Our LiLi in the gold dress, ready to be back in my arms
She doesn't like it one bit.
Uh Oh, we lost her. She's down. In the three seconds she is by herself on the couch, she has protested the most. Look at the girls on the other end of the couch. How funny that they are just hamming it up. Our little LiLi just isn't ready to be separated now that she has found two people who adore her. I don't blame her one bit.
Today we went to the US Consulate to get our daughter her visa to enter the U.S. so she can become a citizen of the United States when we land in Los Angeles and go through immigration.
We weren't allowed to take any photos while we were there.
It was a rainy and verrrry humid day today. My hair immediately curls up into tiny ringlets all over and I start to grow dreadlocks by mid morning. Lovely. We went back to the hotel mid-day to let our babies have a nap, and then we head out again by 2:30 to go to Shamian Island to take red couch photos at the White Swan hotel. Afterwards, we walked through a dry and wet market selling critters to mix in your Chinese soups and meals. At the end, we made our way to a pearl market. Jeff and I headed stright to the bus to let LiLi sleep some more and we skipped the shopping at the end. It was early evening and we were sufficiently wet and drippy from the drizzle and humidity to call it a day.
The White Swan red couch photos are a tradition for adopting families. Through the years, most families have stayed there. It's on Shamian Island and very convenient to all our appointments we have to go to while we are here. Since it's undergoing renovation we are staying at the Marriott which is not on the island, so we haven't seen too much of Shamian. That's okay with me since I feel sufficiently touristed out after starting our trip early in Hong Kong. Our LiLi was officially the baby who freaked out the most when we sat her down on the red couch to take pictures. It was funny because all the babies on the right side of the couch didn't care that their parents sat them down, but on LiLi's side, she screamed first and got the two babies on either side of her to cry with her in unison. She does not appreciate when we put her down. She definitely loves being in our arms and that's okay with me since she is such a loving and snuggly baby. She probably has been in such need of attention for her entire life that now that she knows she's getting attention, she doesn't want to let it go.
I really enjoyed walking through the quaint authentic Chinese street markets this afternoon looking at the critters for sale in large bins. Some were already dead. Some were almost dead. Some were alive one minute and then cut open the next minute after being purchased. It was a scene. I loved the rickety stone-wood shuttered skinny apartments above the markets with laundry hanging out to dry next to their window box gardens. You can look into mysterious gated entrances with musty dark staircases leading to the upper floors of the apartment buildings. I can't imagine any elevators in the buidings we saw today. They reminded me of something left over from European cities after being ravaged by years of neglect and wars. Maybe it was the stone facades and rickety wood shutters in combination with some worn ornate gates and potted gardens outside the windowsills. Something about the apartments above the markets today gave it a European vibe. It was so interesting me and my tour group moved way too fast while I brought up the rear trying to soak it all in.
We saw some live animals for sale like scorpions, turtles, dogs, cats, fish, sea creatures, chickens, and snakes. At one market, we saw an elderly man purchasing a snake. The sales lady took it from the cage and wrapped it in a mesh bag while it was still alive. A minute later, another worker took it from the bag and immediately gutted it for the elderly man to take it home. He explained that he was making it into a snake wine that he would ferment for five years. He was enjoying telling us foreigners all about how his snake would be made into this special drink. It was fabulous. Once they began taking the snake guts out our group moved on, but I think we got some good video to remember the moment.
Some of the dried creatures and other assorted goodies for sale were black ants, beetles, sea horses, tree bark, snake skins, eels, centipedes, shark fins, male dog reproductive organs (our guide whispered what this was into our ears since she didn't want to announce it out loud), bees, winged insects, cockroach looking insects, sea stars, and many many more. Jeff tried the black ants and said they tasted like charcoal. There were turtles of all sizes, both living and dead, waiting to be purchased.
At the end of the markets, we came out into a large plaza surrounded by young people shopping in contemporary stores and eating at McDonald's. The entire scene looked like a mini version of Times Square complete with gigantic television screens above the plaza. What a juxtaposition to the street markets we had just walked through. Old and new, side by side.
Tomorrow we pack up our suitcases and pick up our daughter's visa in her new passport. We get on a two hour train ride with eight families headed to Hong Kong. Then we take a shuttle bus to our hotels near the Hong Kong airport on Lantau Island. We spend the night at the hotel by the airport and fly out the next day to come back to the states. We land Friday afternoon, finally at home.
Then reality sets back in.
This is my last post from Asia. It has been an amazing trip. We have gotten to see so much of China, and Hong Kong was the icing on the cake. I feel like this adoption trip was so much more of an eye opener since we had the opportunity to see four different cities with a guide explaining everything. The highlight of our trip was, of course, adoption day. We came here to adopt a daughter born somewhere near Fengcheng City in Jiangxi Province. She was left to be found, with a tiny red note telling her date of birth, on the steps of the children's amusement park outside the entrance to the Fengcheng Social Welfare Institute. I do not know her birth story, who her birth parents are, or if she has biological siblings in this country. I do not know who the foster mother was who looked after her for the first fourteen months of her life. I do know that her new life has begun with us, her forever family. I believe she knew us somehow, somewhere before and has been waiting on our arrival. When I look deep into her eyes,this is the story they tell.
