From Charleston to China: The Clark Family's Adoption Journey

When we woke up we took a leisurely time eating breakfast for our last buffet and I took some time to take videos of it. :) I got my last glass of black soybean milk. Then we explored the garden a little including the two waterfalls. They had steps to it that we didn’t take and some precarious looking overlooks that were wisely under construction. I did take probably what was not an official path to get Bailor as close as possible to where the water was falling so he could feel the spray though. What’s life without a few off the path adventures :-) We had arranged to have van transportation to Hong Kong. Our options were that or train and the benefit of this was not going to have to go through customs at the train station. It was totally worth it. It was about a 2hour drive. We saw lots of China’s countryside and learned as many tricks as possible for keeping Bailor occupied. There were some concerns where the car was stalling a little, but it seemed to be able to continue on and the d...

For our last day it was consulate day where we would do all the paperwork at the US consulate so we could get Bailor’s visa to leave the country. We didn’t get any pictures as we had to surrender our phones and the outside was also equally secure, but it was set up pretty well. We waited to do the various steps with other adopting families and they had toys and everything for the kids to play with. Bailor was most interested in a slightly deflated red balloon and running under the counters that were just slightly taller than he was and acting like he was hiding or knocking on the wall like he was seeing if anyone was home. (This would come in handy for Halloween Trick or Treating. ) They seemed to be experts in this only requiring one parent at a time to do paperwork so the other could watch their child. It wasn’t an excessive amount of time before we had our sealed envelope we would need to provide at US customs in order to get Bailor into the US.  After the consulate appoint...

The next day we didn’t have any morning activities as our Lifeline guide was finalizing all the paperwork and our only activity was that evening. We started with a more leisurely breakfast at the hotel. We grabbed some extra crackers per usual. Right outside the buffet was the water garden and waterfall area of the hotel. I showed Bailor how if he threw part of his crackers in the water the fish would swarm to eat it. His face was full of wonder as he watched this occur. This will come into play later. :-). We found an orchid garden that was nearby and took a cab to check it out. It was a beautiful place with paths crisscrossing water features and all sorts of vegetation. It was hard to believe we were just off one of the busy streets in the very metropolitan Guangzhou. We wound our way past the gazebo, docks, rock sculptures and orchid gardens where there were decibel meters reading at pretty low and peaceful levels. It was a great getaway as it was th...