A Happy Day

My favorite parts of China that we have visited are the Temples.  I love the peace of them -- the folks praying, lighting incense, and making their offerings of fruit, nuts, grains, etc. depending on what they are praying for.   I find the the beauty of the structures and gardens inspiring.   I love seeing the Monks walk around.   Today we visited the Liurong Temple, also known as the Six Banyan Trees Temple.  A beautiful, colorful Pagoda stands at the center of the Temple, and is surrounded by several different halls and the monk's dormitory. They must have been getting ready for some kind of celebration or fesitval because new red lanterns were being strung up today.  We enjoyed the calm of the inside of the Temple, though crowded today with a tour bus.  Braden wasn't particularly cooperative at a point since he wanted to go into the pond that held the fish and had a bit of a fit when I prevented him from doing so.  I quickly bribed him with cookies in order to not further disturb the scene, but we spent a bit less time here than originally planned.  And it was wicked humid - heat index of 105F and we were all just dripping in sweat...ick, I know. 
Besides the magnificent pagoda, the grand Hall is a featured sights - it holds 3 big ancient bronze Buddhas - the largest existing in Guandong province.

We came back to the hotel to cool off, have some lunch and let Braden nap before we headed to our swearing in ceremony.  I must say it was indeed a much nicer experience this time.
We gathered in a very large room, with chairs this time, and there were 37 families in attendance.  Each family was called to a window, where our information was confirmed, and we signed our child's application for Immigration to the US.  When all families were done, a director for adoption applications came out to address the group.  She congratulated us all, then shared some bits of information with us all on US adoptions in China.  Ken and I both thought this was really nice, that they spent the time to make the experience more informative, friendly and personal.  Very different than before.
We learnd that in 2009, there were 3001 adoptions from China, and 52% of them were special needs.  The number of total adoptions has dropped steadily every year (in 2005, when we adopted the girls, the number was 7907) and the number of special needs in the total has steadily risen.  We learned, too that the US is completing one third of the worlds adoptions. She shared that upon entering the US and going through immigration at our point of entry, our children will officially be Americans.  After sharing a few more facts on the group that was there - the Septembre birthdays, for instance and in recognizing a single father.  The new Hague convention prevents singles from adopting, but his paperwork was in under the old process.  Nice!  Also, she recognized a girl who is turning 14 next month, and who was just adopted.  this is such good news that this family's paperwork was completed in time, since at 14, children age out of the program and are no longer considered for adoption.  Apparently this family adopted her younger sister as well.  It is incredibly touching to understand this, and my admiration for this family is great.  The director then had us all raise our right hands, and swear that all we told the government is true, then we were done.

I love the commraderie of families in this setting while we were waiting...talking, sharing stories of how things have been going for the past 2 weeks.  We are all connected,  knowing what we all have been through and for some repeat famlies (like us) we can share information on our experiences beyond China.  I had been emailing and reading a blog of a family in Georgia who adopted their little girl, same age as Shu on the same day.  It is really helpful to talk to them about their beautiful daughter and what they see in her habits and tendencies - I think I can learn more about Shu and they about Claire in terms of what we can surmise their life was like.  And we can share the phot0s we got, info on progress, etc to help.  We both have found that our children are troubled by any morsel of food that is on the ground, and they are hasty to grab it and try to eat it.  It give pause in considering how much they were fed, and how often.  Shu tends to hold on to his food in his mouth a long time before swallowing,  but this has lessened every day.  Is it because he knows there is lots more to come, and often?  So that leads me to share this cute video.  We have a silly habit when eating soemthing yummy to hum "Mmmmmm" in a little song and sway.  So of course our little man has picked this up.  As I have mentioned before, he looooooves Cheerios.  I was fretting my dwindling rations as we approach our flight tomorrow,  and a fellow family came to my rescue with a baggie full.  So kind of them, and I am so very grateful!  Shu really is too, and he is so darn cute!  (sorry for my loud cackle)

We were not allowed to take in cameras to the swearing in, but we did pose for our official "Yippee, we are sworn in" photo afterwards.

So, tomorrow is it.  We leave for home.  Yeah!  I miss Eva and Nicole so much!   This has been an amazing two weeks, but it is time for us all to be together.  Real life begins again, but with a whole new definition.

Love to all