U.S. Consulate!

 The trip to the consulate today was very emotional.  But it went wonderfully!!!  We stood with the other adopting parents, raised our right hands and swore the oath.  I teared at the enormity of it all.  I kept glancing from our US flag to SiHan...now her flag too.  It was pretty emotional.  Within 5 minutes of taking the oath I was suddenly in front of "the window" and it was my turn to see if my paperwork would pass muster or would I have something wrong with it.  This was the one step that terrified me - but now here I am on the other side of it ... prayers do get answered!!!  I have been calling her SiHan since I met her, but today when we got home from the consulate she truly became Elizabeth in my heart.  She will always have the SiHan, but now she is Elizabeth SiHan!  I will always be grateful to the woman who gave birth to her for loving her enough to let her go.  It must have been a tremendously pain decision.  And so now, Elizabeth, Jennifer and I are family and I am THE most blessed mom in the world!  We are off to the island for a day of celebration!!

At the US consulate for the oath and visa!!!!  Almost done!!!
She was sooooo sleepy...I had to wake her up because she fell asleep on the way over.

Playing in Guangzhou!

Seems she sees how to do something and that's all it takes.  Jen was the same way!
My parents let me take risks as a child and I turned out ok, so when we got to the playground on the island I just stepped back and let Elizabeth enjoy.  She  her new best friend and roommate to show her how to "do" the playground.  Up the ladder Cora went-Elizabeth followed.  Cora waited at the bottom to "catch her", Elizabeth slid down, turned and tried to catch the next one down.  As I watched her climb and run laughing and squealing total complete joy, tears literally sprang into my eyes at the huge change that had taken place in her little life in less than 8 days!!!  From the rice terraces in one of the most remote areas of China to throwing her head back and laughing as she runs and plays in such a completely carefree way!!!  I am truly blessed!!!

Guangzhou

We spent a wonderful day on the island, ate at Lucy's and Elizabeth has learned to climb the ladder and slide down the slide.  Our hotel is wonderful with a playground on the 4th floor that she LOVES  she is also becoming very good friends with her room mate Cora.  Tomorrow they read the TB test and only a few more days until we get to come home.

China Part 2 on to Guangzhou!!!!

October 19 Fri.:*Arrive in Guangzhou 9:00PM (9AM Friday EST)

October 20 Sat.:*8:30am, drive to New Medical Center for Elizabeth's physical check/TB test

October 21 Sun.: *Rest and adjustment. Enjoy hotel and Parks around

October 22 Mon. 10:00am  drive to Medical Center for TB result checking

October 23 Tue.: 7:40am drive to Consulate for swearing in and Appointment.

October 24 Wed.: Free other than a brief meeting at 4:30pm

October 25 Thu.: Leave 6:30am for Beijing :-)

Water time!

Most children adopted from China need time to adjust to taking their clothing off and having a bath.  Elizabeth was no different.  Several attempts to lure her into the tub by demonstrating how much fun the toys and bubbles were only resulted in her bolting from the bathroom in terror.  Yesterday due to a bug situation in our room we had to switch rooms.  We really HAD to take a shower the very first thing we did when we got to our new room so as not to bring anything with us.  I held her with me in the shower while she screamed as though I was killing her.  It couldn't have lasted more than two minutes but that was enough to break her trust in me for the rest of the day.  It broke my heart to do it, but it was one of those times I just had to be Mom and do the right thing.  Today she took her sippy cup and was dripping water from it on her hand...this gave me an idea to use the sink in the bathroom and take all the time needed to move forward in baby steps.  Each step was slow and she was very nervous but then she stayed so long I had to keep lifting her out to add more warm water!!!  Another victory that I didn't expect was after her bath when I was trying to dress her she wanted nothing to do with anything more than a diaper!!  This from the child who slept in all 5 layers of clothing she arrived in that first night because undressing was terrifying to her.  Such huge milestones for such a little sweetie!!

Monkeys Everywhere!!

Went to the monkey park today but the biggest monkey is here in the room tonight.  I was reading a story to her when she got up, got my camera bag, filled it full of her toys, put on my shoes and headed for the door...running away from home or going shopping...hard to say. lol

It's Official...

It's official, today Elizabeth SiHan's adoption was finalized and we are finally a family.