We are officially Isabel's parents!
Today was our last hurdle in the adoption process and things went smoothly. We had our appointment at the American Consulate in Guangzhou this morning. We leave tomorrow for Hong Kong and Saturday morning Hong Kong time for Minnesota. We have had a great trip, but not without a few pitfalls. We spent all day Tuesday waiting for our flight to leave Changsha for Gaunzhou. At one point the airline took all of our flight's passengers back to Changsha from the airport, a trip that is comparable to going from Minneapolis to Mankato. They dropped us all off at a flea bitten hotel that wasn't expecting us and I was pretty worried they didn't plan to have the flight leave at all that day. Isabel spent 10 hours in the snuggli and she did great. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had really had a melt down. We finally got in to Guangzhou at 10:00 PM. It was quite a day.
We found out today that Isabel had been the "flower" of the orphanage. Our facilitator mentioned it in passing as she stopped by our room to finish up some paperwork. It is weird, she is so special to us that we of course think she is beautiful. But, she does attract a crowd of admirers wherever we go and everyone comments on how she is sooo beautiful. Even in a group of 13 babies, people stop Brian and I to touch our baby. One person even gave her a flower because she is so pretty. Many Chinese people ask us if she is Chinese because her hair is curly and her skin is so fair. As you can tell we are totally in love with this little jewel.
We are having a great trip, Brian and I both got sick, but only colds. Most of our travel group have had bad experiences with travelers diarrhea (sp?), but that is where it comes in handy to be a public health person. We brought our own water filter system with us and we are very careful about what we ingest. We have heard there is snow expected again for Minnesota. I have my fingers crossed that it won't interfere with our flight home. I so much want to be home. I miss our dogs terribly and dreamt the other night that Rudi got lost. We have tons of photos and video footage to share. We are homesick and are ready to leave.
This will be our last e-mail. It has been the trip of a lifetime. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Ours was hot and Isabel cried most of the day. See you all soon.
Michelle, Brian and Isabel.