Today I am giving Amy another break from the blog duties. We had a pretty uneventful day today and are just waiting for our appointment with the U.S. Consulate for Hope to be sworn in as a U.S. citizen.

We all slept in this morning after being up late last night letting Hope play with her new friend, Sabria. Of course, we then hit the breakfast buffet for the 13th staright day. I tell you, the breakfast buffet in this hotel is pretty darn good. Hannah and I have eaten so much fried food and junk here I'm afraid I might have to buy an extra seat for the plane ride home. After breakfast we had to wait in our rooms from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. while our two facilitators (Grace and Cordelia) took our visa application packet to the U.S. consulate. They had us wait in our rooms just in case there were any questions from the Consulate. So, we used the waiting time to all take naps (except Hannah - she is the energizer bunny). We then got the call from our facilitators that all of our paperwork was in good order which should make tomorrow's appointment a mere formality (YES!!!). 

In the early afternoon we had the "red couch" pictures taken. This is where all of the families in our travel group get their kids dressed up in chinese garb and put them on the red couches in the lobby so all of the parents can take pictures. Hope had just gotten up form her nap and was in no mood for this intially. Amy sat her down and she started to cry which set off a chain reaction amongst some of the other kids. One baby even hurled herself off the couch headfirst onto a pillow on the floor. Most of the kids then calmed down and we were all able to get some good pics. I then took Hannah down to the pool to swim (hoping that maybe she would wear herself out and want to sleep early tonight - it didn't work because she is wide awake watching her DVD player right now).  

We then had one last dinner as a group. We ate at a Thai restaurant that was really good. All of the kids were awesome the whole time and the adults were able to enjoy some good food and drinks and just talk about the whole experience we are having.

Tomorrow is our last day here and we are very excited to get home. This is just the start of our journey as we now enter the next phase of our life with Hope. We are so excited to watch her meet and start the bonding process with Joseph, Caroline and Charlie. We can't wait to wake up in our house saturday morning and watch these 5 munchkins interact!!! Pray for Hope and her brothers and sisters that the transition period will be smooth. We have been calling home and putting Hope on the phone with the kids and she screams their names into the phone - they get the biggest kick out of it!! Hope knows only one volume - LOUD - she'll fit right in!!!!

Hope all is well with everyone and we'll see you all very soon!!!!

Darrin, Amy, Hannah and Hope