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.

A little snapshot of Shamian Island...

Leeya's napping so here's my chance to post another update. I'm
located on Shamian Island which has a unique history here in
Guangzhou. Not that you can believe everything on Wikipedia but look
at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamian_Island for some background
information on the history of the island. The only downside of being
here at this time of year is it seems there is construction going on
everywhere on the island to restore the historical Western-style
buildings. Take a look at the photo out of my 17th floor window in the
White Swan Hotel and you can see many buildings surrounded by
scaffolding and green netting as they restore the exteriors of the
historic buildings. Many of the streets are torn up as well as they
rework the underground utilities. I walked by Starbucks today and
they're closed until 4:30 PM this afteroon because their power has
been cut until that time. At least I'm posting a picture of Leeya
outside of Starbucks on our stroll this morning. That Tall Mocha will
have to wait until this evening...

Nap time then off to apply for Leeya's Chinese passport

Yes, it's nap time and that's Leeya napping while I type
this blog entry. It's 12:45 PM on Wednesday Dec 2 China
time. We leave at 2:45 PM to head across town to apply for
Leeya's Chinese passport. She'll travel back to the US on
a US Immigrant Visa in her Chinese passport that will
instantly make her a US citizen when she sets foot on US
soil. The US Visa is the hardest and lengthiest part of
the process. We have a medical check-up and immunizations
on Friday and all our paperwork goes to the US Consulate
next Monday (Dec 7). Thanks for all your prayers as we
navigate through the process. Leeya is still a little bit
overwhelmed at everything when we're out in public as it's
her first time outside the walls of an orphanage. She does
like Starbucks however and that's a good thing! I'll see
if I can get a Starbucks picture posted later in the week.

For those of you complaining about winter weather...

Alright, I know many of you are already complaining about
the winter weather back in the US but I have to rub it
in...the weather is terrific here in Guangzhou. Low 70's
light breeze...actually a little cooler according to the
locals. It's usually in the low 80's even in December
since Guangzhou has a very tropical climate. Slowly
starting to see Leeya come out of her shell. Here's some
pictures from our stroll around Shamian Island today.

More paperwork & shopping at Walmart in Guangzhou

Well today was (you guessed it!) another day of paperwork
at the Guangdong Province Adoption Affairs office. This
was the day that I had to hand over our authenticated
Power of Attorney forms to the Chinese authorities so I
could act on Lauren's behalf in the adoption process.
These are additional forms that we did not have (nor were
required to have) when Lauren went home from Beijing on an
emergency flight in October. Leeya is taking her afternoon
nap as I type this. The attached photos are of Leeya
playing on the bed this morning before we left for the
Guangdong Province Adoption Affairs office, pictures of
Joyce our Holt guide/interpreter with our paperwork at the
adoption office, and Leeya outside of Carefour (a big
multistory Walmart store) in central Guangzhou for our
shopping trip for diapers and other necessities. Tomorrow
we apply for Leeya's Chinese passport and start the US
Visa process. Please pray for our required US Visa medical
check-up and immunizations on Friday morning (Thursday PM
US Time). I've heard from many families staying at the
White Swan Hotel that it is not a pleasant experience and
another questionable requirement of our own government.
Enough ranting I'm signing off for today. Thank you for
your prayers!

Leeya, welcome to the Haas family!

Yes, that's her in Kevin's arms! Kevin received Leeya this
afternoon at the Guangdong Province Adoption Affairs
office. She didn't want to have anything to do with Kevin
for about the first 2 hours which is typical for a child's
first journey outside the walls of an orphanage to all new
surroundings and people. Kevin and Leeya are now bonding
in the company of many other adoptive families at the
White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou. Pray for Leeya to bond to
Kevin and for the loads and loads of paperwork that
remains. Kevin will remain in Guangzhou until Leeya gets
her US Visa on December 9. They'll be joined by Marc &
Jennifer Skipper, good friends from Dayspring Fellowship
in Keizer, later in the week with their new daughter from
another province in China.

Kevin in China to bring home Leeya!

You can tell from this post how often we update this blog
site but now it's our lifeline to information from Kevin's
trip to China to bring Leeya home. Kevin will post updates
as he is able. Here are a couple of picutres from Kevin's
arrival in Hong Kong and the view from his hotel room in
Guangzhou. Kevin is scheduled to get Leeya on Monday,
November 30.