Day 13 Guangzhou

Today we had our U.S. Consulate appointment first thing this morning. Basically for those that don't know, the Consulate appointment consists of taking an oath stating our paperwork and oral statements through this whole process are true to the best of our knowledge, submitting some official documents from your child's province and also applying for Emma's visa to enter the USA. This appointment basically completes the U.S. side of the adoption. The visa will be issued/ready tomorrow and we should have it by 4:30pm when we leave for Hong Kong. We will be spending one night in HK and then we leave the following morning for HOME!! Yeah. We are so ready to get home. We are NOT ready for the 15 hr flight to Detroit but we have no choice if we want to get home. Being trapped on a plane with two small children to entertain could be disastrous. We are hoping for time to pass quickly and many hours of sleeping. One can dream, right? Once we land in the USA (Detroit) on Thursday Emma will be a U.S. citizen. WooHoo!!

Anyone who has adopted knows the feeling of wanting to go home and start your "real" life together but also the feelings of sadness as you take your child from their birth country and all that they have known. Even though Emma's life was not optimal, it was her life and all she knew. She was fortunate to be in an orphanage that was well funded, with nannies that truly loved her, and where the children were well feed and cared for. We are removing her from her familiar surroundings, people, food, language, smells, sounds and routine. We know it is for the better but she doesn't know this at this point. We are sad to say good bye to China but so looking forward to HOME! We can't wait to see Gavin and Sophie and our family. We have missed them terribly. 48 more hours and we will be landing in Boston. Hallelujah!

Emma had her first taste of the big double arches today. Needless to say she loved every minute of it. I, on the other hand, skipped lunch today as I have seen the bathroom to many times today! I know, TMI. I am praying this is resolved before our flight home. Something did not sit well with me today after b'fast. I haven't been able to stray to far from our room. UGH!