{Consulate Appointment & Cooped Up}

The day finally came that determined every other day for us in this journey to Andie-Grace!  Today we had our Consulate Appointment where we applied for our girl's visa to enter America and become an American citizen when our plane lands on US soil.  I was humming good ole' Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" all morning as we were getting dressed!

It was very humbling to arrive at the United State Consulate and see literally hundreds of Chinese citizens lining the streets to get in.  Since we are already US citizens, our line was incredibly short {as in there may have been 10 people in our entire line} and we were allowed right in after a security check.  We went to the adoption floor and repeated an oath along with several other adoptive families.  After that, we were called to the window where Scott handled the paperwork part and we were sent on our way!  I think we may have been there a total of 20 minutes. 

Tomorrow, our guide will pick up AG's passport with her visa for us and deliver it to our hotel just after we checkout at 4pm China time.  We have a 9:30pm flight out of Guangzhou and will, amazingly, travel back in time and arrive three hours earlier than when we left in LA! ;)  I'm planning a fun little photo session with Miss Priss later this afternoon once she's up from her nap and I'll include more info in that post about our homecoming!

For now, we are trying to stay close to our hotel "home" and get everyone ready for 30 hours of travel.  We're all starting a little sore throat {which we assume is from the pollution and running around in this not so fresh air for two weeks} and the boys are on each other's very last nerve.  Being cooped up is taking its toll on two little boys who are very used to running wild in the country!  So, if you'd please go ahead and start praying for our travel back, I'd really appreciate it! Mommy is divided by three now and it's definitely not the man on man defense that Scott and I are used to!  Thank you for continuing to lift us up and cover us in prayer!

Here's a couple shots that I shared on facebook this morning.  The US Consulate does not allow any electronic devices so our guide graciously offered to take our family picture outside with my phone and hold on to it until we came out. 

Girlfriend dressed up in her red, white and blue!!! Luke was dangling a toy in front of her so she's giving him the "eye" letting him know she's about to attack!

Outside the Consulate...Proud to be Americans!!!