Today was a day that kept us at the hotel for the most part. We spent roughly an hour this morning gathering, sorting, and signing paperwork for the US Consulate in preparation for our appointment on Thursday. At that point, we apply for Alexis’s Visa to allow her admittance to the USA. We have the paperwork ready, so we just wait until Thursday morning early.

Speaking of waiting, we spent the rest of the day in our hotel room awaiting a call from the clinic to give us the results of Alexis’s TB test. If it came back positive, then we’d make another trip to the clinic to have a chest x-ray as a final indicator. This is standard for all kids over two years of age that are being adopted. We finally got the call around 3PM that the tests came out okay and we didn’t need to make a return trip to the clinic. Yeah!

I would say the wait was hard on us, but it wasn’t. Immediately after the morning paperwork meeting, Monica and Alexis went back to the room to “nap.” Christian and I went to the Executive Lounge to snack and watch more TV and surf the net a bit. We went back to the room around 1 to see what they wanted for lunch. We woke them up. We got Monica’s order for her sandwich along with an order to eat there, take our time, and don’t wake them up again for a bit. We did as we were told. We grabbed some Subway and ate lunch in the Executive Lounge for a bit. We were back in the room a little before 3. They had just gotten up. Alexis was still adjusting to the light in the room, so they hadn’t been up long. We got the call a few minutes later and were relieved to know we could enjoy the rest of the day without worry.

We had a 5:45 meet-up time in the lobby to go on a dinner cruise with the other five or six CCAI families that are here. We were early and the second family in the lobby. Yes, I know that those who know us find that hard to believe. It was nice, to be honest. We had even walked across the street to get Alexis a Happy Meal at McDonald’s since she’s not a big pizza eater. We found out that it’s because they don’t eat a lot of cheese in China. Anyway, she had her chicken nuggets and corn (the replacement for fries here) and she was a happy camper.

The short bus ride to the Pearl River took us through some area we had not previously seen. We do want to come back through here as there is a market we have had several people tell us that we need to go to for great deals on Chinese trinkets.

The Pearl River has a pretty storied history in China, and the government spent over $40 billion Yuan to beautify the shoreline and scenery for the Olympics. They did a pretty nice job. We noticed in Nanning how much the Chinese like to add multi-colored lights to their structures. We were told it is because it will bring them luck and success. The buildings and bridges along the Pearl River are no exception. Even the Canton Tower, the fifth tallest freestanding structure in the world, had its own light show going. We spent time on the top of the cruise ship enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery for the most part. We did go down to the second floor to watch a juggling act. The kids got a kick out of that.

 

After a short ride back to the hotel, it was time to call it a night. We have to be up early in the morning for a city tour. I hear there’s a Buddhist temple and a market in the mix at some point. And, as usual, there will be hair bows and tutus for Alexis, I’m sure. Looking forward to photographing them all. I seem to be getting a better handle on using the camera in different situations. I know you might be seeing some fuzzy pictures in the DropBox folders, but that’s because I’m not taking much time filtering them out right now. Sleep is more important. Besides, digital is cheap. Take a few hundred pictures to get the three or four you really like. And this trip is far too important to miss the opportunities of capturing these moments for our family.