American Consulate Appointment & Shopping Day #2: Shamian Island

Woo-hoo! We are all finished with adoption appointments! We went to the U.S. Consulate today to finalize Wendy's adoption on the U.S. side. After going through security and presenting our passports, we waited in a room with about 20 other families. After waiting for a few minutes, the entire group of families took an oath together. Then, officials called us up one family at a time to review our paperwork and get final signatures. They gave us a packet of paperwork to present to immigration when we return to the U.S. At that point, Wendy will become a U.S. citizen, which means our layover city Seattle will have a special place in our hearts. We will need to apply for a social security number, state birth certificate and a U.S. passport later. For our return flight, she will travel on a Chinese passport.

If you were there this morning, you probably heard us because Wendy screamed her head off for about 45 minutes straight. (Our "quiet" baby is feeling more comfortable with us and letting us know she doesn't have patience for long waits, so the plane ride home is going to be awesome.) In any case, Team Meyers made our presence known. In fact, a very nice woman approached me at the end of our appointment and said, "Is this Wendy? I read your blog." Wow--small world. For the October/November Facebook group, you will be happy to know the two Katies (Katie and Katy) have met up several times at the hotel and even had the same appointment time this morning. It is so wonderful to be surrounded by other supportive families who understand all of the emotion of this entire journey.

After completing our appointment, our travel group went to Shamian Island to do some shopping. Shamian Island is a cute area with European colonial style buildings, bronze statues and pedestrian walkways. It is also the home of the White Swan Hotel, which is famous for hosting thousands of adoptive families over the years and for its noteworthy "red couch," but it is currently closed for reconstruction. Without the White Swan, many businesses on this small island have closed down, but the ones that are there are ready to sell you all sorts of souvenirs. Here are some images from our visit there today, including our stash of goods.

I'm glad we have used up most of our canned goods and diapers and have given away all of our customary gifts to adoption officials so we will have room to pack all of these items. We bought eight pairs of squeaky shoes and traditional dresses and PJs in a range of sizes to give to Wendy throughout the years. We also found a Chinese chop (stamp), doll, puzzle, T-shirts, tablecloth and jewelry to give the girls on Wendy's annual Gotcha Day celebrations.

We are having so many incredible moments on this trip, but by far my favorites are watching Maddie and Wendy play together in the hotel room. Maddie is a natural big sister and keeps Wendy giggling with her antics. The two of them are so cute playing with Wendy's blanket, tiny beach ball and her stacking cups. Wendy loves to mimic Maddie's sounds and facial gestures. I just sit back and wonder, how did I get to be so lucky to have two such amazing daughters?  While it seemed like the end of this seven-year wait would never get here, the result is so worth it. We had to wait just this long for the perfect match for our family. Wendy is our daughter in every way imaginable.