On to Shuyang!

The trip to Shuyang (not Suzhou) proved an awesome experience. We traveled from Nanjing to Mr. Sweetness and Light's home town in a van on the freeway.

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The freeway system has toll booths on each end. You get a ticket when you enter and pay when you get off.












We traversed both branches of the Yangtze River and another river whose name I don't recall. I have pictures of the Yangtze but you'd be hard put to pick out the river. Air quality had been pretty bad all week but took a nose-dive. Winter landscape plus polluted skies turned almost everything gray. I'm not sure whether all of the landscape would have been gray without the pollution or not, or whether it was the time of year.

Trees lined the freeway on both sides, with occasional clear areas. Past the trees,  fields and rice paddies (?) covered the landscape and connected with each other via narrow bike routes. 

Groups of houses clustered close by. Most of the houses were identical save for a different decoration on the roof top here and there--for three and a half hours worth of driving. Most rooftops had a double dragon design on the roof line--the variant being a pointy maybe lotus design. These houses were only two stories--in contrast to the forests of high rise buildings everywhere in the cities. There were a few sheep in one field. Other than that, there were no animals of any kind. Off ramps were only occasional and only two rest stops exist between the two cities.

Shuyang had been described as a small, country town. By Chinese standards, that is probably a good description. For an American city, it would be fairly large, I think. There were high rise buildings springing up all over. Some areas were new and affluent while others were clearly older. Dust from construction coated everything.







Our trip had to be carefully coordinated because of the stir it could cause and because inter-country adoption is something people there are unfamiliar with and wouldn't understand. We visited the small, cheery and brightly-colored orphanage first. We met the ladies who had cared for Mr. Sweetness and Light all his life and the driver who took him to school. They obviously all care for him very much!


We then were to go to lunch with the orphanage director and Mr. Sweetness and Light's teacher and principle--only it turned out that the officials from the local Civil Affairs Office also had been invited. Lunch was more than lunch--it was a very big affair with countless dishes ordered, toasts to and from all concerned. A special room had been reserved at an upscale restaurant perhaps as much for privacy as for the number of people invited. As we waited for the room to be ready, a crowd began to gather to check us out. They reconvened after we finished lunch and were waiting for the van to pick us up. We went briefly to Mr. Sweetness and Light's school so he could have a picture of it and then went to his finding place for pictures there. 

Not soon enough

My heart breaks tonight. Even in the best of circumstances, adoption doesn't always happen soon enough. I read somewhere several months ago only 20 percent of the children who need families actually make it into a family. Terrible odds. With all that we have in this world, it is tempting to think thing surely must be better now. And for many of the world's children, perhaps conditions in orphanages and foster care is better than it used to be. Even that isn't enough. Why do American parents adopt internationally when children need homes here?

You may find the answer here:

http://crazylifeofthewilksfamily.blogspot.com/2014/02/today-orphan-died-in-china.html?spref=fb

Sleepless Mama calls out to the universe

Recently, I have dwelled on the children I was not able to bring home. Over this past weekend, I checked on the other young men I had been considering when I started the process to adopt my son over a year and a half ago; Four boys still wait. One ages out next month. I don't want that young man's future to be one of marginalization and that feeling will not let me sleep. I cannot believe no one will scoop him up and give him all that he needs in life! Can you make room for one more child in your life? He's healthy, does all right in school, is an athlete, plays well with the other children and has a big heart. Act now. Contact me for more details and contact an adoption agency. He doesn't have time to wait.

This article appeared on one of the boards I subscribe to. It was the first thing I read this morning. Do you think it was chance that it fell into my hands to read on a night when my heart burns so much to find a young man a family that I cannot sleep? It is a long article. My heart broke all over again.

http://aeon.co/magazine/world-views/whats-it-like-to-be-disabled-in-china/

Greetings from Nanjing!

Getting to China turned out to be quite the adventure! But, what trip with me isn't? :) I spent the evening before travel taking the dog to the babysitter, changing money, and getting final accommodations set up. I had had apartments booked for Nanjing and Guangzhou, but still needed to get Hong Kong taken care of prior to departure. Once I'd finished with that, I arranged for my ride to the airport. Did you know the 24-hour shuttle services don't have anyone to pick up the phone at 2:30 in the morning? I didn't. After several calls to these shuttle services, I called a cab.  The cab to the airport came early--while I was still packing. I tossed as much as I could into the suitcase I was taking. Good so far! Sped to PDX and arrived with plenty of time for check-in, breakfast, and everything.

