Wonderful Day: Consulate Appointment is Done, we visited the Guanxiao Temple and had final group dinner

Today we had an exceptional day. We were picked up at 9 am for our 10 am Consulate appointment. We arrived in time and after security checks, we entered the Adoption Unit, where other adoptive parents were also waiting. At 10 am we all had to raise our right hand and give and indicate under oath that the information we had provided was true and correct. Then our names were called, and we turned in our dcuments necessary to obtain Gabriela's visa, which we will pick up tomorrow. We were also told that tomorrow we would receive a brown envelope, which we would need to deliver at the first port of entry in the United States. For us it will be Chicago, at which point Gabriela will become a US Citizen. It was a very emotional day for us, because it finaly sunk in that we after 6 years, Gabriela was trully ours. No more appointments nor nothing. It really feels so good
So it was very fitting that we then visited the Guanxiao Temple, which was built around 1600 years ago, making it the oldest Buddhist temple in Guangzhou. There is saying in Guanzhou that says "Guanxiao Temple comes earlier than Guanzhou. It was very beautiful and exuded a sense of so much peace. We burned incense and made blessings for our family and children. I have also included pics of the children of our other friends that make up our travel group. There is Grace, who is such a little lady and is almost 5, and Amy, who was just adopted from China, and who is 4, and Cameron, who was also just adopted and is 15 months, Karina, also 15 months, and Nina, who is I believe 9 years old and is Amy's sister. We loved sharing our journey with thease families and hope that our children will meet again. Our lives will certainly always be connected.
Tonight we had our last group dinner with our guide Connie. I believe that our lives will be connected forever and hope to meet again with all of them.
Tomorrow we will get picked up a 2:30 to go to the train station to go to Hong Kong. We are just 2 days away from beginning our trek to Puerto Rico.

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