Tuesday Dec 12- Oath Taking at US Consulate

Today is Tuesday, Dec 12. Today we will go to the US Consulate to have our "oath taking", where we swear that all the information we have provided in the adoption process is true. We will then be given Sarabeth's passport back- with the all-important US Visa attached inside! With this, we can officially come home!!! This afternoon, there will also be a group photograph in the red couch area at the White Swan with all of the Heritage families. This evening, we will be ordering in from Danny's Bagel and packing for the trip home.

It has been a wonderful trip thus far. We have maintained our health- very few China gut experiences this time! Sarabeth's chewing and swallowing issues have been MUCH less of a problem than we anticipated. The weather in Guangzhou has been great. We've met some very nice "new" families who are here adopting also. Our main area of concern, which will need to be addressed as soon as we get home is Sarabeth's rotting teeth on the upper right side. These teeth are bothering her a lot and we've been giving her Ibuprofen around the clock the past couple of days. These are still baby teeth, which will most likely need to be pulled. We hope there is no damage to the permanant teeth underneath.

Yesterday, we spent most of the day wandering the island. Mary did the last of her Christmas shopping while Sarabeth and I went to the park. In the evening we went out looking for a place to eat supper and stumbled onto the Rose Garden, which is right next to the White Swan. We ate outside, at a waterfront table on the Pearl River. The waterfront is lit up brightly at night, with many colors of rope lights outlining the bulkhead along the river and many of the buildings on each side lit up in neon. We had Thai style fried rice; a very good beef dish in a cinnamon flavored sauce; mixed vegi's in a garlic sauce and cashew chicken- which came out loaded with chilli peppers. The chicken was too hot for Mary (she enjoyed the cashews, which didn't soak up as much of the hot flavor) but I had no trouble knocking down a large portion of it. I was glad I had a TALL drink to go with it, but it was very tasty. Overall, it was a very enjoyable meal.

Our flights home begin at 8:30am tomorrow (6:30pm Tuesday night Iowa time). We will leave the hotel at 5:30am for the van ride to the airport. The 8:30 flight is to Tokyo, arriving at 1:30pm Japan time (10:30pm CST). We have a 90 minute layover in Tokyo, leaving for Minneapolis at 3pm local time (midnight Wed morning CST). We arrive at MSP at 10:45am. We are so looking forward to seeing the rest of the family at the airport and introducing them to their new sister.

We will try to post again tonight, and then after we arrive home.

John and Mary