Goodbye China Hello USA

It is about 6pm in China, and Walt is ready to come home. This afternoon, we, along with all the other families in our group, took a bus to the US Consulate. There, we stood, along with about 50 other families, and took an oath that all the information we had provided was truthful. With that accomplished, we were given Walter's passport with a freshly stamped US visa inside. Walt enjoyed this ceremony very much. He clapped and danced throughout the entire process.
Tonight, we are staying in and packing. We will get a 5 AM wake-up call and our bags will be picked up at 5:30. Thirty minutes later we will leave the Asia International Hotel for the last time, and go to the Airport. Our flight will leave for Beijing at 8:30 am, and we should land about 3 hours later. We will then have about 5 hours to wait for our flight to Chicago. I am sure that Walter has lots of fun ideas about how to spend our time in the Beijing Airport, and Joy and I are just hoping there is a Starbucks.
After a 13 hour flight to Chicago, we will then board our final flight, the 7th in two weeks, to Richmond.
It is difficult to describe our emotions over the last two weeks. We have run the gamut from excitement to fear, from hyperactivity to utter exhaustion. Most of all, we have experienced unbelievable happiness. We have watched Walter blossom in the last two weeks. He is a bright, funny and energetic boy who has a personality that draws you in and wraps you up. We are amazed at this gift we have been given, and we anticipate all the challenges and rewards of being his parents.
We can't wait to get home so everyone can meet Walt.

Medical Exams and Sweet Tea

We are winding up our time in Guangzhou, and we ARE SO READY TO COME HOME!!!!
It has been a busy couple of days for us: Tuesday, our entire group posed for a picture in the lobby of our hotel (Walt was enjoying his bottle too much to really notice the camera), then we headed out to the island to get his Visa picture and medical exam. The clinic was a huge place filled with
adopting families and local folks who needed care. We piled in and waited on benches until we were called for our visit to three stations: height and weight, ENT (squeaky toy for hearing and a look at his ear drums), and the internal medicine exam. Walt and I were fine until the internal medicine exam part--when a resident started messing with him and hurting him--and I LOST IT--no one spoke English and I called for our translator to explain to the resident what he was looking at and not understanding on Walt's exam--at the same time, an attending showed up who finished the exam and pronounced Walt "perfectly healthy" and we were allowed to leave. It took both Walter and me about 30 minutes to calm down--I chilled (literally) with some iced coffee while Walt fell asleep listening to the jazz playing at the local island Star Bucks (Walt really likes music).
Today was a little less frenzied--Bill had to run to the U.S. Consulate to notarize one last document--we explored a little this afternoon--and discovered our son has Southern taste--he LOVES sweet iced tea! Walter actually loves anything to EAT. And he is getting heavier and more wiggly by the day! A group of us went out to a local restaurant tonight where Walter enjoyed Minestrone Soup, a hot roll, and his classic fried rice with egg on top. Bill and I are longing for a Ukrop's Salad Bar and any kind of homemade CASSEROLE!! We are definitely NOT going to eat Chinese for a while on our return. Deep fried bullfrog, birds nests, and fish lips just are not staple foods for us at this time!
Tomorrow (Thursday) we are going to the Consulate to be sworn in--Walt will then get his Visa and he will be ready to become an American citizen. Friday we begin our journey HOME with our son--first to Beijing, then to Chicago, and finally to Richmond. We also understand that we MISSED the only snow storm to hit Richmond in years!!!
We will send out one more blog tomorrow--then will be signing off as we start back to the States!

From Chongqing to Guangzhou

Hello from the Guangzhou, China. We made it here (barely) on Saturday--after having had our tickets canceled with Air China. Our guide Frank would not completely reveal the problem as Bill, Walter and I stood in front of the counter for an hour while watching Frank race around the airport frantically, call on two cell phones, negotiate with the folks at the desk--and finally, get us through security. Bill was running with the bags, and I was running with Walter. We made it at the last call--we were exhausted--but Walt thought the whole thing was fun. We were worried that Walt would be freaked out by all of the travel--but the little man LOVES IT. He grabbed hold of Bill and laughed out loud as our plane took off--and then sat back, watched the clouds, and ate his lunch of fried rice--completely unperturbed.
This morning, we headed to "the island" where we visited the White Swan Hotel, had coffee at Star Bucks, and shopped! Walter loves the outings, and has discovered Star Bucks Apple Scones. We settled back in at our Hotel this afternoon--Walter had another first--he fed himself--and with his LEFT hand--could he be another lefty (in the proud tradition of the first Walter and our Bonnie??). We'll see!
The pictures attached are of us at the White Swan Hotel, and then one of him napping--a pass time that is getting shorter and shorter!
We cannot really express our deep love for this little boy--it is quite overwhelming to us both. He is truly the love of our lives.We are awe struck by how much he is changing day by day. He is full of smiles and lots of belly laughs now, and is very secure with both of us. We are counting the days until we can introduce him to his new family and all of his friends.