Monday we went to the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees and the Chen family temple. The Temple of the Six Banyan Trees was quite impressive and currently is home to the Guangzhou Buddhist Association. There is a huge pagoda which appears to be 9 stories high but it actually has 17 stories inside. Shannon, Gavin, Aiden and I were all privileged to receive a blessing from one of the monks. It was really fascinating to hear him humming and to have our boys receive a blessing. After visiting the temple, we moved on to the Chen family temple which was absolutely exquisite. The detail in the building architecture was absolutely unbelievable and I think it was by far the prettiest place we’ve been to. Our bus then made a quick stop at Carrefour which is like a Chinese Wal-mart and fortunately this store was much cleaner and less crowded than the one we visited in Beijing.
For dinner, our guide arranged a group dinner with five Great Wall China Adoption families at a local Cantonese restaurant. One of the other families actually is from Brandon and lives probably only five miles from me. What a small world! Several of the food items were actually very good even though we witnessed some sort of “fowl” dish go by the table served with head and all.
Today was our appointment with the American Consulate for the oath-taking ceremony. We went with several other families to our appointments where we were all called up to the window one family at a time. We first had to sign the necessary paperwork and then the entire room of adoptive parents was asked to stand to take the oath. That is officially the last bit of paperwork - finally!!! Tomorrow I will get Aiden’s passport with visa in the afternoon which will allow him to become a United States citizen the minute he is on land in Chicago on Thursday. Tomorrow is what is known as the “Red Couch” photo. All of the children will be photographed dressed in their beautiful silk outfits seated on one of the red couches in our hotel. This is a tradition for all adoptive families staying at the White Swan before our final departure. We’ll probably then do some last minute shopping and then our final packing! We will be home soon…so very soon!!!
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