The  flight from Vancouver, BC to Hong Kong arrived an hour late--considering all of the weather delays across the US that was probably very good; However, it also meant less time between transfers in Hong Kong. Not good. The  arrival gate was in the old part of the airport, an area I wasn't familiar with. After waiting for some 20 minutes for the only passenger ahead of me to get help at the ticket counter I'd been told to go to, I was  sent to another counter. Here, I learned I  needed to go to a different part of the airport for onward tickets after picking up luggage and going through customs with a pretty vague description of where I needed to go for this: 'outside' (the building?!) and to area 'K.' AND I'd better hurry because the ticket counter would close at 8 p.m. No maps anywhere.  I raced in the direction I'd been pointed--through hallways, down escalators, and finally to the baggage claim hall. Cavern.  No reader boards to tell travelers which carousel to go to--you must go up to each carousel for that information. Many, many carousels. I finally located the right one. And waited. And waited. No luggage. Well, at least, not my luggage. I  ran through the  hall to baggage claims. Slow doesn't even begin to describe the pace of the folks behind the counter. I finally got to the right person who told me my baggage had been taken off the carousel and placed alongside it on the ground--opposite from where I'd been looking for it to shoot out from the bowels of the airport!  Back I slogged, located the  luggage, sped through customs, screeching through immigration. And, down more escalators, through another hall, up an escalator to area 'K' just in the nick of time for my baggage to get on the plane  (they had me sign a waiver that it was all right if the luggage came on the next flight). Hong Kong Air rocks. They personally took me through expedited searching in the employee area, and guided me to the gate! The plane was spacious and comfortable and the food was great too.

My guide met me at the airport and saw me to my accommodations. Great, warm, wonderful man who went above and beyond. His work is his passion, no question. Will always think of him fondly.

I rented an apartment at  No. 9 Changjiang Place,  in the heart of downtown--a really good location: walking distance to the upscale BHG shopping mall (pretty much like malls in America), across the street from local shopping and dinning areas, down the street from the Civil Affairs Office where I  met Mr. Sweetness and Light, the Presidential Palace, the Brocade Museum, the Art Museum, a huge library (which I thought was maybe an auditorium), and probably a number of other things that I'm either forgetting or haven't seen yet. The ground floor of the building has a bank facing the main street. The entry for the apartments at the back of the building opens on a little avenue on the edge of  some neighborhoods. Two keys: one for the elevator and one for the unit. Only my key doesn't work in the middle elevator. No one knows why, it just doesn't.

The night I  arrived, there was only one unit left and the clerk felt I should have a choice. He was supposed to come up in the morning with an elevator key and show me some other units. When he didn't arrive and didn't arrive, I started downstairs--fifteen flights of them--to the lobby only to learn I needed to go back up to the sixth floor office. Fortunately, I didn't have to walk back up all those flights. Turns out they just gave me  another room. I was perfectly happy with the one I  had but they insisted. And they don't speak English so I can't argue too much. The old unit had a shower and a walk-in closet. The view from the window through the buildings sported a towering pagoda or temple in the distance.

The new unit is light, ultra modernish, has carpeting upstairs, a soak tub but no shower. No light in the downstairs bathroom but there's a window in the door so it really doesn't need it. No view of the pagoda/temple building. I had a time getting heat in the second unit the first night but got that quickly straightened out. Heat in the apartments is activated by remote control. Nice. But you have to know where to point the controller. Some minor problems with the toilet upstairs but got it taken care of right away. We never got the hang of extracting hot water out of the tub and believe me, we tried. It's not obvious and it's tricky.   I had a rather cool shower. Not sure how Mr. Sweetness and Light's was since he worked things himself.

The building directly behind ours has a coffee shop, Costa Coffee.  Nice little bistro with cute holiday decorations and  sporting huge photos of different iconic world sites. Down the lane, is what I assume to be either a preschool or a daycare.

