Today is Monday October 16th
and here is the link the
Newsweek Story,
entitled “Material Mommy”. Today was
a very busy day as many of the support staff
left this morning. However, I was able to
drop by the jewelry booth and purchase some
hoop earrings that have both white and
yellow gold wrapped hoops, this was a gift
to myself for being so diligent with my
workouts. This has been a really great
trip, but I am looking forward to going
home, even if only for 24 hours. On
Wednesday of this week we drive to
Nashville to fly out to
Oregon for our trip for the Holt
International 50th Anniversary.
Today is
October 17th and I am on my way
home from the DIB Market.
I am exhausted and it is just noon time. I
was able to find a copy of Newsweek Magazine
with my quote in it and I bought 2 copies
for saving.
I was sitting waiting for my flight and a
Mom was flying alone with her little boy.
She turned her back and he came over to me
and put his arms out for me to hold him, so
I picked him up and he put his head on my
shoulder and began to nod off. I knew when
she got off the phone and turned around she
would be startled so I immediately showed
her I was holding him. He continued to lean
on me and then finally he sat up and I tied
his shoes and played “give me five” and then
he got down and went with his Mom.
This reminded me of what it might be like
when “ladybug” is placed in my arms except
for she will have already left the arms of
at least 2 “Momma’s” and she won’t really
understand what is happening.
I just hope that I am able to comfort her as
I did this little boy today and create a
bond that will ultimately allow her to
develop and grow and be all that she can be.
Well in Cincinnati my flight was delayed due
to mechanical problems, so we waited around
an hour for a new plane. We made it home
about 1 ½ hours late, but it was sooooooo
good to be home.
Today is
October 18th and to say I am a
bit tired is an understatement.
I had a long day in the office trying to
wrap up all the issues I addressed at the
market. After work, we gathered all our
stuff and headed to Nashville. We picked up
a sandwich on the way and checked into our
hotel about 9 pm Nashville time. We have to
leave for the airport very early in the
morning our flight leaves at 6 am.
Today is October 19th
and we were both up bright and early this
morning as our flight left at 6 am.
We flew
on
Frontier Airlines,
and it was wonderful. We each had our own
television and could select what we wanted
to watch. I watched the Today show and Mel
watched a movie. Then from Denver to
Portland we both watched movies. We arrived
in Portland at around 10 am Portland time.
For us it was lunch time, so we had Chinese
food in the food court and it was pretty
good. We ventured out to get our rental car
and oh my word, I thought I might have a
stroke while waiting nearly an hour and we
were 2nd in line at the Hertz
counter. The good news we eventually got
our car a Toyota Camry and we hit the road.
We drove southwest with our
final destination being the coast. We
stopped at the
Evergreen Aviation
Museum in McMinnville Oregon and Mel got to
see the
"Spruce Goose". He
took a private tour and took a ton of
pictures. We then headed for the coast. We
arrived in
Lincoln City
in early evening, just before sunset. The
waves were crashing the shore and I was glad
we had not made reservations right on the
coast as it was a bit scary. It reminded me
of “old pirate” movies where the water is
really rough. Seeing Tsunami warning
signs for evacuation routes did not help.
It is funny here where we live, we have
signs for the nuclear evacuation routes and
we see them so much we almost don’t see
them. However, being on the coast of Oregon
and seeing those signs and seeing the waves
almost panicked me. There were places that
the water could shoot over the road as well.
We finally got to
Newport
and checked into
our hotel
that had shown fully booked on line, but the
stars were aligned and they had room for
us. It was on the water, but up on a cliff
overlooking the water and you had to walk
down about a hundred stairs and then the
water was about ¼ of a mile out. We could
see the
Yaquina Head Lighthouse,
built in 1893 and still active. The 93 foot
tower is Oregon’s tallest. We grabbed a
bite to eat at
Mo's in
Newport. It was so cool, very rustic and
besides us, mostly locals were there. It
was only about 8 pm local time, but we were
bushed, since for us it was really 11 pm in
Tennessee. What a fun day!
Today is
Friday, October 20th and we were
up very early to drive to Eugene to meet the
Holt staff.
