Tuesday

Ivy is a mess.  I don't know how anyone can get dirty after being on Shamien Island all day long, but Ivy finds a way.  Today, like yesterday, she had dirt and mud all over her pants.  She also ends up with food down the front of her shirt by dinner time.  Today she had yogurt all down her shirt by afternoon, and I did not see it until much later.  Lots of stain remover for her.  She is just like Jack in that regard.

 

Many places have these orange trees for CNY decorations.

Ivy having her doll color some pictures.

Today, we went for our oath ceremony at the US Consulate.  I signed that visa application that I mailed to my agency when we received our LOA back in November.  After all the families had done that, we raised our right hand and swore that all the information was correct to the best of our knowledge.  The Consulate Officer speaking was the same lady whom I had been emailing back in December who pushed my papers through after my immigration officer held them on her desk for 3 weeks.  I personally got to thank her for taking such good care of me.  It was after 4:00 pm by then, and my guide, Daniel, seemed quite nervous that we would not be able to catch a cab back to the hotel.  So, I quietly prayed all the way down 5 flights of escalators (which Ivy enjoyed thoroughly, and I enjoyed feeling that little hand in mine holding tightly).  By the time we made it to the sidewalk, Daniel hailed cab and we were back at the hotel in no time.  I thank the Lord for those little things as well as the big ones.

Sweet Grace will be going home to Florida soon.  She's a stinker and keeps her mom hopping.

We picked up Ivy's chop and headed to dinner at my favorite place, the Shanghai-style restaurant.  I ordered rice, dumplings, and Chinese cabbage with mushrooms.  When the cabbage came out, Ivy just curled up her lip and shook her head no.  I ordered it for me, and did not think she'd eat it.  But, she ate everything else.  Then played around at the exercise park.  We used every piece of equipment 4 times back and forth.  She giggled and carried on like she had so much pent-up energy.  I was exhausted and was glad when she was ready to go back to the room.  We hop-scotch skipped all the way to the hotel.

We had about 5 minutes of tears on the way to the Consulate.  I am really thinking the sight of our guide upsets her.  I know he has to remind her of February 1st, the day we met.

Ivy likes twisting her hair and pulling it back with many, many hair clips.  Sigh...I prefer one.

One more thing...I wanted to thank Margo and Shelley for their blogs/websites.  They were so beneficial to Ivy.  I showed her pictures of her friends, now Rebecca and Grace.  She saw Grace with her family and playing in the snow.  She watched Rebecca (by video on her blog) bake cookies and open Christmas presents.  It really made Ivy feel much better about a family.  She giggled about the girls and just talked up a storm about them in Chinese.  She used their Chinese names.  The next day, she was drawing pictures of her friends.  Thanks for sharing those things.  She was able to see their happiness after leaving the orphanage.

Sorry about the lack of pictures, but it was an uneventful day.  One more day left!  Please pray once again for our safe travels, and that the Chinese New Year will not make getting out of Guangzhou very difficult.