Well it's our last full day in Guangzhou and I'll try to give you a quick update. Sorry I didn't update yesterday. It turned out to be a crazy day. We were told to wait in our room from 10:30-12 while our guides took our paperwork to the consulate. The need us to stay close to the phone in case of any problems. Out of 23 families any guess as to who might have gotten a call? Yep, that's right my horrible luck with the fingerprinting continues on. Our paperwork that was sent from the state got here OK and was what they requested but the US Consulate decided they wanted an interview with me in person. So in the afternoon I left a taxi with Amy and Linekar (who were going back any way to pay some fees) for a 2 p.m. appointment. On a slow day let me tell you about that experience, but finally I ended up signing a document in person and taking an oath in front of an official that everything I was telling them was correct. I must just have that criminal look about me. Today all the families fo back ato take a different oath, me included. Amy told me that this is the first time that the US consulate has ever requested the specific proceeding I had done. Oh well I got to our our guides a bit better and got a personal tour of the city. Hopefully all goes well today.

I've just about finished shopping. I went back to the island without Darrin and Caroline yesterday and had a great time shopping with other females who can appreciate the art of bartering and power shopping. I think I've done well. We've got quite a few little presents to give to Caroline for years to come to remind her of China : )

This morning after breakfast the families all met in the lobby for groups pictures of all the families from our province and then one of the 7 babies from Caroline's province dressed in Chinese garb on the red couch (some long-standing tradition). Caroline was so brave and didn't cry a bit when we put her on the couch. She just looked around at the other little girls who were less than thrilled to be there. It was chaos. I'll try to get Darrin to post pictures soon.

The three of us then took a stroll to a nearby shopping area (Dong Fang) where we bartered nicely for a $11.50 suitcase (down from their origial price of $47.50) to hold our many purchases and got some last-minute gifts.

We leave for our one night stay in Hong Kong tomorrow morning at 5:45. We have to have our luggage packed and picked up tonight. China has been fascinating, but I am finally ready to come home. We turn in our cell phone tonight so we won't have it in Hong Kong. We'll try to post from there, but I'll give you our flight info into Orlando now for those who are planning on meeting us at the airport when we get home. Barring any delays, we are scheduled to arrive on Friday at 7:15 p.m. EST on Continental Flight 392. Hope to see you there.