Sleepless in Seattle!

What a fun name for a post, I love that movie! Actually, I’m not really in Seattle yet and when I get there I doubt I’ll be sleepless although anything is possible. I will, however, be in Seattle when this is posted. So far this has been an interesting journey...kind of like this entire adoption. We took off from Atlanta at 7:30am, you are correct if you are wondering if we had to leave our house at an ungodly hour, 4:30am to be precise. And who, you might wonder, would be willing to get up at 3:45am to be at our house at 4:15am to drive us to the airport so we could pop all over the country and not leave the US? Kam and Jason…of course. Turn about is fair play you know, and we did take them to the airport 20 months ago when they went to pick up Joel, of course I’m pretty sure we left around 9:00am so it might be a tiny bit different. Nevertheless we are eternally grateful.

So after getting all checked in at the Atlanta airport and waiting on pins and needles to see if we would get on our flight, it was up in the air since we are flying non-revenue, which means stand-by, which means last of the last, which means we have another set of super wonderful friends who work for Delta and floated us passes to fly much cheaper to get our little man. We got on that first flight and off to MN no worries, the plane had wide open space, but really how many people fly to MN? Not many at 7:30am from Atlanta on Memorial Day for sure. This ease of travel gave us false confidence and we felt sure the next flight to Seattle would be a breeze, having had bunches of available seats last night. At 10:30am our wide open flight that was to take off at 11:45am suddenly became oversold and we were bumped…no not bumped…yes bumped!!! Our next option was to wait for the next three flights to Seattle and see if we could get on. Getting to Tokyo today was bumped when we were bumped, and the only thing to do is shoot for tomorrow’s flight, which has many open seats! Max (our super cool pilot friend and little Max’s namesake) quickly switched us to fly to Portland, as that flight had open seats, and we will then drive the 144 miles north to Seattle, claim our luggage, spend the night and head out for Tokyo then on to Bangkok tomorrow…which is Tuesday. We will now land in Bangkok at 10:45am Eastern time on Wed which is 11:45pm Wed. night in Bangkok. We will rise early the next morning and go meet our boy.

As I am typing this my mom is working on a car to rent, Max is making sure our plane tickets were moved with no trouble, Morgan is caring for the kids at home and Veldon is asleep. While it doesn’t take a village to raise a child, it seems to take a village to adopt a one!

We are flying over the most beautiful clouds I’ve ever seen. Allison would be dying, she’s obsessed with the sky as she will tell you many, many times! Clouds, amazingly, look the same when they are below you as they do above. Today the clouds are all connected and rather flat, they look like the ground the day after a big snow storm when the sun comes out and everything is quiet and bright and beautiful. I can feel the snow crunching under my feet as I look out the window. Allison will love the flight to Costa Rica in July, she will love flying on the other side of the sky and looking down on the clouds. I wish all the kids could be here with us right now, but to be honest they would be miserable with all the delays and running around and waiting. So, although it's hard, I’m very grateful they are tucked away safe and sound at home surrounded by a church family who loves them and who is feeding them meals while I can’t. I miss them terribly already, but we are all in this adoption together and we all knew it would be difficult at times, this is one of those times.

So here's the big climax of the day I mean really, who travels to Bangkok from Georgia and rents a car along the way? Us of course!!! Thank goodness cars were available or we would be Sleepless in Portland...and that just doesn't have the same ring!!

I'm hoping there are no huge mistakes on this post, my brain is exhausted. Hopefully the next post will include pictures of a little brown boy!!!

2 days...

The count down continues, but as is the story with most things in our lives it seems there might be some changes. We are flying on buddy passes to Thailand, thanks Max and Karen, and the flights are filling up. Sometimes buddy passes aren't the best way to fly but when you are spending thousands of dollars and you can save 1/2ish it's worth the risk. So we are praying that we get on our flights. I think we might be leaving a day earlier, Sunday evening, flying to Seattle and flying out of there the next afternoon....provided we get on the plane. It seems that getting out of the US is the most difficult part of the equation. I hate leaving our kids a day, well really just an evening, earlier, but it is still ealier. God has this whole thing in His hands and I don't have to worry about it, but I do! It is rather funny that I was just telling Veldon today that my excitement is now overriding my anxiety, not anymore! HA Oh well, we have several days to work to get there, and we will arrive in Bangkok eventually. We may be tired and stinky but we'll get there!

