Wednesday, November 2, 2005

I bought a great red wheeled duffle bag from one of the shops across the street from the hotel to hold many of my Chinese purchases for only a few dollars. Auntie, Elizabeth and I ate lunch outside at Lucy’s (cheeseburgers—yum!). At 3 pm, our group left the hotel for the U.S. Consulate for our consulate interview. We traveled in a large bus this time, along with other adoptive families who we had not met before. I must admit that it (the consulate appointment) wasn’t what I’d expected at all--we took a group oath, received the babies’ visas, and then went back to the hotel. Kirsten, Johnny, and Amelie left for the airport from the Consulate. I was so sad to see them leave—our group had become very close in China. We ate dinner that evening outside at Lucy’s (I had quesadillas—yum!) with Rick and Denice, Steve and Annie, and all of our children. I have a confession to make: I “borrowed” a terrific little metal baby spoon that evening from the restaurant…I took Elizabeth down to the Swan Room to play after dinner while Sylvia packed and rested in the room. Elizabeth played for quite a while with a little girl named Alayna from Virginia who was a new jie jie (big sister) to a little girl from China. We were back in our room by 9 p.m. because we had to be up before dawn to leave for the airport.