Visa Approval

Today was another exciting day in a string of exciting days. N. was officially approved to enter the United States. She received her Chinese passport last week, and today she was granted a visa to enter the U.S. As soon as she is processed through customs in the U.S. she will become a U.S. citizen.

The visa application ceremony is somewhat emotional because it is the last step the adoptive families have to take (and last item to pay for, incidentally) in the whole belabored process. Our appointment was for 4pm this afternoon at the U.S. Consulate office in Guangzhou. There were probably about 75 families present in a large room. One of the counselors explained the process to everyone, and administered the swearing-in. Since we were applying on behalf of the children, who are minors, we had to swear to the accuracy of our filings by raising our right hands and repeating the oath. C. had been somewhat anxious during the last two weeks, afraid that something would go wrong with the paperwork. So she was so relieved when it was finally done.

While we were walking in to the consulate appointment, I explained to N. that this was her last chance to ditch us before everything was finalized, but she wouldn't hear about it. She was determined to go through with it, as were we. We are now stuck with each other for the rest of our lives. After two weeks with her, we can't imagine it any other way. She has already become such an important part of our lives.

The rest of our group continued on to the airport for their flight up to Beijing tonight. It was sad to see them go, since we've grown so close over the last two weeks. Everyone in the group got along very well, and we really enjoyed all their company. Hopefully we'll be able to keep in touch. After going through such an emotional process with them, let alone eating meals together and taking trips on the bus together for two weeks, the bonds grew strong.

We celebrated tonight with a pizza dinner in the hotel, complete with some great Chinese tea. She was in an excellent mood all afternoon, and was all smiles and giggles. We figure it was due to her afternoon nap, bottle, and poop (and not necessarily in that order). These three things magically make her such a happy person.

Tomorrow morning we have a 4:30am wake-up call, and are catching a ride to the airport with another group flying out at the same time as us. We have an 8am flight to Tokyo, where we have a 6hr layover. Then another 12.5hr flight into JFK. I am VERY ready to be home now, although our time here has been wonderful. I hear we are going to leave the 70+ degree weather here and fly into a snowstorm on Wed night! I hope we're able to land in New York on-time!