Traffic

Chaotic by our standards. Sidewalks are wider than ours would ever think of being. There's a reason for this: foot traffic,  as well as bike/cart/pedicab/scooter traffic take up the sidewalk at times and even parking for said vehicles. No honking signs dot each intersection, ignored.

The street is set up for cars in the middle with separated side lanes for other vehicles. You have to watch all directions because traffic will come at you from everywhere even when it's not supposed to. Pedestrians are at the bottom of the food chain and crossing is very much like playing Frogger.

Air Quality

Just as you've heard, horrible compared to home. Clear skies the entire time but with a heavy haze. You'll notice it even in the close up pictures. Grime on everything from the air. People wearing masks everywhere. Reminds me of the photos taken of people during the SARS epidemic. My masks didn't make it into my baggage. I wish for one but neglect to ask about them. By the end of the week, air quality became oppressive. Despite this, people went on about their lives, walking their dogs (lots and lots of dogs), exercising, setting sausage out to dry, hanging laundry out, selling oranges, nuts, slippers.

Food 

How I love Chinese food!  What I found wasn't all that different from the dishes I'm accustomed to--lots of items we don't have as well. I watched a young lady making these guys in one of the grocery stores. Really admire her talent!









Down the street is a two-story fast food Chinese restaurant with a cafeteria style buffet. You point to the items and get charged by the dish, kind of like dim sum. Really good and super cheap. We ate several meals there. While we were eating, a young man approached us and spoke with Mr. Sweetness and Light.  He explained that he had recognized us from our visit to Sun Yatsen's mausoleum. He asked Mr. Sweetness and Light who I was and my son replied, "She's my Hero." Wow! My heart swells so full thinking of that!

The 85 Coffee Shop was really nice too. Pastries, some familiar, others not. One of the ones I liked best had shredded dried pork on top and was kind of sweet and salty at the same time. The photo at left is from the Gansu Bakery near 85 Coffee Shop. I bought my young man's birthday cake here--a work of art! A really cool drink Mr.Sweetness and Light ordered for me had what seemed like marshmallows in it but were some kind of chocolate, yummy!

At the end of our time in Nanjing, we ate at a little place not far from the Confucius Temple. They had frogs and fish in tanks for the patrons to choose from. Mr. Sweetness and Light was transfixed!

Tours!!

We toured  the Ming Tomb, Sun Yatsen's mausoleum, the Nanjing city wall, the President's Palace and the Confucius Temple.





The Ming Tomb is a gorgeous park where people stroll up the stone-paved and tree-lined avenue to enjoy the quiet and the beautiful carved elephants, camels, and other animals in the middle. There are vast grassy areas where people practice tai chi and picnic next to ponds and streams.









Sun Yatsen's Mausoleum: stairs and stairs, more stairs. Mr.Sweetness and Light initially was the only one who wanted to climb to the top. I assured him, if he went, I would go. Up we went. Huffing and puffing.

The view on a clear day must be amazing because it was great on a smoggy day! Mr.Sweetness and Light scared our guide and me a little after we got down from the monument: he propelled himself head long down the walkway with his crutch--so fast we feared he would stumble or not be able to stop on the uneven stones. He even scared himself a bit with that! He is amazing!






The city wall here is better preserved than the Great Wall and miraculously survived the turbulence of the past century pretty much intact. Other city walls faced destruction because they were viewed as relics of imperialism.

The Nanjing city wall  snakes around hills and along the river. The bricks fit together smoothly and precisely. Each brick has an inscription of where it was made and who made it. Quality control in ancient times!

The part we viewed has several arches strung together with parts where soldiers could billet and others where gates could drop down to trap the enemy. For a couple yaun, visitors had the chance to test their skill with bow and arrows. Fun!















The Presidential Palace has a tremendous history. It has served as offices for Sun Yatsen, a meeting place, a temple, a garden. Very important to the history of modern China.

I found myself comparing the garden to the one we have locally at home. Because of the tours taken of our garden, I was able to recognize design elements and know their meaning. I also found some new ones to ponder. Mr. Sweetness and Light had me take his picture in several historical places. Good memories for him.

