July 25

This day we would hop back on the bus and head to the American Consulate to do the Visa swearing in. I had no idea what that meant, I just knew that it had to be done in order to get Lyric's American Visa.  I figured if many, many adoptive parents before us had done it, it couldn't be that bad, right?

Good morning, Q-Boo!

"Can you believe they’re making me wear this head band?" 

Crowded and chaotic, as usual. :)

 "Seriously, how cute does a girl have to be to get an American Visa, around here?" 

It turned out that the swearing in was easy. We stood together, in mass, and swore that the information we'd given was correct.  Next, we answered some questions as individual families. And, voila, done! Now, we'd wait until the next afternoon to receive the Visa, shortly after that we'd catch an airplane to Hong Kong, spend the night, and then catch our flight back to the States. I was too tired to be too excited.

First, we had to head back to the hotel.




Everybody needs naps, obviously.

And nap, we did. I fell asleep with my little sweetie on the couch and when we woke up, the three of us watched dumb chick flicks in the hotel room for the rest of the afternoon. It was actually sorta fun.

The enormity of what we'd done over the last couple of weeks had begun to settle
in and we were just so worn out. All of us.

Later that day, we went into downtown Guangzhou via taxi to find stuff that we needed for Lyric. This meant that we had to navigate by ourselves “off the grid” in the city, we just struck out, hoping that we could find what we needed and then find a taxi back to the hotel.  After the fact, it was sorta fun. Exhausting but fun. "Exhausting" seemed to have become our theme by this point.

Dinner was via a restaurant in the hotel. I kept thinking,
This is our last night in China, we should do something else for dinner
and then my brain would answer my heart,
Are you kidding me? I'll be lucky to find my way back upstairs. hahaha

There's that handsome daddy-man.

"Seriously, do not try this at home...

...I am...



...a professional!"

I jotted this down in my notes on the computer that night :

"So close to leaving, tomorrow.  I find myself becoming emotional, tonight.  How is it that they’re really going to let me leave China with her?  She really IS my daughter. I feel like I've fought for her and earned the right to love her. Get out of my way, she’s going HOME with me. :)  Also, feeling very emotional about seeing the boys, I have MISSED them. Ironically, I feel afraid that I’ll lose control and sob when I see them, freaking them totally out, just like I was afraid that I’d lose control and freak out Lyric.  I just can’t wait to see them."


“As excited as I am about seeing them (the boys) I am just as sick of being here.” –K-Man

I agreed. I just wanted to go home but I felt like there was so much more to see in China. Like, if I’d seen Washington DC, Nashville, and NY City, I’d still feel like there was so much more to see in the US.  I wanted to come back but first, I wanted to GO HOME!

<gulp!> We leave TOMORROW for HOME!