Tuesday US Consulate ceremony

What?  Is it really December 21?  Can't believe it's Christmas week already.  Sure is balmy here in Guangzhou, city of flowers, city of goats.  This morning I spent some time shopping on the island while the rest of the family walked in the park and watched the locals play games.

This afternoon we traveled to the US Consulate for the oath-taking ceremony.  This time we were allowed to bring our backpacks with snacks for the kids and cameras.  We had to leave the cameras behind at the security checkpoint, but did get one photo by the sign.  Nearly four years ago when we came to adopt Maimie, the rule was no belongings in the building.  While the ceremony was mostly anticlimatic, I did feel a bit emotional and proud about being an American and being able to give my daughter a life in America.

One more thing that I wanted to add was that Jia Wen has been singing a lot.  Today she was singing at the Consulate and Helen, our guide, recognized the song she was singing.  Helen said it was a song about liking her school and the sun shining and laboring hard for the good of her country.  It was really adorable hearing her sing it.  Later when Helen, Mikaela, Jia Wen, and I were shopping for a CD of chinese children's songs for Jia Wen, she started singing a song about pulling radishes.  Jia Wen was doing the hand motions and singing out loudly.  Apparently Jia Wen can also count a little in Chinese as well.