Only 1 more appointment!

All went well with the consulate appointment today. Tomorrow afternoon we take a bus, along with many other families to the formal "swearing in", where we promise to love and care for Naomi. After 24 hours we are free to go. Unfortunately there are no flights leaving after 7 PM on Thursday so we will be leaving early on Friday. We will be spending a couple of days in Georgia with Mike's family before we come home. Jo-Jo is already there visiting and Brooke will joining us for the weekend too. Tonight we are going to dinner with the families that adopted from JiangXi again and hope to get a group photo to post. It's raining today but we are hoping it will clear up soon so we can do a little shopping before dinner.
We have a VIP guest staying at the hotel here with us. Mike saw a convoy of limos with a police escort coming down the street the other night. Then we heard that the governor of Hong Kong is here. I'm not so sure I'm excited about that. I'd rather the political figures stay far away from where I'm at. The military is all beefed up presently too. I'm guessing this had something to do with it.

Naomi Comaneci

Mama Mia!

Wow, we actually had a great meal tonight! We went with a group to an Italian Ristorante'. This place was FAN-CEE! I almost forgot I was in China. Mike and I got this huge calzone. To top it off, the whole meal was about $20 US/$128 Chinese/Yuan. We were with 4 other families. 3 of them had children from JiangXi Province, which is where Naomi is from. I am learning that certain regions have particular characteristics that are common in the children. JiangXi children are known to have lots of hair and for being tall. They also have a certain shaped eye. I wouldn't have thought there was much truth to that until I saw all the kids from there together tonight.
We have been exchanging contact information with all our new friends in hopes of keeping in contact. We have met two families from Michigan and have already started planning a rendevous. We also have found a few families that will be leaving on the same flight we are. It is reassuring to know we won't be the only ones with a baby on the flight.
We also exchanged email addresses with our Christian shop owner friend, Judy.
Tommorrow we have to stay in the hotel room from 9-11 AM so the consulate can contact us if they have any questions about our petition to adopt. Peter takes all the paperwork there and presents it to them.
Naomi is still being a daddy's girl which I am only tolerating because I know I'll get to hog her when we get home and he has to head to work. I'm just the official potty cheerleader right now. She doesn't seem to want to perform for daddy. Must be a modesty thing.

Green pizza

We had a typhoon yesterday so I wasn't able to post or at least I should say that I was too chicken to turn on the computer with the lightning after blowing out my last computer that way. We took a trip into town to what we were told was the electronics market but it wasn't. It was more like China's version of Best Buy. We toured the mall next door which was probably the Somerset Mall of GZ. Lots of designer stuff and no bargains. The grocery store was next door so we spent some time in there marveling over the strange food again. They must think we are nuts. I was taking pictures. There was a KFC outside the market but we decided to pass it up after we noticed the pictures of the food on the window didn't really look like the colonel's famous recipe to us. We ventured into the Papa John's nearby. It wasn't too bad. The pizza cheese had a greenish tint and they had fountain pop which we were a little leery about but we didn't find ourselves running for the bathroom anytime soon after partaking in it. We had a little trouble getting a cab to stop for us until I figured out that I could stand behind a pole and wave my hand and they couldn't see I was American until it was too late. We hit the pool when we got back to the hotel and later visited the "Swan room" which is furnished with toys from Mattel. Today we are just going to hang around the hotel and relax. We had some new adoptive friends invite us to go to tea later.

Shamian Christian Church, Guangzhou, China

Shamian Christian Church, Guangzhou, China

Christian churches are now open to the public in China. 70% of the Christian churches have been built in recent years. I read somewhere that approx. 10% of the population of Guangzhou is Christian, a high number for any area in China. The city that Naomi was born and fostered in (Feng Cheng City) only had 1%. Even though Christianity is state governed, many Christians still suffer because of their faith. Christians must register with the government and have many restrictions, especially when it comes to sharing the gospel. Therefore, many choose to attend "house churches". The church on Shamian Island where the White Swan hotel is located was built more for the American guests. That was the Chinese government's plan, God's plan has this building overflowing into the "side room" with video feed with Chinese Christians. We were able to purchase a Chinese/English Bible from the bookstore on the grounds. The store is only open for 1 hour on Sunday and it was packed with people, many were walking out with stacks of bibles. One can only speculate and hope that they were going to share these with friends and family. This church also holds bible studies during the week as well as prayer sessions.

Napping in the pool?

Naomi's personality is really starting to shine. She is getting quite active. I don't think she had much opportunity to really move around while in foster care. In just a week she has figured out how to roll over and is making strides in figuring out how to walk. Today we went to church (I'll write another blog on that experience) then spent about 3 hours in the pool. She actually fell asleep in the pool. It started out like "daddy's club" again but after awhile more mom's joined in. It is so interesting to hear all the different stories from each of the families. We went to Lucy's for dinner again. The buffet in the hotel is about $45/person which is really ridiculous. We can eat at Lucy's for under $10 for both of us. After dinner we did some shopping and met another Christian shop owner. Mike noticed his bible on his desk and struck up a conversation with him. His name is Jordan and he wrote Naomi's name in chinese calligraphy for us as a keepsake. We stopped at the 7 eleven on the way back to the hotel and got some icecream bars. I'm sure it was another 1st for Naomi. She really enjoyed it. So far we haven't found much she doesn't like. Tomorrow the plan is to hit the electronics market.