Feeling surreal

After such a melancholy day yesterday, my mood picked up a bit today. Today was our consulate appointment. This meant we had to sit in our room from 10:00 – 11:30 am waiting for the call that we had no problems with our paperwork. Well, 11:30 came and went without a phone call, so finally at 11:45, I called our guide, and he gave us the all clear. He wasn’t sure why our other guide hadn’t called, but there were no problems with our paperwork. Thank the Lord for that, as over the last 2 years, and 6 months especially, paperwork has been all consuming. If you are not an adoptive parent, or friends with an adoptive parent, you have no comprehension how much paperwork is inv olved. We have traveled to New Orleans, Ruston, and Jackson, MS. just to gather paperwork. And now that part is over!! Woohoo!! Now, we are required to wait 24 hours from our consulate appt. before we can leave the country. We pick up Jillian’s visa tomorrow afternoon at 3:00. (Tomorrow is Thursday afternoon. I’m not sure when I will actually get this emailed, and posted….so it might even be today...Thursday afternoon). We then are ready to fly out first thing Friday morning. We leave at 8:30 am China time, and after 24 hours of travel, we will arrive at our home about 6:45 on Friday evening. I was so overwhelmingly joyful when I arrived in Beijing, I can only imagine how excited I will be when we land in Jackson, and I see my babies waiting for me!!!! The anxiety about the flights is definitely still there. Actually, it’s not necessarily anxiety, it is full blown fear, but that’s ok. I knew once I got here, I was only half way done, and that I had to get on that plane to get back home. I just can’t believe it’s already here!! These 2 ½ weeks have gone by much faster than I ever expected them to!

After we got the all clear from the consulate appointment, we headed back to Shamian Island for the afternoon and evening. We ate again at Lucy’s, (didn’t run into any high school friends this time!), and then went shopping. I really wanted to get a few more items from China before we left. I know I’m going to regret not getting more, but frankly, we don’t have the luggage space for anything else. The weight limits on the flights have been very restrictive in terms of our shopping!! LOL!!! Thankfully, we have no more in country flights, only international, so the 44 pound rule shouldn’t apply any longer.

We did try a new Thai place tonight that I had read about on Becky’s blog. It was very good, but we found them to be a little sneaky. They offered you things like chips, or even a hand wipe. Of course, we thought they were complimentary, but they weren’t!! They instantly pick up a ticket and mark what you accepted. They gave NO napkins, and then charged us for a wipe to wipe our hands on. We were very surprised. At one point, the 6 year old of the couple we were with spilled his drink. We asked for a napkin, and they picked up the ticket to write down how many napkins we needed to c lean up the spill. The mom said forget it, and we were about to push it onto the floor when they came with “complimentary” napkins. A very interesting experience indeed. Unfortunately, because of that, I don’t think we will be going back, and the food was very good!!!

We started getting things packed up today while we were sitting in the room. I know I said it yesterday, but it is really just so surreal. This whole experience is. We have a new daughter that my children haven’t even met yet. We are about to travel all the way around the world to get home. And in just a few days, I will be back in my own home. Wow, what a whirlwind couple of days we have ahead.

Keep praying!! I’ll try to post pics in the morning!!