Monday,
November 26, 2007
Greetings and thanks for stopping by to check up on
us. We’re still here in Guangzhou , China . It is a lovely place
but we are ready to come home. It would be great if we could
teleport home or something. Again, the 24 hours of airports,
layovers, plane rides and etc… DO NOT sound like a good time,
especially now that the girls are coming out of their little
shells more and more each day. They are active little boogers!
Today’s happenings are not too terribly exciting. We all
overslept and did not make it to the trip to the zoo. The girls
(and us) had a late night. The girls are typically our alarm
clock. They were worn out last night so they slept late and did
not wake us up. As I type this at 8:30 PM, they are fighting
going to sleep. We have learned a valuable lesson, jumping on
the bed, airplane rides, tickles, and etc. are not what you want
to do prior to putting little ones down for the evening. The
laughs and giggles are just so cute though.
As a result of our oversleeping, we also missed breakfast at the
hotel. So we took the girls to Starbucks. It is just around the
corner from the hotel. This was our first trip to a Starbucks
since we have been in China . It was just like being at home
(except for all the Chinese people and Chinese menu). If you
read the captions to the photos, we did NOT feed the girls
anything coffee related, we do not want anyone calling CPS on us
already.
After that, we did more shopping in the little stores on the
island and snuck into the play room at the White Swan with some
families from our travel group (see photo of wrestling ring…).
The play room was huge with all sorts of things for the girls to
do.
We then went back to the hotel and had a moment (actually about
90 minutes) of panic. We received a message (in writing) from
the hotel front desk that your guide (Catherine, she is great)
wanted us to call. I assumed it was because we were tying to
track her down this morning to let her know we were not going to
the zoo and I figured she was trying to return our call…but that
was not the case. The girls were taking a nap. I decided to take
a walk and haggle with some street vendors. Right as I walked
out of the hotel I ran into people from our travel group. They
told me Catherine was trying to get a hold of us because there
were problems with our paperwork at the US Consulate.
I immediately ran upstairs to call Catherine. She was not
answering her phone. I then walked to her hotel. She was not in
there (yes, I should have figured that out when she did not
answer the phone). I left a message with the front desk and
walked back to our hotel. As soon as I walked in, she called.
The US Consulate needed our updated I171H form. I then ran back
to her hotel to give her a copy. Once I arrived she informed me
that the US Consulate did not have on record that we were
approved for twins. Apparently the updated I171H form (remember
this one…the form that Congressman Pence’s office had to help us
with so it could get expedited so we could travel) from the US
Citizenship and Immigration Service never made it here. I showed
Catherine and Helen (our other guide) where the new form said
approval for 1-2 children. Catherine and Helen said they would
work with the Consulate to see if this would work. Catherine
called later to tell us that everything was ok, thankfully,
because we finalize the US side of the adoption Tuesday
afternoon.
After the stressful afternoon, we then went shopping, again.
Just look at the photo of the shoes…enough said. Rett is a
wonderful Mommy and is doing a great job planning future gifts
that have significance to their background. She also does a
great job handling both girls when they get moody and need their
Mommy, not Daddy. She has super-duper Mommy muscles and
frequently totes both of them in her arms.
We then met several families in our hotel for dinner. We ordered
Papa John’s pizza. It tasted just like home!
Now we are settling in for the night. No rambunctious activities
before bed tonight…and they are still throwing stuff at each
other, jumping in their beds, jabbering and etc… Eventually they
will go to sleep (please tell me they will go to sleep…somebody
help!).
Tomorrow is the famous “red couch” photo at the White Swan Hotel
and then the Consulate appointment. We were told to bring snacks
for the girls. Our guides said it will be a LONG afternoon.
Don’t you just love bureaucracy?
Ok, I want to get to bed at a decent hour so I am signing off.
The girls should be almost official when we post tomorrow (they
will not be official until we land in the USA ). We then leave
EARLY Wednesday for the trip home. Please keep the prayers
coming, we DEFINITELY APPRECIATE THEM. We know this would not be
as smooth if you all were not praying for us.
Thanks again for stopping by (leave a comment) and have a great
day! |
First Trip to Starbucks...we later discovered triple espresso
caramel frappichino makes them run real fast
Giant playpin or baby-sized wrestling ring @ White Swan
Guess who went shopping...it's not a bunch of Hot Wheels so that
rules out Tony
No one said the hotel staff has perfect English...
Waiting for Dad to exchange slumping US Dollars for Yuan so we
can go shopping
Waterfall inside the White Swan
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