Hello everyone from Hong Kong International Airport. We bid a bittersweet goodbye to China this morning and are now awaiting our transfer flight to Chicago. We really enjoyed our stay in China, for the fascinating country and people; the amazing support and all around friendliness of our guides Anli and Li Feng; and the growing friendships with our travel companions, the Dunns and Smith Eubens. We hope to see them soon in the US and have a reunion of the Shaanxi Ladies. Anli told us today that Shaanxi adoptions are rare in her experience. We were just very lucky! Another thing we really enjoyed in Guangzhou in particular is being able to meet many, many other adopting families and comparing experiences and observations about our children.

Neil succumbed at the last minute in Guangzhou to The Bug. Us foreigners were dropping like flies into bed with various viruses. Neil virtually never gets sick, so when he does he really feels it. He was able to make it for the highlight of the day, the family trip to the US Consulate where Mia received her visa. Now when she lands on US soil she will automatically become a US citizen. It was a group ceremony, with about 50 other families. It was very moving for all the adults. Not sure what the babies made of it!! After the ceremony Neil went to bed and Kate and Mia successfully completed an intensive round of shopping. She's showing great shopping skills.

Mia has been stressed out and quite fussy for the last couple days, probably sensing that something big is going down. She is a very perceptive little girl. She has just squirmed her way through a meal of Taiwanese noodles --- very cute seeing her suck very long noodles into her baby mouth. She is a fearless eater of grown-up food.

We got free internet time for buying our noodles, and I think it's just about to expire. Our best to everyone and we'll see you soon with the new little citizen!
Kate