We drove a
windy road thru the hills of Oregon to get
to Eugene. The sun came up while we were
driving and with the fall colors it was a
beautiful drive.
While we were driving we began to talk about
names for girls.
We both love Elizabeth Luanne, a.k.a Ellie
Lu, but if by chance we see her and don’t
feel the name matches her or if by some
unlikely chance we were to be referred twins
we thought would should have a backup.
Well just as I was saying how much I like
Edye, the road sign said “Welcome to
Eddyville”, was that a sign or what? We
like Edye Anne or Edye Louise or even Edye
Deanne.
We made it to the offices of or agency,
Holt International and it was so good to
meet everyone. While we were there a group
of visitors from China came in, it was funny
they were very up front about keeping us
away from them. They clearly only spoke
Chinese so it wasn’t as if we could have
really communicated with them and asked, “so
why is this process taking soooooooo long?”
We left the office and headed west to
the coast again, this time to
Florence.
We had lunch right on the water at
Driftwood Shores Resort
and the view was just beautiful. We walked
on the beach afterward and took a few
photos. This is where the fun starts. When
we began planning our trip to Oregon I
noticed they had what appeared to be a
national recreation area
or park which was right on the ocean. I
wasn’t sure what it would really be like,
but I thought a dune buggy tour would be
really nice. I will tell you now that I
didn’t know dunes would be any higher than
say 10 feet tall, maybe 20 feet. When I
think of dune buggy tour I was thinking like
a Sunday afternoon drive by the lake or
around neighborhoods to look at houses, not
like Nascar or anything fast or speedy.
We found
Sandland Tours
and they were loading up a group when we
arrived, they called it the “comfort tour”.
It was almost like a school bus with no roof
and big padded seats. Well I went inside
and they said they had another tour leaving
really soon and told us where to go. Well
when I saw others covering their heads and
then they handed out goggles, I knew I was
not going on the “comfort tour”. You just
can’t even begin to imagine what this dune
buggy ride was like. The driver looked as
if he had just escaped solitary confinement
for some horrendous crime; my first
impression was he was a “take no prisoners”
type of guy. He started the dune buggy
which sounded like a racecar and we headed
down a wooded path very slowly. This gave
me a chance to catch my breath, because as
soon as we cleared the trees he stepped on
the gas and we were doing like 80 mph.
Earlier I
said I thought dunes might be 20 feet tall,
well they were more like 500 feet tall and
if you just imagine the most scary roller
coaster you have ever been on, imagine not
knowing where you are going and speed that
burns your skin and for a full hour your
heart just pounding not knowing what was
around the next dune. At one point we were
on top of a dune and we went straight down
toward a lake and literally he stopped with
the tires on my side ride at the edge. Mel
really got a kick out of it since he knew I
had no idea how scary and exciting the ride
would be. Just as we were finishing up I
was thinking oh man I am going to live and
even considered that I might do it again.
We came to another opening on the trail and
our driver gave us his last revenge, I think
I even saw his horns coming out of his
helmet. Note: don’t eat lunch before a
dune buggy ride
J!
After the ride was over we went back into
the gift shop and the gal asked us how our
ride was, I said “I have a new name for the
driver…”hellcat”. She laughed and said
“that’s my husband.” We grabbed a coffee
for Mel and a hot chocolate for me and
headed back to Eugene.
We found our
hotel and we got checked in. We were tired
but wanted to experience Eugene nightlife,
since our trip was so short. We found this
restaurant, the
Electric Station
and dined in one of the rail cars. The
dinner was excellent and the atmosphere was
really nice.
Today is
October 21st and we are in
Eugene, Oregon and we are having one
fantastic mini vacation!
We were up
early this morning and had breakfast in the
garden restaurant and then found a seat for
our morning session. The panel included
adoptees from several countries, beginning
in the 50’s from Korea to the present day
from China. Each person spoke of their
story and you just can’t imagine hearing the
stories and all were different. Tears were
shed, many talked of visiting their “birth
country” and what that was like. As we
listened to the stories we could see how
much has changed over the last 50 years.