One area we didn't visit was the Memorial of the Nanjing Massacre. It is a very important part of local history; However, it pulls no punches, meaning it is fairly graphic. It is also called the Rape of Nanjing. The horrors committed against the Chinese by the Japanese in  1937 remains fresh in the minds of the province's people. I won't go into it more. I'll let you do a search on it, if you wish. Mr.  Sweetness and Light needed reassurance no one would hurt him when we had a layover in Japan on the way home. It was the only way we could get home without going through Canada (he would have needed a visa from that government even to transit between planes) or a six-hour layover in Qatar (Single American woman in the Mideast? Probably not a good idea.).

On a Lighter Note

We also got to see some glitzy areas with upscale shopping malls and buildings sporting giant television screens several stories tall.




















We've seen some of the more real urban Nanjing where people hang their laundry outside their windows to dry, merchants sell nuts, slippers, oranges and just about everything else on the street, and sausages and ducks swing freely in the air waiting for someone to purchase them.

 While China may not celebrate Christmas, people sure decorate for it! Santas, Christmas trees, ballerinas and garlands adorned buildings, walkways, and arches.  We shopped to Christmas carols amid holiday decorations in an upscale shopping center. The grocery store there had a huge display of  Fererro chocolate balls shaped                                              like a Christmas tree and adorned with lights.

We celebrated Mr. Sweetness and Light's birthday with a lovely cake ordered from a bakery down the street. The cakes, candy, and pastries there and in the mall grocery store all come highly decorated. What artwork! The bakery only had birthday hats in purple and lavender--not to our young man's liking. I had our guide explain to him that he did not have to wear the hat if he didn't want to (he didn't). We also had lunch at a nice restaurant in the neighborhood here. There were some familiar and favorite dishes as well as some new ones to try. Mr. Sweetness and Light really liked the kung pao chicken. Our guide explained to us that kung pao chicken is often called kung pao peanuts because they are cheaper here than the chicken so the dish is mostly nuts!

The bus driver, the bank, "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," and nailbiting

The holidays are stressful for a lot of people. Usually, my family goes to grandma's house for Christmas Eve dinner and gifting, then proceeds to mid-night mass at our church, the kids fall into bed once we go home....and I stay up the rest of the night attempting to wrap all the presents before daylight--or the kids wake up, whichever comes first. I can hear you thinking, "Wrap them when you get them!" "Why are you doing this?" "Don't get that many presents!" "Do it ahead of time!" Well, there aren't that many presents. And I've had the other thoughts myself. So far, they haven't translated into action. This usually is a little stressful but not overly so.

Well, going into the holidays with a

Immanuel Needs a Miracle

When I started this journey three years ago, I called this my faith adoption thinking I would name the little girl I would adopt something that meant faith. Boy, was I wrong. Pun intended. This has been an adoption testing my faith at every turn. Folks who've been on this journey with me  know the long hours I have put in to raise funds via work, selling Tupperware, making crafts to sell at bazaars, and my fundraising efforts through organizations such as Reece's Rainbow, Go Fund Me, and Bonfire funds. People have graciously donated to both of the first two funds for which I am forever grateful. I've applied for foundation grants and was very, very grateful to receive one grant which will cover a third of the mandatory orphanage donation fee.

Immanuel needs a miracle now.  Funding fell through for my plane tickets--there's a long story there of what happened and didn't happen while I was dealing with a crisis due to actions of a bus driver at my kids' school. Airplane tickets now are $2700 and above, and rising.  I have to get to China by December 28th. There's no budge room, not even a little. I have to get Immanuel on December 30th or he loses his chance for a family forever. This weekend, when I should be making final preparations, cleaning house, and finishing up stuff from work,  I am now in crisis for this child. I am his last hope. I cannot, will not, let him down.

Donations to either Reece's Rainbow or Go Fund Me are needed now. Word needs to be spread beyond the base of folks following the journey here and on FB. Make Immanuel's dream of a family come true this Christmas.

Ginger on a Mission

So incredibly grateful for this support! You have got to go check out their designs! So beautiful! Thank you thank you thank you!

 

Ginger on a Mission is feeling lead to help a specific family racing against time and would like to donate 75% of our sales to the Terry Tomaszewski family as they need to get their aging out boy by January 1st! This is a desperate situation as in Immanuel's country, he will lose his chance to be adopted on that date!

