Oath Taking Ceremony Day! -- It's Official! SHE'S OURS!

We slept in till 7:00 when Beibei woke up. Since it was her idea, it was more pleasant. We went to breakfast and there were many people there today because of the Trade Fair so we had to wait a bit longer for a table. Beibei ate all her potatoes and scrambled eggs and some oatmeal. We were able to eat pretty leisurely today because we didn't have anyplace to be until 10:00.

At 10:00 I went to the Exit Meeting with one parent from each family. Catherine went through what will happen today and tonight. Four of the other families will be taking the train to Hong Kong tonight and staying in a hotel and fly out tomorrow. We are flying out early tomorrow morning to Hong Kong and then taking United from there to Chicago and then Omaha. I'm sure glad we are flying. The train thing sounds like a lot of hassle to me, besides staying in another hotel!

Also at the meeting we got our bills for our tours, etc. We had given some money at the beginning which took care of things like our cases of water, taxi rides, the van ride to the orphanage, etc. We owed more money so we were figuring out how much we needed to exchange and weren't watching Beibei real close when she walked right off the bed! She (and we) learned a lesson today! We're usually there to catch her but were distracted this time. Luckily she only hit the carpet with her head and not the hard floor inches away! She's also pinched her hand in the drawer when we weren't looking. She's OK. She just learned some consequences this week!

Tony went and exchanged money while Beibei took a short nap. When he got back I went down to Holt and paid our money and asked about breakfast tomorrow. We will have boxed breakfasts tomorrow. I also got some diapers for the trip home from their free grocery shelves.

We had some time to kill so we decided to make one last visit to Michael's Place. They like to see Beibei. We bought a few more things and also some diapers to donate back to Holt's free grocery shelves. While we were there Michael and his wife gave us a gift of a scroll painting of some red flowers considered good fortune. Very cool! We'll hang it proudly! We then stopped at another shop that someone had told us about and bought a couple things there. They actually donate 10% of their sales to an adopted children's charity.

At 2:45 we gathered at the designated place for the trip to the US Consulate General Guangzhou. Several families from several agencies all travelled together in a tour bus and rode 30 minutes to the consulate. Beibei slept the whole way again! We went up to the 4th floor, I think, (we just followed Joyce) and showed our passports when asked. We all gathered in a big room and had to show the copies of all three passports to a guy behind a window. Then we waited till the oath officer (an American who spoke English!) came out and told us about the Consulate here. They used to be on Shamian Island (where the hotel is) but in 2005 they moved this part to downtown. Everyone in China who wants an immigrant visa to the US must complete the process in Guangzhou. The reason Guangzhou was chosen was because most people who want immigrant visas are from southern China.

Eventually she had us all stand and raise our right hands. We repeated the oath after her. I was OK the first couple of phrases and then I started welling up with tears realizing this was IT! The oath officer saw me and I saw that she saw me! I was able to finish (we were all saying it en masse). When we finished she said "congratulations" and we all cheered! The oath officer came over to me and said she'd seen me welling up. For some reason people standing where we were always seem to cry.

We then had to verify all the information on Beibei's Chinese passport and we congratulated everyone. Then we went back down to the first floor and Joyce pointed us to the bus back to the hotel. She had to take four other families to the train station.

We got back to the hotel (it rained a lot this afternoon) (think again of Florida) and were hungry so ate one last time at Lucy's. We spent time in the play room one last time and I wrote this post in my notebook.

I then went to Michael's to type it up and then back to the room to finish packing! We can't wait to get home!

We have to have our luggage in the hall by 5:30 and we leave the hotel at 6:00 for the airport. We'll fly to Hong Kong and leave for Chicago at 12:45. We'll get into Chicago at 2:00 something, go through Immigration and Customs and catch a 5:37 or so flight to Omaha. We arrive in Omaha on United at 7:06 assuming all goes well. We look forward to seeing whoever wants to come to the airport. Anyone is invited!

IF something happens and we won't be on that flight to Omaha, I will call my mom and have her post a comment on this post. Please check united.com and this post for any delays or changes of plans before coming to the airport.

WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU ALL!

By the way, the last few days when I wrote the posts in my notebook, I had to catch myself several times and make sure I wrote "Beibei" instead of her new name since we are pretty much calling her by that now!