So, our trip is pretty much booked. We are leaving next Wednesday.
Hey, some time in the near future, we are going to be moving the blog. Hyperlinking is difficult, along with links, embedded video, etc. It will have to wait. Too much to do!
A new picture of Serawit was e-mailed to me today.
PIGTAILS!!!!
Good news: Have a much better idea what will be happening when we leave
Not as good news: Visa appointment is not confirmed yet, but they hope they will be soon.
:)
I’m entering in a contest! I have to post a video and link back to where it came from and I can win this really cool T-Shirt (that might or might not fit me - hee hee):
My new friend Stacie and her husband are going to Ethiopia to bring home their baby girl. Big brother Micah is so excited (they brought him home 3 years ago). They are selling these t-shirts to help fund their trip. Since we can’t post imbedded youtube videos (we really need to find different blogging software or get on blogspot) take a look at their blog. I also have a link to it to the left of this post. If you enter to win, good luck!
Hopefully I’ll have some really good news to post soon. Have a great day!
Anyone who knows me knows that I really, really dislike Wal Mart. I dislike their corporate model, I dislike their business practices, I dislike their stores, I can go on. Anyone who knows Adam will substitute the word “hate” for “dislike.” We have a Wal Mart less than a mile from our house and we will pass that Wal Mart to go to K-Mart. Frankly, we would rather spend a little more and go to Target - we LOVE Target. Not sure why because it also has the big box concept. Maybe the color red appeals to us, I don’t know. Still, if we have to go to a Wal Mart, we will pass ours up and go to one in another city. That’s how much we like the Wal Mart right by us.
Now that I established our utter dislike for Wal Mart to those who didn’t already know… now I have a confession to make…are you sitting?… We decided to buy a swing set from Wal Mart ONLINE and placed the order a week and a half ago. See, when you are getting down to the wire, and realizing the time of year that our kids are coming home, do the adoption experts really expect us to spend our bonding time indoors? While Adam is usually the one who meticulously researches products, I decided to take the reins on this and find the perfect swing set for the right price, which I did, except that it was at the dreaded Wal Mart. We’re proud, but not too proud, so the order was made. I was kind of impressed with the “ship to store” feature where we don’t pay for shipping. Some of my cold feelings towards Wal Mart could be thawing a little, maybe. Yea right.
Well, I was so meticulous in finding the right swing set that I forgot to figure out how it was going to be installed. Adam went back to work tonight for 14 days straight (10 hour days). By the time he finishes that, we are leaving. Uh oh. Lucky for us, I have an uncle who is good at such things, and he happened to be between jobs. He just did a lot of work on my sister’s new house in the city, and did a fantastic job. I called him last Monday and e-mailed him the information from Wal Mart’s website. I had noted that the reader comments said it was a fantastic swing set, but it was a lot of work to install. Last Friday he called to confirm we were still doing this, and that thankfully, he will be called back to work in a couple of weeks. Just one problem. Swing set was supposed to be in last Thursday. So, I did some checking and found out that the swing set was to come in 3 boxes, but that 1 of the boxes was missing/lost/broken (depending on which e-mail I got - there were many), and they were going to credit me for the one box. Why not all three? So, I e-mail Wal Mart customer service and all they would tell me to do was to cancel the order and re-order it. However, they would give me 15% off the price if I order ship to store, or they would waive the shipping if I have it shipped to home. Ok, Adam is working midnights, it will probably come in during the day while he’s sleeping, can’t afford to take off any more from work… Oh yea, and we are leaving in a little more than 2 weeks. Further, my uncle got called back to work. I actually gave Wal Mart a sob story hoping they would rush the shipping a bit? No luck, but since I placed the re-order tonight, that remains to be seen.
Being it was the best swing set I could find for the price, I re-ordered it. I also posted my frustration on Facebook, and was quite humbled at all the comments I got and offers of help - thanks, guys. One way or another, our kids are going to get a swing set. I still really dislike Wal Mart.