Please consider donating or purchasing from our site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GINGERONAMISSION and specify the Tomaszewski family. Read their story here: http://reecesrainbow.org/67597/sponsortomaszewski

 

 

Little bits of this and that

We received article 5 approval this week. Travel has been pushed back to December 26th with a potential consular appointment on December 30th, the last day we can possibly go. It is both a relief that the date has been pushed back and a worry since there won't be any budget room. Fundraising from all sources has jumped to nearly $2,000 for which we are extremely grateful and thankful. I'll get to work a regular work schedule for the next two weeks--weather permitting.

Got to wondering about slacks, socks, shoes, and gloves/mittens for our boy. Are there companies which make apparel for children who have limb and digital differences?

Hope you all rest easy this night in peace and comfort, and may that peace and comfort be extended to those without.

Calling all superheros!

You don't need a cape, the ability to leap tall buildings, or a special automobile. This t-shirt will make you a hero and empower you to give Immanuel a family,  enable him to walk, and inspire others to become superheros too! This shirt will only be available for a short time so hurry and get yours today! Quality short, long, and hoodie styles available. More information at the link below. For every shirt purchased, $15 will be donated to Immanuel's adoption. We must order 50 shirts for Bonfire to print them up and make a donation. Oh, and for every 10 shirts on an order, they will give you one free!

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/find_a_fund?s=Immanuel





Closing out Go Fund Me fundraiser

Hello everyone! Just a quick note that I will be closing out the Go Fund Me fundraiser this coming week to fund our visas. Thank you all for your kind support, it has been greatly appreciated! After this week, donations can still be made to our family support page on Reece's Rainbow, bids made on the Facebook auctions, and t-shirts ordered via Bonfire Funds (more on that one later in the weekend, so check back!). We will travel in the next couple weeks to bring HH/Immanuel home. I can't wait to post his picture so you can see this wonderful young man!

Links to Reece's and Go Fund Me are on the sides of this page. Here's the link to the current auction on FB:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-Immanuel-Home-Fundraiser/1395942303981634

We need it now, Chihuahuas in the street, and a wild ride

If you've been following my blog for a while, you have already come to the conclusion that I will get my elbow stuck in a tuba case once in a while. Okay that one really didn't happen to me. I just heard about it. But it could have happened to me.

You see Janet, it's this way (time to run and hide this signals long, impossible or headshake producing stories that actually happened-- to me.):

 Just before work a little over a week ago, I got notice of LSC receipt--early (And hooray too, the folks over in China rock! Very grateful to them. Very.). Only problem was, I was just going in the door to work, 15 miles away from my computer and the needed paperwork with no way to extricate it or get to it in anything resembling the near future. Paperwork needed now. Now. And by the by, can you get it notarized? Cleared my schedule to get the needed paperwork out the door and on its way. Almost. Meanwhile, there were Chihuahuas running in the street, bicyclists jumping out from between moving cars and one and all trying to get me to hit them. Didn't work. I made it through the gauntlet. Docs out the door and overnighted, hah!

Or so I thought. Phone call the next day: you forgot the I-864. Horrors! No, really.  The I-800 can't go in without the I-864. It just can't. It's a permission and the I-800 will just sit there, smiling on someone's desk just as if it had good sense. Or worse. It will sit in the lock box. No one really knows what the lock box is. Well, it's probably a box and has a lock on it...or maybe not. Your assigned officer cannot go get documents out of the lock box. Not even if you beg and promise to be good or say pretty please with sugar on top. I'm not sure if the supervisors can either. This is a Fort Knox kind of thing. Procedures have to be followed. I imagine a kind of Mission Impossible sort of scenario.

Phone call continues: The signed LSC copy sent back immediately--we need the original signed and dated, not just a photocopy as you'd been told.  Send both back together. A day's delay. Not good. Not good at all. There's so little time. That was Friday. Saturday, no document. Okay, it will still get there in time if sent next-day delivery on Monday. No document Monday morning. No document Monday noon, Monday afternoon, and no document Monday evening. I'm going bonkers at this point.  I call and email my case manager even though I know she won't get the messages until the next day.

