STRESS

December 14 -

THANK GOD TODAY IS OVER!!!!

Talk about a stressful day. It started out okay this Monday morning as we ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant and were surrounded by about a dozen families that all got their babies yesterday. Emma ate a bit of food and seemed to like being around the people. Aunt Kim and I ate very little...that seems to be a trend as we have decided our crackers in the evening are quite the delicacy. From breakfast we ran upstairs to Skype with the Becker's and Burkart's and Gram - they could see us but we couldn't see them...we were able to talk - maybe we will be able to see them next time. From there we went to process the paperwork to finalize the adoption - talk about pure craziness. We took another - life in jeopardy - taxi ride to the Jiangxi Provincial Building where we went to 3 different rooms: first room was to get a picture of Emma and I for some official document, 2. we went to pay out all the money - have never been so releaved to get rid of cash before, and 3. I had to go before some official for an interview of general questions such as my age, occupation, why I wanted to adopt, etc. Got through this no problem and then went into a big room where about at least 30 other families were there finalizing their adoptions as well. You need to understand something - everything is done in a hectic, get out of my way format here, so you need to practically run to get in front of someone - pure craziness. So from this office we took a short cab ride over to the notary's office where I once again was interviewed with basically the same questions, signed some paperwork, and then proceeded back to the hotel. This is where things REALLY GOT INTERESTING!!! As we were unpacking things to re-organize, we discovered that my passport was lost. Somehow from Helen passing the official document and my passport to Aunt Kim, Aunt Kim placing both in the plastic envelope and placing it in the backpack, to the cab ride back to the hotel the passport is gone. Needless to say, sheer panic set in as we tore everything apart - NO PASSPORT. Called Helen right away, she came up to the room and looked, started making calls, Mary her supervisor showed up - Mary called Susan, our ASIA rep in Guangzhou, and Aunt Kim and I - me especially - are freaking out - I can't leave the country without this thing. So, Helen and I walked to the local Police Station to get some document I need so I can fly to Guangzhou; Mary and Susan coordinated so we can leave for Guangzhou on Tuesday morning, for in Guangzhou is the U.S. Consulate that we need to go to immediately to file for an emergency passport so in turn we can get a visa so I can get out of this country. By the way, Emma is slowly warming up to us - to add more stress today I gave her her first bath, probably of her life, in which she cried most of the time. She did eat people food - even feeding herself with a spoon. We got her to drink a couple of bottles today - and we got some laughs out of her today. To say the least, Emma's day was better then ours. Can't wait to be on U.S. land!!! You'll find me in St. Clair for a while after this trip. Check in for tomorrow's adventures....