Today we woke up feeling excited and nervous. We dressed Aiden in red, white, and blue and gave him an American flag, because today we would apply for Aiden's U.S. Visa. With this visa, he will become a U.S. citizen as soon as our plane touches down in Dallas! Our appointment was at 10:00 but our guide, Shiyan, said we needed to leave our hotel at 7:30 to go to the medical clinic to have Aiden's temperature checked since he had a fever on Friday. He woke up today fever free, but we still gave him Tylenol and had a cold frog tog to put on his neck before going inside the building.
The medical clinic was packed but Shiyan took us to a back room and had Aiden's temperature checked right away. Thankfully it was normal and we could proceed with his visa appointment. We had about an hour to wait in the clinic before we could go to the Consulate. BinBin was so happy and played most of the time. We soak in these moments because they do not happen as much as we would like.
Finally we were taken to the Consulate. We had to leave everything with security so we have no pictures of the inside of the building. We were taken to a room where other adoptive parents were playing with their children, waiting to be called to the window. Anytime we have been with other children, Aiden did not want to play with them. He stayed close to us but did get down to walk around.
I was called to the window and had to provide all the paperwork for Aiden. Then we waited to be called up in a group to take an oath. While we waited I sat looking around at this room full of children whose lives were about to be changed. Every child with different needs, some more severe than others. I thought again about how incredible adoption is. When we first asked for more information on 3 children before finding Aiden and their needs were more than we felt our family could handle, I had so much guilt about saying no to them. As I looked around this room, I had peace knowing those 3 children were going to be loved by families that did have the resources and time to devote to those needs and give them a better life. There were children in that room who were blind, who were missing limbs, who had down syndrome, and many other needs, and they were now sons and daughters, they were loved and would start receiving better medical care. I was overwhelmed with emotion and thanking God for sending us Aiden. He has already brought us so much joy!
After we took our oath, we were told that they could not guarantee that we would receive his visa tomorrow and that we should be prepared to make other travel arrangements. We knew with the computer system shutting down the week prior that this was a possibility. We continued to pray that we would get home soon because our son needed to see doctors. It kills us to see him in pain.
When we got back to our hotel room, we made oatmeal and ramen noodles for lunch. Are you jealous? Aiden loved the noodles and we love to see him eat! We put Aiden to bed and Alana went to meet Karis at the pool. David and I fell asleep and were shocked to see it had been 4 hours when we awoke! We all needed that sleep!
Alana returned from swimming and we decided to try to find a grocery store and a baby store. Aiden has loved his stroller so we wanted to purchase one to have in the airports with us. We had also depleted our snack stash and needed to get him some snacks for the plane ride. We had the concierge write the names of stores down for us to show the cab driver and we were off.
One of the most unnerving feelings ever is being dropped off in an unknown place where you don't understand anything anyone is saying. We would show our piece of paper to people and they would point in a direction but we couldn't read the signs on stores. Somehow we found a large building that had many different toy vendors. We bought 2 more Ultra Man toys for Aiden which made him so happy. We also bought him some toy cars that he loved. It is different buying for a child who doesn't have much. They appreciate everything they are given.
It took us a little longer and few more people laughing at us until we finally found the supermarket. This was a lot like a Walmart. We found some supplies for Aiden that we needed and then found the snacks. While we were in the store, we saw a man hawk a loogie on the floor of the store! Alana and I had seen another man at the pool do this right by the ladder where people get out of the pool. I will never understand.
We left the store and were able to find a cab fairly quickly. We were ready to get back to the hotel and begin packing. Another great day in China!
The medical clinic was packed but Shiyan took us to a back room and had Aiden's temperature checked right away. Thankfully it was normal and we could proceed with his visa appointment. We had about an hour to wait in the clinic before we could go to the Consulate. BinBin was so happy and played most of the time. We soak in these moments because they do not happen as much as we would like.
Finally we were taken to the Consulate. We had to leave everything with security so we have no pictures of the inside of the building. We were taken to a room where other adoptive parents were playing with their children, waiting to be called to the window. Anytime we have been with other children, Aiden did not want to play with them. He stayed close to us but did get down to walk around.
I was called to the window and had to provide all the paperwork for Aiden. Then we waited to be called up in a group to take an oath. While we waited I sat looking around at this room full of children whose lives were about to be changed. Every child with different needs, some more severe than others. I thought again about how incredible adoption is. When we first asked for more information on 3 children before finding Aiden and their needs were more than we felt our family could handle, I had so much guilt about saying no to them. As I looked around this room, I had peace knowing those 3 children were going to be loved by families that did have the resources and time to devote to those needs and give them a better life. There were children in that room who were blind, who were missing limbs, who had down syndrome, and many other needs, and they were now sons and daughters, they were loved and would start receiving better medical care. I was overwhelmed with emotion and thanking God for sending us Aiden. He has already brought us so much joy!
After we took our oath, we were told that they could not guarantee that we would receive his visa tomorrow and that we should be prepared to make other travel arrangements. We knew with the computer system shutting down the week prior that this was a possibility. We continued to pray that we would get home soon because our son needed to see doctors. It kills us to see him in pain.
When we got back to our hotel room, we made oatmeal and ramen noodles for lunch. Are you jealous? Aiden loved the noodles and we love to see him eat! We put Aiden to bed and Alana went to meet Karis at the pool. David and I fell asleep and were shocked to see it had been 4 hours when we awoke! We all needed that sleep!
Alana returned from swimming and we decided to try to find a grocery store and a baby store. Aiden has loved his stroller so we wanted to purchase one to have in the airports with us. We had also depleted our snack stash and needed to get him some snacks for the plane ride. We had the concierge write the names of stores down for us to show the cab driver and we were off.
One of the most unnerving feelings ever is being dropped off in an unknown place where you don't understand anything anyone is saying. We would show our piece of paper to people and they would point in a direction but we couldn't read the signs on stores. Somehow we found a large building that had many different toy vendors. We bought 2 more Ultra Man toys for Aiden which made him so happy. We also bought him some toy cars that he loved. It is different buying for a child who doesn't have much. They appreciate everything they are given.
It took us a little longer and few more people laughing at us until we finally found the supermarket. This was a lot like a Walmart. We found some supplies for Aiden that we needed and then found the snacks. While we were in the store, we saw a man hawk a loogie on the floor of the store! Alana and I had seen another man at the pool do this right by the ladder where people get out of the pool. I will never understand.
We left the store and were able to find a cab fairly quickly. We were ready to get back to the hotel and begin packing. Another great day in China!