Oath Ceremony

We didn't have anything scheduled this morning, so we did a little bit of shopping and packing, and, of course, hit Starbucks.

At 3:00, we met all of the other families and our coordinator in the lobby and took a bus to the U.S. Consulate. No cameras were allowed, so we don't have any pictures, unfortunately.

The Consulate used to be located on Shamian Island, right near the White Swan Hotel, but it moved not too long ago to a different part of Guangzhou, so the drive was about 45 minutes. We didn't realize it would take so long, and we hadn't given Leah any Drammamine, but she was fine. Molly and I were the ones feeling a big queasy by the time we had made it through all of the stop-and-go traffic.

When we got inside, the room was full of adoptive families. I don't how many, but there had to be about 100 adults, and the corresponding number of adoptive children and siblings. There was an Oregon poster on one of the pillars in the room - Mt. Hood never looked so good.

We got checked in, and in a few minutes an officer from the Consulate spoke to all of us. He first had us stand up and swear that everything we had put in the documents was true, and that was that.

The officer was very personable, and he said that he had adopted from China twice himself. He was now stationed at the Consulate for a two-year tour, and his boys were going to the American school in Guangzhou.

The Consulate in Guangzhou is the only place that issues American immigrant visas in China. There are about 100 staff members at the Consulate, only about 25 of which are American.

After the ceremony, we got a sealed brown envelope to carry to Immigration in the U.S. Leah received her Immigrant Visa, and she will become a U.S. Citizen upon our arrival in Seattle.

After we got back to the hotel, we went to dinner with the Wallings around the corner at the Cow and Bridge restaurant, and then walked down to the White Swan for ice cream.

We did a little last-minute shopping on the way back, and the boys played DS with Zane Walling while the parents packed and Leah helped.







Soon-to-be U.S. citizen:










The boys and Zane Walling:













Dinner:













Ice cream at the White Swan:






























































We'll be home in less than 48 hours!!!