August 25, 2010: Guangzhou - Qing Ping Market and Oath at US Consulate (Part 1)

Today before we met at 2:15 to ride to the US Consulate, we took a walk through the Qing Ping Market.  It is one of the largest medicinal markets and it has all sorts of very unusual stuff for sale.  We saw dried snakes, dried starfish, dried frogs, dried seahorses, live scorpions and turtles, all sorts of beans, nuts, tea leaves and beautiful dried flowers.  We even saw dried hooves connected to some sort of dried leg muscle of an unidentifiable animal!  All of this is purchased for medicinal uses.  They grind it up and use it in teas and soups and they believe these items heal all sorts of malady.  For us, it was just neat to walk through the narrow alley ways and check out the bizarre stuff for sale.  The people watching is so great too!  Kate slept through most of it but Caroline was pretty interested.  

 

We walked around Shamian Island a bit, took some more pictures and hit a few more shops.

 

At 2:25 pm, we boarded the bus with many other families with our adoption agency and headed to the US Consulate.  We had to take 5 different escalators to get to the floor where the US Consulate is located.  You can not take your camera in, so we didn't get any pictures inside...but we have some on the bus right before and some afterwards.  Everyone had to bring their passports...even Gailie and Caroline as security is really tight.  They did 3 face checks with our passports before we even got into the Oath room.  Then they called families up to the window to sign some more paperwork and again check your face and your new child's with the passports.  It was very hard to here because it was loud with all of the people and kids...but the consulate workers all had very thick Chinese accents and they called the families by their child's Chinese name.  Sean and I were very concerned that we might miss it but finally we heard them call "Parents of Yu Jing Mei please come to window 22."   The 3 of us went to the window.  I signed the form and the Officer checked our faces against our passports...all clear and good to go! 

 

Next, the Officer in charge of the Adoption Unit spoke to us for a bit.  She was so informative and sweet.  She even acknowledged those children being adopted that have birthdays this month and families that had adopted before and been to this office multiple times...like us! She was very personable and it was a nice touch that I do not remember from when we took the oath for Caroline.  Next, we had to stand up as a group of all the adoptive parents and raise our right hands and repeat the oath.  The oath basically says that we have told the truth on all of our paperwork regarding this adoption and that we will take care of these children. It also states the understanding that the children become US Citizens upon first landing on US Soil and will be afforded all rights of a US Citizen. 

 

It was emotional for me as I held Caroline and Sean held Kate.  Mom was standing next to us and it just hit me how big a deal this is...even though there is not a lot of pomp and circumstance associated with it.   Holding Caroline in my arms and looking over at Kate, I am reminded again of where my children have come from and I grieve for them the loss that they do not yet know.  Although I do not want my children to be solely defined by their birth in China and their adoption...it most certainly is part of who they have been, who they are today being held in our arms and the strong women that they will grow into.  Although some might say China has not been kind to my girls, I choose to look at it in another way.  I have thought of the women who gave birth to Caroline and Kate often during the weeks of this trip...as a mother, I know they long to know that there daughters are safe and cared for.  Caroline, Sean and I pray every night for both Caroline's and Kate's birth mothers...for without the love and strength of those women, we would not have our daughters.   These women could have ended their pregnancies but instead they carried their babies safely to term and when they determined they could not keep or take care of them, they left them in a place where they knew the babies would be found quickly and taken to the orphanage to be cared for.  These two birth mothers have given our family our most precious gifts...and we choose to honor that by respecting our girls' Chinese roots and encouraging them to be proud of both cultures that will shape the women they become. 

 

We ate dinner at Lucy's, a restaurant known to cater to Americans and had desert at Starbucks which has been a favorite over the course of the trip.  Sean gave the girls a bath when we got home and Kate fell asleep drinking her bottle. 

 

As I type this, everyone in our 2 adjoining hotel rooms is peacefully asleep.  I truly feel so blessed by my sweet husband who is the best Daddy ever, my precious Mom who made it possible for us to bring Caroline on this once in a lifetime trip back to China for the first time since her adoption and our 2 beautiful daughters who I know God gave to us to open our hearts and mould us into the Mommy and Daddy He wants us to be.   I am so touched by every one's comments, emails and prayers while we have been on this adoption journey...that we are fortunate to have now made twice! 

 

We leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong on Thursday, August 26th around 10:00 pm and then fly from Hong Kong to Salt Lake City to Memphis arriving around 10:00 pm on Friday evening, August 27th.  In the morning, I will post our flight information for anyone that wants to welcome Kate to her new home in person!!

 

Thank you again and please continue to keep us all in your prayers.  The next day and a half of travel will not be our funnest part of the trip, but I can imagine it will be hardest on Caroline and Kate.

Love to all and we will see you soon!