Today was our consulate appointment which means it was an early morning for us. The appointment was painless. Since it's in the US consulate, they won't allow you take phones or cameras inside. So there is no recording or pics of the brief oath ceremony. They started with the group oath and then moved to checking individual paperwork. We were the first family to get there and thus first in line, so we were in and out. After lunch we ran into a couple that adopted two children on this trip. They are an amazing couple from Idaho with 7 biological children. As we got to talking with them, we found out that their little guy was from Shanghai, which is where we just got Sam from. The boys did not know each other unfortunately. The coolest part however was that their little girl was from Lanzhou, which is where Claire is from. I was telling them about Claire's condition when we got her and how Leslie and a couple of other mom's had raised enough static to get that horrible orphanage director fired. They were telling us that their guide was explaining that the orphanage had gone through major changes a year or so ago, which paved the way for their daughter to get the care she needed from foster parents. They were aware of Love Without Borders being in the orphanage and helping them establish schooling, training, fostering etc...another result of the old director being fired. Then they put it together that Leslie was directly responsible for the current well being of their daughter and the mom gave Grace a hug and asked her to pass it on to Leslie as a token of their thanks. We exchanged names and e-mails and took family pictures together. It was an exciting and emotional experience. Leslie and I always talk about how Claire's 4 years of hell were not in vain as she helped pave the way for change in that orphanage which affected 800 kids at the time and countless more as time passes.Today, God gave us the chance to meet living proof of the successful change that Claire's little life helped bring to fruition. I only wish Leslie could have been here to share the experience. I was able to Skype with her before she went to bed to relay the story to her. Hopefully, there will be future opportunities to visit with this incredible family and track the progress of their little ones.
