Ready for Home - Last Day in China

Today Zhou went to the consulate and picked up Justin's Visa (along with those of 3 other kiddos) which means today was our last day in China ! We leave bright and early tomorrow to head home!!

Officially approved to go home!

For our last day in China we spent time with some of the other families and did a little last minute shopping/visiting.

One of the highlights of our day was lunch with one of our favorite couples - Jamie and Erik (as usual many of the pics in this post are compliments of Jamie's talents and photo taking diligence). We walked over to the mall and had a nice, relaxing lunch at Pizza Hut (I know eating at Pizza Hut probably doesn't sound that great to all of you back home but it was so nice to have some comfort food and just hang with friends) - we ordered by ourselves and everything (Zhou would be so proud)! We feel extra blessed that Jamie and Erik are fellow Ohioans and we are already planning lots of visits once home!

I don't have a picture of them at lunch but here is one taken a few days before

Photo Jamie snapped of us trying to decipher the menu and decide what to order

Since it was our last night all together we decided to go out to eat as a big group at the the hotel restaurant for our final Chinese meal (I was very cautious about what I ate because I did not want any tummy trouble on our long travel day home). 

Family photos were the final order of business for our last night together! I cannot tell you how much we adore every one of these families! And what I love even more is that each one of these photos represents ONE LESS orphan - these precious little ones now part of a forever family! Praise God!

'I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.' ~John 14:18

And one last pic of the whole gang with Zhou!

Tomorrow, along with 3 of the other families, we head HOME!!! (the final two families head home on Thursday)

Consulate Appointment & Zoo

This morning we went to the US Consulate in Guangzhou to take our oath and officially apply for Justin's Visa to travel back to the US. 4 of the 6 families in our group had their consulate appointments today and the other two families have their appointment tomorrow. I did not get any pictures this morning (and neither did Jamie) because cameras, phones, etc. are not allowed in the building so we didn't take any with us (I kind of wish I had gotten a few of  the outside though). The consulate appointment basically consists of waiting in line outside the building, going through security, riding the elevator up a few floors, waiting with 11 other adoptive families, taking the oath, and then one by one going to the window to finalize the Visa application for your child. It was all fairly easy and painless and tomorrow Zhou will come back and pick up Justin's passport with his Visa sticker which is the very last thing we need before heading home!

After our consulate appoint and lunch we headed to the Guangzhou Zoo. It was an ok zoo and was something to do, but here in central Ohio we are zoo spoiled (i.e. home to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and the famous Jack Hanna) so we were less than impressed.

Sage & Hailey

Jamie & Kaiya - I love this photo

Lisa & Michael

Chris & Michael

After the zoo we headed back for dinner and bed (between Justin not sleeping well and all of the crazy busy, we are exhausted). All in all, today was a good day and even better is that we head home soon!

Medical Appointment & Guangzhou

Today was a busy day! After breakfast, we started off our morning with all of the kids' medical appointments. This is a required step for all adoptive families in preparation for the Visa appointment. Basically you go to various stations and nurses/doctors examine your child. There was a height, weight, and temperature station, an ENT station, and a doctor station (where they listen to the child's heart and do a quick exam). It was fairly painless but we were there for a couple of hours.

Breakfast fun with daddy!

Medical appointment

After lunch and the medical it was touring time. We crossed the bridge off the island and headed for the open markets. These were very similar to the markets we saw in Nanjing. The markets have everything you could possibly think of!.

From the markets we made our way down a couple of nice quiet street and onto THE busiest street I have ever seen or been on. The pictures really do not do it justice. There were people everywhere! I mean if ever the phrase 'wall to wall people' was in order it was for this street.

See? Nice little street. Not too crowded.

And then...

Crazy Town!

As a bonafide, card carrying introvert, I almost hyperventilated on this street!

The original plan had been to go to the pearl market/factory, but upon arrival we discovered that it was already closed for Chinese New Year so we visited a Buddhist temple instead.

Unlike Christianity, which is a monotheistic religion, Buddhism is a non-theistic religion (meaning its followers do not believe in a supreme creator being) that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, who is commonly known as the Buddha, meaning "the awakened one." According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BC. Over the millennia, the Chinese civilization has been influenced by various religious movements. China's San Jiao ("three doctrines" or "three religions") include Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and historically have had a significant impact in shaping Chinese culture.

After visiting the temple we headed to a nearby mall and had Pizza Hut for dinner.

Chilling in my stroller

Later that night we met a few of the other families on the patio roof of the hotel just to hang out and visit for a bit.

Kristen and Hailey
(Kristen and I met on a Facebook China adoption group and when we learned that we were with the same
agency we were fast friends. We went through the torturous wait at the end for TA together.) 

What a fun day!
You know the drill on the pictures - many by Jamie.