April 14--plotting the escape
What a great day--it's raining, but our bags are packed.
The hallmark of an adoption is waiting punctuated by intense flurries of activity--you rush to complete the home study and the dossier, send it in and then wait for the LOI. Then you quickly get visas and book plane tickets and the days drag until you can leave. You see the kids in the orphanage and then wait for court, wait for passports, wait for visas, then wait some more. The worst bit of waiting that we've had to do is the post-adoption wait. It is far worse than the pre-adoption waiting for one reason: We've gotten what we came for, and there's absolutely nothing we can do to speed up the process. The kids have gone from an environment that was intensly structured to one that is impossible to structure--hanging out in a hotel room with none of the comforts or resources of home. What they really want to do is get to Colorado and start their new life. We've started to transition to "normal" with our new family, but that only goes so far when everything about your environment is transitory. Basically, we've worked really hard to stay busy any possible way that we can, taking walks, working on English, going to malls and doing a little bit of sightseeing. Our coordinator and interpreter have been helpful, but it turns out that it is really hard work to stay busy when you in fact are killing time.
The good news if that we have all the documents we need and a departure date that we are actually going to be able to keep. Jack and Julia's plane tickets got kind of messed up and we've been working for 4 days to get them corrected. It's tough to get problems resolved when your travel agent and airport agent don't see eye to eye and are on opposite sides of the globe. It's 12 hours apart and somebody is always off work or sleeping!! We think they're OK now, but it's come to this.....we're leaving, even if we have to buy two tickets and sort out the carnage when we get home. We'll overnight in London and continue our trip to Denver on Saturday. A night on a real bed in London will be a nice break between 10+ hour plane flights. If the hotel has 1" foam matresses on top of a sheet of plywood, we all may just break down and cry.
The Hotel in Almaty had these unique devices of torture and sleep depravation, and everyone is feeling a bit bruised. It really made us appreciate our beds in Taraz.
We'll update again when everyone is home.
The hallmark of an adoption is waiting punctuated by intense flurries of activity--you rush to complete the home study and the dossier, send it in and then wait for the LOI. Then you quickly get visas and book plane tickets and the days drag until you can leave. You see the kids in the orphanage and then wait for court, wait for passports, wait for visas, then wait some more. The worst bit of waiting that we've had to do is the post-adoption wait. It is far worse than the pre-adoption waiting for one reason: We've gotten what we came for, and there's absolutely nothing we can do to speed up the process. The kids have gone from an environment that was intensly structured to one that is impossible to structure--hanging out in a hotel room with none of the comforts or resources of home. What they really want to do is get to Colorado and start their new life. We've started to transition to "normal" with our new family, but that only goes so far when everything about your environment is transitory. Basically, we've worked really hard to stay busy any possible way that we can, taking walks, working on English, going to malls and doing a little bit of sightseeing. Our coordinator and interpreter have been helpful, but it turns out that it is really hard work to stay busy when you in fact are killing time.
The good news if that we have all the documents we need and a departure date that we are actually going to be able to keep. Jack and Julia's plane tickets got kind of messed up and we've been working for 4 days to get them corrected. It's tough to get problems resolved when your travel agent and airport agent don't see eye to eye and are on opposite sides of the globe. It's 12 hours apart and somebody is always off work or sleeping!! We think they're OK now, but it's come to this.....we're leaving, even if we have to buy two tickets and sort out the carnage when we get home. We'll overnight in London and continue our trip to Denver on Saturday. A night on a real bed in London will be a nice break between 10+ hour plane flights. If the hotel has 1" foam matresses on top of a sheet of plywood, we all may just break down and cry.
The Hotel in Almaty had these unique devices of torture and sleep depravation, and everyone is feeling a bit bruised. It really made us appreciate our beds in Taraz.
We'll update again when everyone is home.
posted by The Petersons at 7:59 PM
2 Comments:
Hi it's Gretchens friend Kelly, in Indiana. I was in China for 14 days, I can't imagine being gone as long as you have been. I remember landing in Chicago and seeing a huge sign at immigration that said "Welcome to the United States" and I just started sobbing. I told the guy at the airport that I could kiss the ground of the airport!!! Have a safe journey home, I have loved reading all about your wonderful story.
Kelly & Harper Harris
It's been exciting sharing this experience with you. I'm looking forward to reading the message..."We're home!" (I'm sure not as much as you're looking forward to writing it!) Hopefully, by the time you actually see this you should have had a good night's sleep in your own nice comfy bed and had a delicious cup of tea!
Barbie
Parsippany OC
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