Short post tonight. We leave the hotel at 7:50 AM for our appointment at the US consulate.

We went back to the hospital for a few minutes. They looked at the children’s arms where the TB shot was administered and said it looked good.

Another eventful day in our journey. After breakfast Jenn thought it was time to try the pool. Since we didn’t know what kind of reaction Penelope would have I got in the pool and Jennifer took pictures. She loved sitting on the edge of the pool, splashing her chubby hands on the side and watching the water rise up to meet her. I stood in front of her, wading in chest high water, praying the chlorine content was high enough to kill any protozoans floating around.

Our first full day in Guangzhou. The hotel is an island of adoptive parents surrounded by locals, serving us Western food and Starbucks. We are aliens whisking away children to a new life, where we are natives and they are aliens.

This morning we enjoyed our last breakfast in our first home with Penelope, the Crown in Zhengzhou. We packed our things tighter into the available space in our baggage. We had our picture taken with the other families on the swirled marble steps and waited in the lobby, facing the invisible wall of homesickness. The Chinese say a red thread binds our families. Our respective governments bind us with red tape.

What a day. What. A. Day.

At breakfast we learned one of the other children in our group (Ru) was ill and was going to the hospital. She is 15 months and a 1/2 the size of Penelope. We were worried about her and wished for the best for the family.