Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Our Consulate appointment was scheduled for today at 10 a.m. Lineker and Amy went to the Consulate on our behalf and submited Avah's immigrant visa application, Chinese passport, and related paperwork (completed during the "paper party") to the staff in the Adopted Children Immigrant Visa Unit. The staff there will confirm that all documents are complete and accurate before passing them to a U.S. consular officer for final approval.
After breakfast we (well, at least one of the parents had to) needed to stay in our room from 10 a.m. until Lineker and Amy came back from the Consulate office. Amy called at around 11:30 a.m. and said we could come by their room to pick up paperwork. We received Avah's adoption certificate (burgundy cover), her vaccination record (green book) and her chest x-ray in a mailing tube. Other families received their chest x-rays "flat" and were told that they needed to give this to immigration once they landed in the states. There were some families that received phone calls from the consulate that morning notifying them that their I-171H forms did not reflect that they were approved for a special needs child so those families needed to wait until evening (morning in the states) to contact the USCIS office and have them contact the consulate in Guangzhou to notify them that they were indeed approved to adopt a special needs child.
When I picked up the paperwork we were told to have our packed bags outside our doors tomorrow at 2 p.m. and to meet in the lobby at 3 p.m. We will leave Guangzhou tomorrow. I find this bittersweet. Yes, I want to come home and get in a routine with Avah but I LOVE being in the country where my two precious angels were born. I feel a tug at my heart…it's hard to explain.
The rest of the afternoon was free. After dinner, mommy was craving a chocolate milkshake so we went to the lobby and ordered one. It was the biggest milkshake we had ever had and it was delicious!!!
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