On another note, I’ve finally gone through all the clothes I bought the last few weeks at yard sales, and have washed them and put them away. I think we did really well. I’m still going to buy them some new clothes, but I don’t think we have to buy as much as we thought we would. Aman is going to be styling at the swimming pool. He’s got maybe 6 pairs of swimming trunks from Polo, Gymboree, Gap, etc. A few pairs of shorts I saw at yard sales that I thought were cute were actually swimming trunks!
We got some more new pictures a week ago. Check them out on our website.
Wednesday is our travel meeting, and hopefully we’ll find out then that our Visa date is confirmed, so we can go ahead and finalizing booking the trip. Since I’m taking a half day off, I might hit more yard sales that morning.
One of us will update again after our meeting on Wednesday.
Today’s episode of “Fresh Air” on St. Louis Public Radio (KWMU) had an informative article regarding international adoption.
The interview is with writer John Seabrook. He and his wife have adopted a child from Haiti after the earthquake, but a lot of the information and insight that he share relates to ALL international adoption.
If you have time, give it a listen.
Besides the subtle inferences against international adoption, this is a great article.
After Adam gets off work tomorrow morning, he’s taking up the photo albums and the “one toy each” we got them up to the agency to be shipped out on Friday. The kids should get them next week. Thank you for the suggestions. We got him a matchbox car with it’s own case. You open the case and it’s a ramp and road, etc. For her we got a doll with some outfits and accessories inside a little purse. I had gotten the advice from someone who was over there to get something that they can put away in a case. I read the travel guide and we can write a letter to the kids, so we wrote them both a letter saying we can’t wait to meet them and bring them home, and some other stuff that will make you cry if I share, and stuck that in the photo albums.
Today, I called a parochial school and they are sending us information. Yesterday we called the public school district and they are sending us information. If first impressions mean anything, we are leaning towards public schools depending on how well the kids do adjusting and bonding this summer.
Adam called a couple of travel agents and was a little shocked at the rates. They were about where I thought they would be. I think our dream of flying first class is shot. 
About the boosters, with our luck we won’t get to switching them out,
so it’s best we each have a set - and I checked and we can get just the plain boosters. They don’t cost much, and I have
friends who have offered theirs.
Speaking of which, some of you have told me you have stuff that will
help. While we really, really appreciate any help we get, or items we
can get, please don’t be offended or take it personally if Adam or I forget you told us. We
are good to remember what each of us did an hour ago. We’re both in
information-overload right now - getting the travel information from the agency today didn’t help with that. Yowsers!
Thank you for your patience (and support and prayers).
Aack - now I guess we really have to prepare.
Started off early on Saturday at Sam’s Club. Adam wants a flat screen TV mounted on the wall. No, we don’t plan on sticking them in front of the TV 24/7. Once in a while, it’s not a bad thing. Also looked at the really expensive swing set that we aren’t getting because it’s really expensive (saw one at Toy’s R Us on-line that’s on sale). Swung over (no pun intended) to the kids’ books and bought some for donations, and some that we can take with us for the kids, and one for home. Then went to Best Buy to look at TVs there, and left the place with a camcorder.
I then drug Adam to Le Target (but by the time we left it was hardly dragging). We bought 2 booster seats for the car, and are planning to go back when they restock to buy two more for my mom and dad’s car. His mom and dad already have booster seats. Just now hit me that we probably need 2 more seats for the truck. They are the simple kind that were only $17. If they were still toddlers, I would probably get something fancier, but didn’t think it was necessary at their age.
Also bought a bunch of melamine plates and bowls. Took some of the gift cards for donations and bought a bunch of new blue jeans in various sizes for the transition home. Going through the kids’ clothes, hubby was oohing and awing over some of them, so even though we decided to get all hand-me-downs for the kids to start with, we did get him a shirt and her a dress - both picked out by Adam! Very cute.
Oh and then we went over to the toys… Before I had to drag Adam away from the toys almost empty handed, he picked up most of them and said that we had to have them. The mission of this particular visit was to find a toy for each of them that we could send over before we go over, and ended up leaving empty handed. There were all kinds of ideas for our daughter, but finding something for our son was difficult. Can’t be too big, can’t be too bulky, can’t have batteries…
Suggestions?