Would you like some vaccinations with your tall latte?

When you sit down for dinner with your family on Thursday night around
6:00 PM Pacific time, please be praying for Leeya and myself. That
will be the same time we'll be heading to the Shamian Island medical
clinic for Leeya's vaccinations which will be 10:00 AM Friday China
time. We went over her medical records today and she is scheduled to
receive 5 vaccinations only recently required by the US Government due
to the Hague Convention for International Adoption and our own US
Immigration Rules. Don't even get me started on this. All Amercian
families that are adopting here in China are outraged and you should
be too. Regardless how you feel concerning some questionable
vaccinations you don't stick a needle in a child 5 times in 1
appointment just to meet US Immigration Rules. Some children have had
to have 7 vaccinations in 1 setting and then, surprise, have a
negative reaction which delays their return to the US. This needs to
be brought to the attention of the US Congress. Call your Senator or
Representative and ask him or her why we are requiring these
vaccinations overseas when parents could sign a waiver for minor
dependants stating they will get the vaccinations in due time after
returning to the US. Oh wait a minute, the US Government doesn't
consider us guardians of our adopted children until we set foot on US
soil with them so we can't sign a waiver. This is ridiculous and needs
to be changed before more children and their parents suffer while
waiting to come home with their new sons and daughters. Ok, I'm off my
soapbox now. As you can see from the pictures, Starbucks reopened this
afternoon after their power was restored so Leeya and I decided to
head over there for a nice tall dark cherry mocha and a hot turkey
sandwich. Oh, and the White Swan Hotel is all decked out in Christmas
lights for the Americans who stay there. They do a nice job and I'll
have some more pictures from inside the hotel later in the week.
Having said that you should know that Christmas is not that big a
deal in China and you don't have to use too much of your imagination
to figure out why.