Liberty, are from Huntsville. Liberty has 3 big brothers waiting for her at home!

This is our hotel, the White Swan Hotel. It's been nicknamed the White Stork
because so many adopting families stay here.

After 3 separate rounds of walking the halls last night, Grace finally let me rock her to sleep (with some minor fussing) while sitting on the bed. MUCH easier on my back. I'm hoping she'll do the same tonight. Occasionally, she cries in her sleep. I can calm her down easily, but I always wonder if she's dreaming about her foster parents. Or her initial fear of being "taken" by two strangers. She has really transitioned so well, but I am not naive to think that it will be a breeze from here-on out. We have many challenges ahead of us. However, our time here in China could have been much worse. I am grateful that it has been a time we'll remember fondly.

Grace and her bedhead after nap.

Loving her squeaky shoes. And here she was trying them on...
she did not wear them with these pants. :)

I wanted to say a huge thank you to my friend Emily who has been blogging for me every day. While I can email the posts, it won't allow me to put pics in at different places. I email pics and copy to her every night, and she has taken time to format it and put it all up for me. Blogger, Facebook, Youtube, and various other sites are blocked in China. I can read your comments because they're emailed to me. And I can briefly glance at the posts or get on FB on my iphone, as I have an international plan right now. But I don't have enough minutes to answer messages on FB...it takes a while for everything to load. So...if you've sent me a message on FB and wondered why I haven't yet responded, it's because I can't access it on my computer, and my phone takes too long to load. I've loved all the messages, and I promise to respond as soon as I get home. :) I also can't wait to catch up with those of you who've introduced yourself to me in the last two weeks...I hate that I can't get to your blogs! :)

Virginia Grace is bursting with energy so we're going to head to the playroom before we wind down for bed.

Sending my love to all of you across the world and those near too!