Wednesday, Dec. 18th

   The entire trip to China for all adoptive families is built around the important appointment that you must have with the US consular at the embassy before they issue your child's US visa (that obviously we must have to re-enter the United States!).  Our appointment was set for today.  Everything has been revolving around this big day -- the medical exam is required by the embassy, and the reports from the doctor must be given when we turn in the rest of our paperwork.  This basically is the last step..... a very important day----
 
   And, I woke up feeling horrible.  I was very weak, dizzy, and ached all over.  We made it to breakfast, but Emily's diaper leaked while she was sitting in my lap, and the 2 of us had to rush back to the room to change clothes.  She did not like it at all that we were breaking the routine, OR that we left Daddy in the restaurant, and it was I rather than Daddy who was carrying her back to the room.  She screamed so loudly all the way from the restaurant back to the elevator and then all the way back down our hallway that we were making very big enemies of people who were wanting to sleep in a little later.  The fact that I had to be moving extra quickly to change both her clothes and mine, and run back down to the lobby in order not to be late for the van taking us to the embassy did NOT help my weak-and-dizzy feeling at all.  In fact, when we finally got into the embassy and were waiting for our turn, I felt so bad that I almost lay down on the floor.  I was trying to stay away from people in case I had something that was contagious, so I avoided all the happy conversations of families who were all there "in the same boat"..... getting so very close to the end of the entire process!!!

  When we finally finished, we had to walk a block or so from the embassy to meet Miko and the driver.  I was having to work really hard just to keep one foot moving in front of the other.  As soon as we got back to the hotel, I went to bed.  I did take the time to email some people at home with a desperate plea to be praying for me!!!  I basically stayed in bed all day --- which honestly suited Emily just fine!  Ha!  My being "out of commission" further cemented her attachment to Dan and rejection of me.  For supper, I was too weak to walk anywhere, so we just went to the Cantonese place in the hotel.  Even though "the routine" would have called for Emily to be in my lap for the meal, I couldn't hold her.  That was OK by her, since Daddy had been her sole playmate for the day!!  You could just tell that she wasn't so sure if she could trust me or not!  Seeing that in her face definitely didn't help to cure my feeling rotten!!  But, there was nothing we could do about it then.

   Dan was very concerned that I had picked up some weird Chinese virus that would get worse before it got better, and that I wouldn't be well enough for the flight--- just 36 hours away at this point.  As soon as we ate, we went back to the room, and I went back to bed.  It was a great day to get past the consular's appointment milestone, but an awful day otherwise.  Thankfully, I know I have lots of people praying for me, and we've seen God answer lots of prayers throughout this whole process!!