Houston, Texas - home of the only federal passport office in the area, as well as the Chinese Consulate

We got started on Thursday later than we wanted. What a shock! And immediately started remembering what all we forgot! We dropped the dogs off at Petropolitan. I think it is the Ritz Carlton of doggie day care places. A lot of people take their dogs there each day so they aren't alone! I can't imagine having that much money!

Sorry, back to my story.

Grace immediately fell asleep.

She sits with her legs crossed in the seat and bends at the waist with her head down and falls asleep. It makes my whole body hurt to thing about!

Ok, keep getting sidetracked. I am again going with very little sleep. I feel like I am jet lagged and only been 4 hours south! What will I do in China?

I've gotten into a bad cycle of not being able to sleep at night thinking of all I need to do, then not feeling like doing it the next day from lack of sleep!

Before we left Dad asked if I wanted to borrow his GPS. YES! I have driven to Houston so many times in the last 4 years and spend most of my time LOST! I can mapquest, google, and yahoo maps in Houston, I can ask directions, follow the signs, it just doesn't seem to matter. The GPS practically spit us out into the lobby when we got there! So much less stressful.

I had to tell Grace the story again about how her Aunt Jana put an open can of diet coke on the conveyor belt for the x ray machine. I wanted to ask the guards if they remembered her since we stopped the traffic for a long time for them to dry it out! Her excuse? They said to put everything on there!

Grace was concerned about why they would make you go through security. Then why the employees were behind glass. I thought it was for germ protection. The woman corrected me and explained it was bullet proof glass. Grace decided the process must make people pretty angry. Oh yes!

We were an hour and a half early for our appointment, but I had called their automated system for an earlier appointment and didn't think it would be a problem. I hoped we could get through and dash to the Visa office and get everything applied for on the same day.

The letter I received said I needed to prove our relationship. So I took the adoption certificate. Chinese documents are quite large and a lot of pages because there are usually pages of translations too. This woman wanted her birth certificate, which shows very little except her date of birth. The rest of the spaces are filled with the word "unknown". She decided to accept what I brought and told us to have a seat.

So for the next hour and 45 minutes we sat and waited. They finally called her name. Another person was looking at the documents. Asked a few questions, then told us to come back at 2:00 (it was 1:45!). We at least took a break to the car for a snack and drinks. We had breakfast on the road at 9:00 and it had been a long time since. No food or drinks are allowed, no video games, no cell phones. A little boy with his family waiting, took out a bottle of water. The guard was there immediately making them put it up. Then the man's phone rang and he answered it. Again the guard pounced on him. I obviously do not have a devious enough mind to know how either could pose a threat.

When the finally called our name, the man handed Grace her passport and said "Now you are a United States citizen". I shook my head and said no, she already was one. Now she has a passport. It seemed quite arrogant of him to bestow citizenship on my daughter who was lawfully a citizen on 10/2/04 when we landed in the US from China.

Grace is very proud of her passport. Hers is very colorful and full of images of historical events and places. Mine is just plain paper.

Back to the car, figured out how to program the GPS and headed to the Chinese Consulate. They quit taking visa applications at 3:00 and it was 2:40.

Re programmed the GPS and headed to the hotel.

That's another thing about Houston. The map looked like we could walk from downtown to the hotel and to the Chinese Consulate. They were MILES apart.

Grace is so funny about hotels. She LOVES them. I think starting your life as a family in a hotel room makes it difficult to adjust to home life where there isn't someone to make your bed, do the dishes, etc. I think she wishes we could live Zack and Cody's life from the Disney show.

She would have been satisfied sitting there, calling out for pizza, and nothing else!

But we were too close to the Galleria to skip shopping. Besides I had promised her a new swimsuit all summer and the much needed swimsuit coverup.

They actually charge you to park at the Galleria! Unless you go to the underground parking which is dark and has very few signs! I think I burned a gallon of gas just trying to manuever a parking place. Of course we were on the opposite end of the mall from Limited Too, but enjoyed looking as we went.

Mission accomplished and more! I got matching pajamas for the girls. I am not sure how big Anabel will be but guessed.

We looked everywhere for Grandmother and GiGi birthday presents. I completely forgot that it will be Anabel's birthday next Thursday. Not sure how we will handle it since everything in her life will be new seems redundant to buy something else. But maybe we will get her the MP3 player or Nintendo or something special to be for her birthday.

We were going to make a quick trip to Target and $100 later and 4 big bags, we were through :). I HATE Target! I can never leave with just the items on my list! Grace found comforters that she likes much better than what we bought, so now we need to take the others back.

While at Target we bought Tostitos and a can of bean dip. My poor baby had never had bean dip. I explained they are a student's dinner some nights.

We had a quick swim, ate some chips and bean dip and called it a night. Only I decided I HAD to go through all our paperwork again. I wonder if all adoptive parents obsess over these mounds of paperwork?

The next morning, thanks to the GPS, my new best friend, we found the Chinese Consulate without a single missed turn.

We were there before they opened. Only this time instead of everyone rushing in when the doors open, they now take you one at a time through a metal detector.

This was all a little, no a LOT odd. The guard looked like Libyan leader, Gaddafi and every single person set off the detector. He waved them through anyway! When it was our turn, he wanted proof of a hotel reservation. Our agency hasn't sent this yet and he shook his head NO. Then I started explaining it was for an adoption. He immediately smiled and waved us through.

At the information window, same thing, no hotel, no visa. I explained it was for an adoption. I had 2 bags with ALL our documents in them. I started going through files to find proof or our adoption. She took a few of the papers and agreed. Told us to be back at 2:30.

While waiting to ask a question there was a woman dropping off applications and picking up others. Don't know why I asked, but asked if she was doing it for adoptions. She said yes. It was the woman I have emailed for the last 2 weeks. She had never received them. I wonder where my emails are going? Spamworld?

Anyway, breakfast at Le Peep was a nice change from McDonalds. I believe that Grace must be related genetically to us after watching her work for 30 minutes in getting her pancake just right. My brother does the same or he used to. He has to have his food just right before he can start eating. She loves when she is told she is like someone else in the family. I had asked the manager for strawberry syrup as she likes it on her pancakes and eggs. GROSS! I hate eggs and then to smother them in red sugary stuff can turn my stomach in a minute. They didn't have any, so she went back to putting the butter just right on her pancake. In a minute, he came back with a bowl of "homemade" strawberry syrup, fresh strawberries, sugar, cooked down. That was SO nice.

Back to the hotel for a quick swim, packing, and check out.

Then back to the Chinese Consulate to get the final link to ensure we can go AND come home.

Yea! Everything was ready! We are on our way!

The man behind me was getting their visa to go for the Olympics. Their daughter is competing in the platform dive for the 3rd time! Wow! She only started when she was 15. Now at 30 going for the 3rd time.

The trip home was thankfully uneventful as Grace slept most of the way. I could have as well.

We picked up the dogs right as they closed. They had them in their own private suite with toys, steps to look out the window for some good barks, and choice of beds.

Thank you Lord for a safe trip!