Last Day

Hello Everyone!

Well, we have just about made it. It's Thursday, 9AM and I'm at breakfast at our hotel. Just 23 hours from now we will be on a plane to Beijing. We are due to land in Akron at 11:30PM Friday. That will be a looonng day - about 30 hours! We leave the hotel at 6AM here (6PM Thursday).

Yesterday, Wed., was our official adoption day. We went to the US Consulate's Office bright and early to take the oath and sign the final papers so Mary Hannah is now legally ours! She is technically an American Citizen when she sets foot on American soil. I have to say after all the hype it was a bit of a let down. Got on a bus with about 15 other families from different agencies. We were told to dress nicely, only two other couples were dressed up. Got there and we were expecting this grand building - just like every other building on the block, blah. Went upstairs to take an oath that we promise to look after MH, etc. I signed a paper and that was it. Our guide will pickup MH's passport and visa this afternoon.

At 4:30PM we took the famous red couch picture. Hannah was not having any of it. We'll see what kind of pictures the photographer got. Ordered a pizza from Papa John's, pretty good but could have skipped the potato wedges, they were very dry.

Will pick-up last minute items, get a foot massage and repack tonight. Last call for anyone that want's anything from here. We leave tomorrow at 6AM so there will be no time to get anything here after today and Duty Free shops will probably not be open when we're at the airport.

It's been a wonderful adventure but we are very ready to get home and see Max and get little Miss on a schedule of eating real food! I still can't believe she is still on formula and rice! BTW, she is 19 months today.

I will miss the free breakfast buffet at The Victory but it's probably best for my waistline that this is the last one ;) We would love to come back to visit, a Heritage Tour, when Hannah is older, maybe 10 or 12. We could not have asked for a nicer place to stay and explore for two weeks than Shamian Island. Very hospitable and clean. Of course, they are primarily catering to adopting families which is mainly who stays here. The only thing that bugs us is the persistence of the shop owners. I found a way around that. By our hotel, they are all on one side of the street. So when we walk out of the hotel we just cross the street and that solves that. If I want to go into a particular shop I can just cross the street in front of that shop.

Well, need to make sure Matt and Hannah are up. Need to p/u laundry and a new stroller, we borrowed one for free while we were here. Debated whether to get one since we have two at home but with the layovers I think it's a no-brainer. Getting a cheap one for $18.75 to get us by.

Prayers, crossed fingers and toes that we will have a safe, relatively quiet trip home. We got MH her own seat, hopefully she will settle into that and sleep some. Hope our bags will make it all the way to Akron! I'm taking one as a carry-on with a few clothes just in-case.

That's all from this end of the world. Goodnight and see you soon!