Today we traveled 30-40 minutes by bus to the US Consulate to complete the FINAL steps of the adoption!!!!! We all rode the escalators up to the fourth floor, showed our passports for the umpteenth time, then up to the fifth floor walking through another round of metal detectors to sit in a waiting room. At the "interview" window they checked our passport photo page copies and the baby's to make sure we had the correct child and then we were sent to sit down again. About 10-15 minutes later a lady from the consulate came out to address us with microphone in hand. She explained what the department did and how many visas they issue annually. They she asked all adoptive parents to rise, raise our right hands and repeat after her. She administered the oath finalizing the adoption so that when our babies touch US soil they immediately become United States Citizens :)
The culmination of more than four years was all summed up in a very short, very legalistic, oath about the correctness of information we provided. So now, both China and the US recognize this little angel as our's!!! Amazing :) The consulate does not allow photos in the building so we don't have any to share from today's BIG event :( I have included the photo taken of Mia for her visa application :)
Right after leaving the consulate we said goodbye to four families in our travel group. True to form, I was crying. We have shared such a precious time with one another and even though we are all more than ready to go home, it was hard to part ways. For our last night in mainland China, we had dinner with two other couples from our group in a German restaurant on the island, listening to 70's music, VERY surreal! We have truly been blessed with some wonderful people to share this last part of the journey with :)
Tomorrow we leave for Hong Kong and are not sure we will be able to blog but will do our best to let everyone know we have landed safe and sound! -M
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