Today we bought all the nanny and social worker gifts. It feels rather odd to be buying a gift for a woman who has slowed down our adoption, and the adoptions of friends of ours, to a snail's pace...yet we will do the right thing and take her a nice pack of scented soaps. With my brain and luck I'll forget them all...Veldon would kill me! He didn't really have fun buying all the pretty soaps and he left them in the garage so they wouldn't "stink up the house". He also mentioned double and triple bagging them so our suitcases don't stink. I'm pretty sure the manufacturers of these lovely soaps would be greatly offended to hear my man refer to their stink! Oh well, he is a man after all and sees no need for fancy smelling anything!

I'm sure there are a thousand things I need to get together, but right now it feels like things are under control. We have all day tomorrow to finish taking care of the house and packing. We have Sunday to go to church and possibly head to Seattle. It will be really nice to look back and remember this trip, walking through it will be rather interesting I do believe.

4 days...

Four days until we leave for Thailand. School is finished, meeting are finished, thank you cards are seriously delayed! The details of the trip are coming together and although I am nervous, I am so, so excited too. Our social worker is so precious to remind us that this will be really tough and Max will struggle. Of course he will, we pray for him daily but ultimately we know that God has this worked out and although Max may not feel good about this in the beginning he will eventually know this is the best thing for him.

We are struggling with nanny gifts right now. I keep thinking I'll know the perfect gift when I see it. So far I haven't seen it, I hope I do soon because we are running out of time.

Max's suitcase is basically packed and our stuff is coming together. All our paperwork is together and ready to go.

There's not much else to say. We are ready to go but hate leaving the other three behind.

10 Days and Counting!

We are so close to travel I can't believe it! Every logical part of my being (which is a small amount of my being to be sure) said this day would never come. My heart on the other hand, although broken and bleeding, could never give up. Our hotel reservations have been made, our airline tickets are in the process of being taken care of thanks to little Max's namesake! Buddy passes aren't always the easiest way to fly but so much cheaper, we are grateful! Suitcases for Veldon and me (matching of course because that's the way I roll!) have been purchased, really big suitcases that I wonder if I'll be able to even fill with the few clothes I have. Max has his own little suitcase and a Buzz Lightyear backpack, clothes, shoes, toys, and snacks. Medicine for everyone is ready to go. Passports are out, credit card company still needs to be called and told we are going to Thailand, can't forget that, and the new super cool camera bag/tote has arrived!! School is done for all of us and now I can think of more and more things I need to get together for we leave.

My mind isn't sure where to land right now. I'm so excited to be finally bringing him home. I wonder how he will respond to us, I wonder about the time we will spend in Thailand, I wonder about the plane trip home. I worry about the kids being here without us. I wonder if we will walk this road again, I wonder if Max will feel more lonely or less than he did before we came. I wonder if I will be exhausted for the rest of my life, I wonder if he will pick up English quickly or will struggle. I could continue this for days. Those thoughts are just the tip of the iceberg!

I feel a sense of concern from some of our dearest friends. They've watched us wait and hurt with us and I can feel that some of them are holding their breath until we board that plane. To be honest there's a bit of that for me too. We are not prone to having things go smoothly for us, so another delay or bump would not be unexpected, yet it would be. My mind believes we are going, there's no logical reason for anything to happen, yet I still catch my breath sometimes and wonder "what if?". I trust God, His plans and His ways are perfect. So I can't dwell on the what if, but I do appreciate that some are sensitive enough to be ready with the net if we start to fall!

So 10 days remaining until we will be leaving on a jet plane, 13 days until we meet our son and at the most 14 days until he is with us always! We leave for Bangkok 2 years and 1 day after our dossier was mailed to Bangkok. We never thought for a minute it would be 2 years later. This, as everyone knows, has been difficult. But as is true with every difficult thing God has brought us through, and there have not been few, I wouldn't change it. I wouldn't change what God has taught me, although at times I felt abandoned and alone, I wouldn't change how my children have patiently waited for something unknown but desperately wanted. I wouldn't change that God has brought into our lives other, wonderful adoptive families we would not have met and walked with had this gone more quickly. I would not change the extraordinary people we now know in the orphanage in Thailand who are there caring for the children, some for the sake of Christ and others being used by Christ for His purposes. Had we seen the road ahead of us I think I might have turned around, but I thank God that He typically hides the road and reveals it one brick at a time. Actually, I'm not sure I would have turned around, I'm too stubborn to be that easily scared off. I likely would have headed into the adoption hoping and thinking that it would be different, it wouldn't take as long as predicted, it wouldn't be as difficult as everyone says it will be. Either way, although my heart aches that Max has been tucked away in an orphanage longer, much longer than necessary, I know that this was all in His plan and for His glory and I can't resent that or truly wish it different!

Hold on little man mommy and daddy are days away!!!!!