Consulate Appointment a day early!

First off, please don't stop commenting even though we can't view it, since we have asked a friend to forward the comments to us by email. Your messages are so encouraging to us. And thanks for your prayers for Naomi's and Danny's health. I think they are starting to feel better, though Naomi may also be teething now. (I think her upper teeth are in a mess because of the cleft palate. Only one sharp little tooth is coming in on top so far. Plenty of teeth on the bottom though.)

The surprise of the day was going to the U.S. Consulate today instead of Friday for the "swearing-in ceremony" and receipt of Naomi's visa. This was the last step in our paperwork process -- she is truly ours and we are allowed to bring her to the U.S.A.! Some had said they found this an emotional ceremony, and it is momentous considering the journey to get to this point. However, Roger and I thought the actual procedure a bit silly, since it was mostly a long bus ride and lots of standing around for 2 minutes of speech-making about inconsequentials, and someone asking us all to stand and swear that the information we gave on all our forms was true to our knowledge. Wasn't that the point of all the notarizing and signing we had already done? Anyway, we couldn't even take pictures or carry a camera to the Consulate, so we have nothing to show on the blog for this important event. Instead I'll just give you lots of cute pics, mostly of Naomi.

By the way, I thought Naomi's Chinese name, Chunxiang, was pronounced "shoonsheng," but all the people in Inner Mongolia said it more like "Choon-see-ahng." This is now Naomi's middle name.

Buddhist Temple in Hohhot

This is out of order, but we were too rushed leaving Hohhot to post these pictures of a temple we visited on our last full day there. We had to be careful to be respectful and quiet there, as there were monks chanting inside. We were allowed to walk around inside their worship room, but we couldn't take indoor pictures. As we walked through, our guide spun each of the cylinders (maybe they were prayer wheels?) as we passed. You can see a picture of Naomi and Ruth standing near one of these cylinders in an entranceway. There were high thresholds in each entranceway which we were supposed to step over but not on. There was also a raised platform which, if you walked around the edge of it counter-clockwise, was supposed to give you long life. We were not at the temple long, but it was very interesting and beautiful.

Full Moon Over Guangzhou

It's a beautiful but hot and sticky night here in Guangzhou. We are enjoying the amenities of the fabulous White Swan Hotel, in between the paperwork and coughs and sniffles. Most of us have caught some version of Naomi's cold, but Mom Dudero is feeling pretty well. Roger and I are not too bad, but the two kids are now on antibiotics -- Danny complained of earache today and the Chinese doctors at the routine medical exam said that Naomi probably has bronchitis. We are VERY thankful to have brought two kinds of antibiotics for just such occurances. Hopefully the kids (and us) will sleep better tonight.

Our guide Joy is going over our final paperwork with a fine toothed comb, and will submit documents for Naomi's U.S. visa tomorrow. On Friday, we will have the "swearing in" ceremony and receive her visa. Saturday we finally get on a plane headed home!

Pictures for today show Naomi in her stroller, Danny and Roger assembling a dino model from the Mongolian Museum, the lobby waterfall in our hotel, and the lights along the Pearl River (from Mom Dudero's window).

The river has a fantastic nightly display of neon, spotlights, dinner cruise ships, laser lights, and blaring music. I wish we could post a movie of it. This city has a more western, resort-type feeling to it. The heat and humidity can be quite stifling, but indoor spaces are air-conditioned (unlike in Inner Mongolia).

This ritzy hotel is charging a lot for internet access, so we'd better stop. And by the way, we can't view our blog from here, nor read your comments, but we know your prayers and good wishes are with us and that is so encouraging. We will be home soon!

Guangzhou

We arrived safely at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou late this afternoon. The White Swan is every bit the luxury hotel. Danny stayed up late exploring.

Naomi did well on the flight except for refusing to take a nap. She has a cold and a fever and is having trouble sleeping. But she is usually cheerful especially if she has something to eat or somewhere to explore.

