So I'm sitting on a flight from Tokyo to Seattle right now. Completely surreal. Juni is fast asleep next to me and Steve is watching some in-flight entertainment across the aisle. I can't believe that this miracle journey is coming to an end and that our amazing adventures as a family of five is about to begin. How did we ever get so lucky?
I need to backtrack a bit though. The last 48 hours have been a bit of a blur. Steve posted our lat update and told you all about the U.S. Consulate day. There was a lobby full of adopting families, not just our group but from several agencies so the room was fairly full. (Have you noticed a pattern of big things in this adoption journey occurring in lobbies? Odd.) Anyway, I digress, we all stood and raised our right hands and swore under oath that we would do our darndest to have our daughter be a wonderful U.S. citizen. Or something like that. I was a bit distracted and emotionally overwhelmed. It was a big day.
Yesterday was also a big day. America approved all of our paperwork and we received our daughter's immigrant visa and the mysterious "Brown Envelope." This means that Juni has a visa stamped in her Chinese passport enabling her to come to America. As soon as we land in Seattle, we go through U.S. Customs and Immigration and hand someone this sealed brown envelope that we had to promise not to open. Apparently, at that moment she will become a U.S. citizen. And guess what, I'm not allowed to photograph in there! I'm going to beg.
Almost got arrested taking this photo. Oops. They made me show the image before shushing me on.
On the train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong.
Okay, so after we got her visa, Veronica met us all at the train station and we said our goodbyes. A bunch of us headed off to Hong Kong aiming to fly out the next day. The train was great because we all sat together laughing and sharing our last hours in China together. It was also beautiful to see some of the Chinese countryside.
Once in Hong Kong, we were herded through Customs and then went on a madcap taxi ride out to the airport. We rode with a few of our friends and they made us laugh the whole way. Also, our taxi and another family's kept passing each other and we all had no idea where we were going. It was hysterical.
When we finally got to the Marriot, Juni was so passed out that I could take her off my back with the pack on and she didn't wake up. We rallied and headed off for a last supper with our great new friends and LOOK, Juni let Steve hold her at dinner!
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