Thursday - Oath ceremony

Thursday was our day to travel to the American Consulate for the oath ceremony, which is basically where the parents raise their right hand and swear that the information they have provided on their child's immigration forms is correct and true. But we didn't have to be there until about 3PM, so we had the morning to ourselves. We started it off by sleeping in a little, getting downstairs to the hotel restaurant just before they finished serving breakfast.

Then we headed back to Shaiman Island, location of the White Swan hotel, and all of the adoption-specific souvenir shops. We picked up a few last items, including silk dresses for our girls. We met a shopkeeper named Jordan (actually - he met us - he's quite the salesman and storms out into the street to introduce himself and invite you into his shop!) Our friends, the Adcocks, had talked with him before, and had told us he was a Christian believer. When we entered his shop, his Chinese bible was out on his desk, and we got to talk with him a little bit about his faith. He is a member of one of the legal and state-OK'ed churches here in China. He explained that his pastor preferred to stay legal and agree to some government rules in order to have the ability to be open and public about their faith.

Jordan painting Kelina's name on her parasol in traditional Chinese calligraphy

While near the White Swan, we also stopped in for some photos on their fabled red couches. A photo on these couches is a tradition among adoptive families, and Kelina was happy to pose away for us in one of her new dresses.

In the afternoon we headed off to the consulate for the oath ceremony. Lots of adoptive families are brought in at once for this, so we got to see some folks who we had met back in Nanning. They call each family up one-by-one to verify your documents, so there was about a 1/2 hour wait through that. The papers we got back from the clerk were copies of each of our passports. Lina's was on top, and she spotted it in Daddy's hand and pointed to the Chinese characters for her name, and read "yo-lee-na." Then she flipped to the next page, which was a copy of Daddy's passport, and pointed, saying "yo-ba-ba" (ba ba is Chinese for Daddy). Then, funniest of all, she flipped the page again and pointed to Mommy's passport, saying "yo-ma-ma"!!!

"Yo" is the pronounciation of Lina's family name "You." So I guess it is a good sign if she's using her family name for Mommy and Daddy too, right?

Then it was time for the oath. I think Kelina was a little nervous again. She could tell something formal was happening here, but wasn't sure what. She seemed to get over it quickly as we all walked out of the room and down the escalators together.

For dinner, we tried a local noodle shop that Simon, our guide, recommended. It was good, and we stopped at the bakery on the way back to our hotel.

Daddy trying to convey our order to the one waitress who spoke a little English

The noodle-making station

Back at the hotel, we had yet another encouraging event for Daddy - he got to provide a "horseback" ride for Lina, and she was giggling so hard she could barely breathe. Daddy's pretty reassured now that we are on the right track, although I'm sure we will still have our moments.

All our official paperwork and bureaucracy is done. Tomorrow we pack up and head for a few days of sightseeing in Beijing. Hope to blog again from there. See you all soon!