PET MARKET, PAPERWORK IS DONE!!!

(Blogger is still giving my problems with photos -- added to that my keyboard died on the desktop, life took over, and now I'm back on the laptop and have once again downloaded and treated the photos... but Blogger is being poopy!! soon... I promise the latest photos soon!!!! ~~Cynthia)

We have had a long and busy day. This morning after breakfast we ventured out to see the Qing Ping Market here in Guangzhou. This is where the streets are lined with local vendors selling herbs, fruit, vegetables, turtles,meat, kittens, puppies, rabbits, birds, cat food, dog food, pet supplies, aquarium must haves, etc.... You need it, they have it. I even saw one shop exclusively for jackets and sweaters for your designer dog.

We are glad we went to this market and vowed to be vegetarians for life...or at least for the day. NO, they are not selling the Cocker Spaniels, Poodles, Pekinese, nor Shih Tzhus, and cats for food. They are sold as pets. There are shops with leashes and dog beds right beside these pets. I saw a chocolate cocker spaniel I would have brought home in a second if I could sneak it past customs.

Our US Consulate appointment was this afternoon. This is the oath ceremony that each adoptive family takes as a group in order to finalize the adoption, obtain your child's visa, and be able to leave China! It all went smoothly despite a room full of screaming children and very loud adults who could not use their manners and quiet voices. Aiden clapped when it was declared he could leave China and enter the United States of America. And I clapped as well....the nightmare of paperwork is over!!!

Tomorrow we are going to take a taxi into town and hit Beijing Road. This is where there are more department stores as well as some of the stores we have been waiting to shop at. Meanwhile, here nearby our hotel, a local artist is doing drawings of Kate, Grace, and Aiden. When we went in to pay the shopkeeper, we were able to peek at the beginnings of his work on Grace and Kate from the borrowed photograph I gave him. It was a perfect likeness and will be a lifetime gift of their childhood faces for a splinter of the cost an American artist would charge. Oh, and ready in 24 hours...wow!

Tonight Aiden had his first real meltdown. I know. I know....how could the perfect two-year-old possibly have a fit at this point? Well, of course it was Baba's fault. Aiden found his Cheerios in his backpack and wanted to eat them. Gasp!!! Baba and I both said "No Cheerios", since we had just finished dinner... Meltdown!!! Drop to the ground, sobbing, screaming, meltdown. Nothing would console or quiet Aiden. We were lowered to being the worst possible parents on this sweet earth by taking his cheerios away. But in our defense, there had been no nap taken today by this toddler. Who schedules consulate appointments at naptime???? So, we let the meltdown take a life of it's own and resolve itself. We are experienced parents, right? LOL.... Now, Aiden is asleep as is his Baba (the one who actually took the Cheerios away). Of course, always seeking my "Mother of the Year" award, I will personally hand him the cheerios container in the morning!

Goodnight all......special prayers that my dogs will be found (they have escaped the dog pen) and very, very special prayers for our nephew's new baby who is not doing well despite the attempts of the surgeons to address his special needs at his birth.

Counting the hours until we are home,
amy