Waiting for consulate clearance

Monday morning (Nov. 3) at least one of us had to be in our room between 9:30 and 11:30 just in case the US Consulate had any questions. Issues at this point can cause major problems as this is the step to get a Visa for our children to enter the US to become citizens. After all the times in this adoption process that we wanted so desperately for our phone to ring (waiting for referral, pre-approval, referral acceptance, travel approval, consulate appointment, airline ticket review, etc.) this was one time Ian and I DID NOT want to hear the phone. (The past few months have been eventful enough, we didn't really want to spend a few more days/weeks in China with TWO two year olds trying to figure out Caleb's immigration. Not that we would have come to China without Kylie, but I'm ready to get home and start our lives as a family of four in NC!).

Our temporary "quarantine" started out good enough, Kylie and Caleb sat and chatted over a snack of Chinese "puffs." I wish that I had turned on the video instead of taking the picture because their conversation with one speaking English and the other speaking Mandarin was hilarious!
But of course all good things must come to an end. Before long little "Mr. Hungry" had cleaned out his bowl and Kylie's was still full, and I'm sure you can imagine where the story went from there...
When you are cooped up with two quarreling kids in a small hotel room, the best plan is to visit with friends! Darby and Henry went down for early naps, but my kids were going strong, so we called Anna Claire's family and Kylie went down to play with them for a little while. While she was gone, Ian worked and I introduced Caleb to bubbles. At first he wasn't too sure what to make of them, but before long he was letting his bubbly personality show. I'm hoping that this video will publish because if you need a smile, he'll help put one on your face. I'm telling you, it's hard to want to resist his giggles!

After his laughter began to disturb Ian (we couldn't let a good opportunity for him to get in a few hours of working on his project pass by), Caleb and I wandered down the hall to check on Kylie, but also to visit with little Eli. He was pretty impressed with the bubbles, but perhaps Caleb was a bit more excited...
Little tiny Kate thought they were pretty cool too!
Finally at 11:35 the phone rang and it was Rosa letting us know that we were all clear! I think each family breathed a sigh of relief and then most of us decided to head to McDonald's across the street for a soda "with ice" and hot french fries to celebrate. Kylie cracked me up as she checked out Ronald McDonald while Ian ordered our lunch.