Day 10 Together- US Consulate

This morning we had breakfast downstairs in the hotel cafe and then we headed to the lobby to meet up with the Keller and Goble families to be taken to the US Consulate.  We arrived around 9:30 a.m. for our 10 a.m. appointment.  After going through security (you cannot take in backpacks, any technological devices, or strollers), we sat in a room with some windows waiting for our appointment.   Meanwhile, a whole bunch more families who are with Holt showed up.  A very nice American woman who worked there came on the microphone shortly after 10 a.m. and gave a very nice speech and talked about how they do paperwork most of the week, but this is the part of the week they look forward to most- seeing all the beautiful children with their families.   She had us all raise our right hands and take an oath for our children to become US citizens. Once we hit the US soil, Lena will become an automatic citizen and she will get her Certificate of Citizenship in the mail within 1-2 months of us getting home.  After the message, we then waited for our family name to be called and headed to the counter, where a man took our paperwork and within just a few minutes gave us some directions and a few documents back and we were good to go!   We all headed back downstairs for a few pictures and then we headed back to the hotel.  After we got to the hotel, we headed out for some lunch.  Lena was very happy again this afternoon!  :)   We tried to stay dry under our umbrellas.   Some of the water we had to walk through was pretty deep.

 Three Lifeline families who had appointments today together at the US consulate.

Goble family- Illinois

Henningfeld family- Wisconsin

Keller family- Georgia

 Family picture after the consulate appointment.

Piper and Evan sharing Lena's ladybug umbrella after coming out of the US consulate.  Evan was such a gentleman. :)


We have had a lot of rain and wind today- we are officially a part of Typhoon Vicente.  Apparently Hong Kong got hit yesterday and it was the worst storm they have had in 30 years.  125 people were injured.  Glad we weren't there yet!   Tree limbs were down here, but that was the worst of it.   Unfortunately the rain didn't allow us to go to the Safari Park today (we were going to do that on our own) and it also cancelled our Pearl River boat cruise.  We will be going to the island to hang out and have dinner.  Lena took a long nap today.  Evan and Rick watched the Lion King while I caught up on the blog and email.   We may have another day of rain tomorrow...we shall see.  Tomorrow is our last day and we are supposed to go to the island and then after we get Lena's visa, a van will come in the early evening to take us to Hong Kong, where we will spend one night and then take off on Thursday morning (Wednesday night back home) headed for Chicago.  We will arrive in Chicago around 1 p.m.

 Lena did not enjoy our time in the park with the statues.