Long Day for Iris and Ben

This morning after breakfast we hung out in our room for most of the morning as our appointment with the consulate was at 10:00am.  The adoption agency goes to the appointment but you have to stay in the room in case they need to call us.  Everything went fine and we headed over to the Pierce's hotel around noon to go shopping.

 

We hired Anne from Red Thread to take us to some clothing and toy markets.  The wives purchased a lot of items.  It was extremely hot and humid today.  This combined with Iris going to bed late the night before made for a long afternoon.  We returned to the island as the Pierces wanted to shop there and then eat dinner at Lucy's.  Lucy's is the safe choice for western food and it is only a block or so away.  They serve a great iced tea in a old canning jar.

 

After dinner we shopped a little more and Ben and Iris struggled.  They were both tired and over stimulated.  It is now 8:36pm and Iris just got out of the bath and we are trying to calm her down.

 

We should be done with all of the shopping and winding down the trip.  Tomorrow we have an exist interview with the adoption agency and in the afternoon we have the oath taking ceremony.  This will take up most of the day.  Unfortunately there are no camera allowed at the oath takng ceremony.

 

At 1:00 tomorrow we will meet the family from Dodge City for photos on the Red Couch.  This hotel is famous for the adoptive families to take photos on the Red Couch.  We also took some photos this afternoon with Ben and Iris on the Red Couches.

 

Unfortunately I have caught a cold in the last 24 hours.  Nothing better than a good summer cold while traveling.

 

Iris and Ben had some good moments today and they both had their moments today.  At one point they were holding hands while we walked.  But they also had complete melt downs throughout the day.  In their defense, it was very hot and a very long day.

 

We are only a few days from traveling home and the 14.5 hours on a plane is scaring both of us.  Iris is a very active little girl and strong willed.  We are praying she surprises us!

 

We have met a lot of great people this week and it is amazing how many of them are back adopting there second child.  We have only met one family who adotped a non-special needs child (they waited five years fr her).  Since we have been here we have come to realize how great the need is for these children.  If these children would not get adopted they would almost certainly end up on the streets or in a home for elderly people.  We have seen a lot of "homeless" looking people here in China that have special needs, these are the peole who did not get adopted.

 

When we were in Wuhan there was a homeless man who slept on the sidewalk on one side of our hotel.  He was missing one leg below the knee.  He looked to be about my age (kind of hard to tell as he was pretty rough) but my guess is that he was turned out of an orphanage when he was a teenager.  Most certainly uneducated and never taught any skills.  In this country he had no chance.

 

We can not wait to see everyone this weekend and introduce Iris.  She is going to fit right into our wonderful family.  I think she made add a little "spice" to the family.