In the early days, children came to
America and they really never learned of
their birth country and weren’t encouraged
to embrace their culture or language,
currently children attend culture camps and
language classes and get the opportunity to
have it all.
During lunch we met up with a friend I had
met on line Robin. She and her husband
Randy are also adopting from China and are
using Holt as their agency. It was so nice
to meet them and visit.
The afternoon session was also very good and
then they had an open house for each country
where we got to meet some of the Holt staff
who work in China. We took a break after
all the sessions and went to Target where I
got Ladybug 2 books on Halloween.
We attended the gala celebration where there
was entertainment and awards and just a
beautiful evening honoring our agency that
has been at the forefront of adoption both
in facilitating adoptions as well as
programs and advocacy thru changes in laws,
in country programs and sponsorship.
We
had a very full day and our hearts are so
warmed by this experience. This wait has
been so much longer than we could have ever
imagined, but events like this energize us
and encourage us to focus on our daughter
and the day we will become a family.
Today is Sunday October 22nd and
we were up at the crack of dawn to drive
back to Portland.
The sun came up while we were driving and it
was an absolutely beautiful day. We had an
easy time getting checked in and our flights
were uneventful. We were very tired, but we
both agreed, these last 4 days have been fun
packed and just amazing…one of our best
trips. We know we will return to Oregon,
there is still so much more to see and
experience.
We made it home late tonight and the kitties
were so glad to see us and we were glad to
be home. There is no place like home!
Today is
Friday October 27th and referral
rumors have been floating around for days.
It is just so hard to follow them and not
get your hopes up or down. Right now the
rumors say the cutoff will be 23rd
or the 24th or the 28th.
There is also some talk of LID dates
adjusted or part days. If the cutoff is the
24th then that will only be 14
days and if that continues then we have 10
more months of waiting. Pretty much the
same for the 23rd, but they get
to the 28th, then that would be
19 days and if they could maintain that, our
referral would be in 7 months. That would
mean we would see Ladybug’s picture in May
2007…..if I really thought that were
possible then I would just be jumping for
joy and would not worry one more day.
However, nobody really knows, so for now we
can just guess. I personally think they may
actually do more days than anyone has
rumored…the optimist in me…maybe?
We
have our FCC waiting families meeting
tonight and it will be so good to gather
with others who are in “limbo” too. We will
discuss packing. I just can’t wait to begin
packing; at that point we will have a
picture and know approximately when we will
travel.
HAPPY SATURDAY, October 28th!
We have been going at such a pace it seems
for months that this morning we slept in…all
of us, the kitties too. We went to the open
house of our new local fire department and
it was really interesting learning about how
the fire department works and seeing the
building itself. It is less than a mile
from us, but we haven’t heard any sirens so
far.
The weather was just beautiful so Mel mowed
the yard for the last time, we hope. We
then settled in to watch
Tennessee
play South Carolina and whoopee, we won.
Can you say FALL BACK? Today is Sunday,
October 29th and last night we
fell back, which means we got an extra hour
of sleep…much needed I might add.
We made it to church but played hooky from
our Chinese language class, it was too
pretty. We drove over to Murphy to see the
colors and it was really nice. We visited
an Antique store where I got this nice fruit
print for the kitchen. We went to a local
candy store and got ice cream, then we drove
back home.
I am so far behind on my secret pal gifts as
in months behind…I worked for several hours
to get everything organized. The presents
had been purchased, just not organized and
sent. I feel badly that I got so behind,
but it will be like Christmas for the next
week few weeks for my secret pals.
Well it is Monday October 30th
and I checked “rumor queen” first thing and
no referrals.
Happy Halloween!
Today Jeannie and her girls came over. We
all went out “trick or treating” then we had
tacos. The girls were both dressed so cute.
They talked about “ladybug” and wanted to
know when she will arrive. They wanted to
know if she is born yet. They are excited
and both want to babysit her.
I remember last year at Halloween how we
talked about how much fun it will be trick
or treating with Ladybug…we couldn’t even
fathom not being home from China yet. I
just hope we are home by next Halloween, at
this rate we may not be.
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