We are here for you now Xiang Li. You have made our family complete.
Mama + Daddy + Sabian Cuong + Linnaea Scarlet Xiang
We weren't allowed to take any photos while we were there.
It was a rainy and verrrry humid day today. My hair immediately curls up into tiny ringlets all over and I start to grow dreadlocks by mid morning. Lovely. We went back to the hotel mid-day to let our babies have a nap, and then we head out again by 2:30 to go to Shamian Island to take red couch photos at the White Swan hotel. Afterwards, we walked through a dry and wet market selling critters to mix in your Chinese soups and meals. At the end, we made our way to a pearl market. Jeff and I headed stright to the bus to let LiLi sleep some more and we skipped the shopping at the end. It was early evening and we were sufficiently wet and drippy from the drizzle and humidity to call it a day.
The White Swan red couch photos are a tradition for adopting families. Through the years, most families have stayed there. It's on Shamian Island and very convenient to all our appointments we have to go to while we are here. Since it's undergoing renovation we are staying at the Marriott which is not on the island, so we haven't seen too much of Shamian. That's okay with me since I feel sufficiently touristed out after starting our trip early in Hong Kong. Our LiLi was officially the baby who freaked out the most when we sat her down on the red couch to take pictures. It was funny because all the babies on the right side of the couch didn't care that their parents sat them down, but on LiLi's side, she screamed first and got the two babies on either side of her to cry with her in unison. She does not appreciate when we put her down. She definitely loves being in our arms and that's okay with me since she is such a loving and snuggly baby. She probably has been in such need of attention for her entire life that now that she knows she's getting attention, she doesn't want to let it go.
I really enjoyed walking through the quaint authentic Chinese street markets this afternoon looking at the critters for sale in large bins. Some were already dead. Some were almost dead. Some were alive one minute and then cut open the next minute after being purchased. It was a scene. I loved the rickety stone-wood shuttered skinny apartments above the markets with laundry hanging out to dry next to their window box gardens. You can look into mysterious gated entrances with musty dark staircases leading to the upper floors of the apartment buildings. I can't imagine any elevators in the buidings we saw today. They reminded me of something left over from European cities after being ravaged by years of neglect and wars. Maybe it was the stone facades and rickety wood shutters in combination with some worn ornate gates and potted gardens outside the windowsills. Something about the apartments above the markets today gave it a European vibe. It was so interesting me and my tour group moved way too fast while I brought up the rear trying to soak it all in.
We saw some live animals for sale like scorpions, turtles, dogs, cats, fish, sea creatures, chickens, and snakes. At one market, we saw an elderly man purchasing a snake. The sales lady took it from the cage and wrapped it in a mesh bag while it was still alive. A minute later, another worker took it from the bag and immediately gutted it for the elderly man to take it home. He explained that he was making it into a snake wine that he would ferment for five years. He was enjoying telling us foreigners all about how his snake would be made into this special drink. It was fabulous. Once they began taking the snake guts out our group moved on, but I think we got some good video to remember the moment.
Some of the dried creatures and other assorted goodies for sale were black ants, beetles, sea horses, tree bark, snake skins, eels, centipedes, shark fins, male dog reproductive organs (our guide whispered what this was into our ears since she didn't want to announce it out loud), bees, winged insects, cockroach looking insects, sea stars, and many many more. Jeff tried the black ants and said they tasted like charcoal. There were turtles of all sizes, both living and dead, waiting to be purchased.
At the end of the markets, we came out into a large plaza surrounded by young people shopping in contemporary stores and eating at McDonald's. The entire scene looked like a mini version of Times Square complete with gigantic television screens above the plaza. What a juxtaposition to the street markets we had just walked through. Old and new, side by side.
Tomorrow we pack up our suitcases and pick up our daughter's visa in her new passport. We get on a two hour train ride with eight families headed to Hong Kong. Then we take a shuttle bus to our hotels near the Hong Kong airport on Lantau Island. We spend the night at the hotel by the airport and fly out the next day to come back to the states. We land Friday afternoon, finally at home.
Then reality sets back in.
This is my last post from Asia. It has been an amazing trip. We have gotten to see so much of China, and Hong Kong was the icing on the cake. I feel like this adoption trip was so much more of an eye opener since we had the opportunity to see four different cities with a guide explaining everything. The highlight of our trip was, of course, adoption day. We came here to adopt a daughter born somewhere near Fengcheng City in Jiangxi Province. She was left to be found, with a tiny red note telling her date of birth, on the steps of the children's amusement park outside the entrance to the Fengcheng Social Welfare Institute. I do not know her birth story, who her birth parents are, or if she has biological siblings in this country. I do not know who the foster mother was who looked after her for the first fourteen months of her life. I do know that her new life has begun with us, her forever family. I believe she knew us somehow, somewhere before and has been waiting on our arrival. When I look deep into her eyes,this is the story they tell.
We are here for you now Xiang Li. You have made our family complete.
Mama + Daddy + Sabian Cuong + Linnaea Scarlet Xiang
1 comment:
She is so precious. I'm glad that she has you to love and take care of her. Blessings, Debbie
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