Back on the Bus

The next morning we had to have all our bags packed again and left outside our rooms for the bellhops. Jimmy and I had to buy another small suitcase after all the shopping we had done! We had an excellent breakfast(the best buffet of the trip) and put all the babies in traditional chinese finery for a group photo, posed on a large red couch. This was, of course, a zoo. The babes were climbing all over each other, little ones were toppling and mommies were trying to hide behind the couch and hold their kids without being seen, it was pretty funny! Laina sat cooly in the front and only started crying when all the other babies did.By the way, there will definitely be more pictures posted, I am essentially sleep-walking here, and have not downloaded off the camera yet, so keep looking for the next couple of days and scroll down as I can add photos to the appropriate posts that I've written already. After the Photos in the hotel, we all got ourselves and stuff back on the buses to go to the Six Banyan Temple to have the babies and families blessed by the Buddhist monks there. It was beautiful and quite moving for both Jimmy and I. Afterward, we strolled the courtyards and other areas within the temple grounds. We loaded back on the bus and headed for lunch. The trip seemed to have caught up to some of us, as we realized that the journey was soon ending, the adrenaline was waning and our minds were settling on going home to our new lives with our children. We went to a Park called the Five Rams and wandered a bit but some of us just found a nice spot to sit with the kids. We were basically spending time until the appointment at about 4 p.m. at the Consulate. Finally we were on our way and arrived at the Consulate building. We were told to bring only our passports and our babies, no cameras or bags inside. We were ushered through the building to a large room.Family by family, we went up to a glass-enclosed counter so they could make sure that we had the right babies, etc., then we were all told to stand and raies our right hands for the swearing in ceremony. It wasn't long, but it made our adoptions official in China, so we all cheered and congratulated each other afterward. We were given Laina's passport and immigrant visa to have and to use taking her out of China. We have alot of beautiful, official documents from this process. The Chinese love their papers! After the ceremony, we got back on the bus and headed for the airport to fly to anothe hotel near the airport in Beijing for the final leg of our journey to bring Laina home.