Baotou visit part 2

Ruth here, just wanting to add a bit to the post last night. Yesterday's visit to Baotou was an answer to many prayers, but hard for all of us too (not surprisingly). Naomi at first pushed away from her foster mom, but soon started to interact with her, though she did not want to be held long (typical for her). She toddled from one person to another, realizing that everyone was talking about her. Her foster mother was getting her to do some of the cute things she was telling us about, like pretending to talk on the phone. Naomi has a lot of cute expressions and is a bit of a ham. Yet, I believe she was confused by seeing her foster mother. During that visit, she would not look at or come to me, though she interacted with everyone else. Afterwards, she still did not want to be with me and even seemed a bit angry with me. Too many mothers, and I am not the one she knows best. She had been away from her foster mom for twenty days, and as Ana said, she had adjusted quickly. But this visit reminded her of her former life and she is experiencing the loss a second time.

Last night, she was very restless and nothing I could do helped her to sleep. I laid her next to me at one point but she seemed to be trying to squirm away. At 2 am Roger took over and she slept three hours in the crib, then ended up on Roger's chest in the bed. Part of this is due to her congestion and coughing, for which we gave her medicine, but some of it must be the events of yesterday affecting her. Up until now she has been a good sleeper despite her cold. Today she has been a bit cranky and her nap was just as restless as last night. Yet, she clearly is a very resilient child and I believe she will rebound. Roger is good at making her laugh by lifting her up to the ceiling, and she is a pretty good match for Danny's exuberance. When he roars at her like a dinosaur, she growls right back with a glint in her eye. He'd better watch out!

She slept on my chest for awhile today, and though I was longing for a good nap myself, I was full of thankfulness to have the honor of caring for this child.

By the way, Naomi's foster parents are retired and have a 26-year-old son who is a doctor in a Baotou hospital. They live very near to the China Care Home. I am looking forward to the day I can show the pictures and video of all of us together to Naomi, so she will know how well she has been loved and how many people worked hard as a team to give her a good start in life.

The last picture here from Baotou shows one of the many ways parents carry children on their bicycles.

China Care Baotou Children's Home

We traveled to Baotou today, a 2-1/2 hour drive, to see the children's home where Naomi lived for her first eight months. (Our guide and the other Bethany family traveled with us.) We also met Naomi's foster mother. It was a wonderful chance to get a little more of her history. The Children's Home director, Anna, and her staff were very kind and gave us a tour and delicious lunch. They have a small, but clean and cheerful facility. Anna told us Naomi had a great foster family that loved her very much and missed her a lot since bringing her back there a week before we got her. It was obvious when her foster mother came in that she was overjoyed to see Naomi again. She said she and her husband had cried and she had missed sleep since leaving Naomi. She told us--through translation--many things about how smart and special Naomi is. They are fostering another baby now, but feel it's not the same--Naomi was so dear to them. She was very animated and smiling and warm to us. She told us how glad they were to learn Naomi would have such a good family. We exchanged mail and email addresses, and hugged before parting. It was a very emotional and positive visit, but quite draining. After the first few moments, Naomi seemed to remember her foster mother quite well and enjoyed the visit with everyone paying attention to her. She didn't seem to have any trouble separating at the end of the time and waved goodbye to her foster mom. We felt a special connection to the foster mom and Baotou China Care, and we will be keeping in touch with them and remembering them in our prayers.

Hot pot with Lynnette

Sorry we didn't post yesterday--we had quite a long and tiring day. We drove 1-1/2 hours to the grasslands to visit a Mongolian family farm, and Saturday evening we were treated to a hot pot meal by Lynnette, an English teacher at the Hohhot Teacher's College, who is a friend of Ruth's brother. She was very happy to have visitors from the U. S., and generously paid for our meal. She brought two of her students along, who were very nice and helpful. Hot pot is sort of like fondue -- there is a boiling pot of broth, they give you meat, vegatables, and noodles and you cook it yourself. It was delicious! The restaurant gave us coconut ice cream bars at the end, which greatly pleased Danny. Another thing Danny really liked was relaxing in the yurt (see picture)!

The Flavor of Hohhot

Hohhot is very colorful, noisy and chaotic. We are right on the main drag and it is busy all the time. These pictures are from the street, a department store, and the Mongolian Museum. On the street, common themes are: construction everywhere, huge billboards, lots of bicycles, dust masks, traffic anarchy, neon lights, and side street markets. The picture showing the torn up street shows where we got our laundry done.

The last picture shows Grandma getting cosy with Naomi via cracker bribery. Naomi goes to whoever has the food. No matter what it is we are eating, she is interested in it and will flirt to get it. She is warming up to us but still struggling with a cold. Also she is showing a bit of a fiesty personality.