final night

it's almost 10p here. amy just got back from the massage place. you'll have to ask her what she thought of it. joy is sleeping fitfully, like usual. i used to think that meant sleeping well but really it means having little fits throughout the sleeping. for now she's out cold. i hope she stays that way. but if not, maybe she'll sleep better on the plane tomorrow night? but if she doesn't sleep well on the plane then maybe she'll sleep better in LA and make the shift over to USA time more quickly?

check flickr for more interesting pictures from today's activities. we crossed the river into the meat market before lunch. maybe that's why i wasn't really hungry? and i've posted a couple videos from today on the journey to joy - files site, both from the meat market. hope you like 'em.

i'm looking forward to waking up to our last day here. it's been great being here. i suppose it won't be too long after getting home that i'll really miss being here but right now i just want to be home and get on with real life. even if i don't really feel like i know what real life is. i'll probably post one more time before we leave. and i hope to post a little once we hit LA. i imagine after being stuck on the plane for 12 hours with a child stuck to me will allow me to come up with at least one or two things to say.

did i tell you that joy likes to dance? she loves it. i was playing music tonight on the laptop trying to calm her down a bit so she could sleep. she passed out after guzzling a bottle but woke up 20 minutes later, as she is want to do. i think when she woke up and couldn't find amy it kinda freaked her out. she did better tonight than last night, she wouldn't calm down at all for amy. but i think she has decided we are her parents and we come in a set. so, anyway, she was passing out and still dancing in her sleep. she loves music. even if i'm singing Jesus loves me she dances. and she loves seeing bright lights outside. and she loves seeing rain. and loves waterfalls and fountains. she loves babies. she loves mirrors and the red numbers on the elevators. she loves pictures on the computer and pictures of her brother in the little toddler chewable frame we have for her. she just loves life. certainly is fun to be around.

we got to swear at the american consulate today. really underwhelming. we all moved into this large area that is the waiting room. i guess it's novel that we're in the new building where everyone else is used to the old one here on the island. so it was about a 20 minute drive from the island, a new building, lots of unfinished office space. they won't allow cameras in. we sat in new wooden chairs with families from other agencies. many of the people we had met on the flight from LA to guangzhou some 2 weeks ago, or in changsha at the hotel or provincial office. there were about 50 or so families and all their kids, etc. after checking all our IDs and verifying we were who we said we were a lady gathered us all together and, speaking into a microphone, said a couple words of congratulations for having come this far and then had us all raise our right hands - joy didn't comply. the lady had us repeat after her that we swear that everything we said on our paperwork was true and honest. and that was it. they gave us all visas for our daughters to enter the country. once they touch US soil they officially become citizens. after well over a year and many bureaucratic hoops jumped through, that was it. no more official govt. appointments for quite some time.

and that's all for tonight, too. hope the posts and the recounting of the journey haven't been underwhelming as well.

much love.