Get Ready, America…

Because the newest little US citizen is about to come home!

We chose to take pictures before heading out to the consulate this morning because tiny P is happier in our room, and we knew that NOTHING was going to be allowed through the consulate security. Our guide snapped a quick photo of us in front of the building before taking our phone with him, since he is not allowed to come into the consulate with us.

The adoption is complete, our girl is officially ours in the eyes of China and the US, but this last step…this step that allows her to come into the United States as a citizen… this makes me so proud of our country and our government.

When you first walk up to the consulate, the crowds are overwhelming. The line is SO long, and wraps around and around the sidewalk and building… hundreds, maybe even thousands are waiting, waiting for their chance to come to America. When we first walked up little M said “this line is huge! We will never get in!” Then, we walked to our line, the one that says US Citizens, the line with only four other families.

We are shown right in, go through security, and take the elevator up to our room, a room designated only for adoptions. This part of the process is always so bittersweet for me. I always think of the crowds of people waiting outside with hope, and I look at my daughter… she has hope now; she is no longer an orphan, she is a daughter, and she is an American (as soon as our plane lands in the USA). My son has hope and my little M has hope.
My little one walked into the consulate a Chinese citizen and she walked out as an American.

She walked out with a hope and a future, and has been given a chance that I will never, ever take for granted… but at the same time, she is about to lose her homeland, she has lost her country. She is about to leave everything she knows, and my heart aches for the changes she has had and still will have.

Today, I am so happy for all that my little girl will gain, and the hope and future she now has, but I am also already sad for everything she is leaving behind.

Tomorrow is our last day in China… I always love going home, but I also love this country, my babies’ birth country, and a little piece of my heart stays in China every time we come.