I can't sleep. I'm eating chocolate nuked with peanut butter like there's no tomorrow. Try it!! It is way better than a chocolate confection made with those ingredients from the store. Make sure to use dark chocolate and don't burn it. The pieces will still have their shape, they don't have to be liquid. Add Adams peanut butter about two huge spoonfuls. After nuking, not before. About one minute in the microwave. And you'll have bliss. As long as the pyrex measuring cup doesn't explode. That didn't happen--this time.

(Note: Nothing worse than burned chocolate....well, maybe cat pee in the toaster or on a hot stove top. That is truly awful. Truly. Toaster cat exhibited either great talent or sneakiness and cunning beyond belief or maybe total insensitivity. No clues left behind to alert an unsuspecting human who can't smell.)

 Anyway, just after midnight: delivery attempted over the weekend but no one home. ARgh! They knew I wouldn't be home and it had to be sent so it could be left! Livid. And what's with sending it via USPS? Wasn't it supposed to come FedEx? Water over the dam. USPS dated the notice for February, not November. It almost got shredded. More chocolate. Try to sleep. Get up, race to post office for the document so it can get out and I can get to work. Only, there's no way they can return it same day. Not even at this early hour. No way. No way. No way. Kind of like a bad dream. FedEx can't perform the deed either. UPS? No. Suggestions? Hiring a private jet. Are you kidding me?!! You're not kidding. You leave me no option. Mama's gotta do what Mama's gotta do: Cancel work. Like I don't need the money. Immanuel's life is worth more than anything. And I'm not going down. He's coming home. That's IT!

Grab the kids. Grab the dog. At least he's happy. He gets a ride. Rides = good to him. Call and email the agency, I'm coming. Adrenaline combined with prayer and purpose carried me almost the entire way to Seattle, despite the lack of sleep. As I drove, I practiced controlled breathing, prayed, reminded myself how lucky I was to be able to take off to do something so vitally important. I counted my blessings and admired the beautiful scenery and tried to enjoy the sunshine. The original LSC got signed and submitted. The I864 had to be redone anyway to conform to new instructions which we wouldn't have been able to do without the delay and drive. Lots of times these things happen for a reason. Best of all, we got provisional I800 approval and can look forward to the official approval starting Monday (which actually, technically is today).  "Fast away the old year passes..." "Time is slippin' slippin' into the future..."

Wrong turns can be good too--especially if you end up at Ikea and get items you needed anyway plus a yummy lunch.

LSC!

We received our letter seeking confirmation on Thursday! Now we wait for the I800 approval (not to be confused with the I800a). Only three more weeks until travel. Please pray there are no hiccups, road blocks, or difficulties of any kind. HH can't afford for there to be any.

Drum roll, please!

We have LID! China logged us in last Friday! Hooray! While they're working on their end, I will be filling out the I800 (not to be confused with the I800a) so it will be ready to go once the approval comes. Will also be looking toward getting our visas for travel soon. Can't wait!

Share, grab, click, search..

Just wanted to say that it is fine to share our blog! There's also a grab button for our Reece's Rainbow family sponsorship page. If you're looking to purchase items via Amazon, kindly begin your search through the portal on the left side of the page. Searches and purchases through there generate contributions to HH's adoption as do clicking on the ads. Also check the fundraiser tab for new fundraisers. The t-shirt fundraiser via Bonfire should start soon. Once we get 50 shirts sold, they will print them up for us. Also, for anyone who sells 10 shirts, there's a reward! How cool is that? Remember to check out the Tupperware fundraiser too! And if you're able and of a mind to, kindly donate to help bring him home. If you're not able to donate, sharing, clicking and searching are ways you can still help.

Your support--whether it is reading, commenting, prayers, grabs, shares, clicks or help with fundraising--it's all good and greatly appreciated. Thank you ever so much!

Equal isn't always equal

We in the US can shout EOOE! and ADA! all we want. There will still be those who don't embrace this and those discomfited by it and still those who remain ignorant about people with differences. I encounter this with respect to my children--especially Miracle Man. Although, as time has gone by, and he has had more surgeries, that has lessened. Especially after the last surgery where he had rhinoplasty and lip repair.

In my work life, I have to over come ignorance and prejudice on behalf of the people I serve. Sometimes it is with respect to getting volunteer positions to ready someone for real-world work. Other times it is to enable a client to receive the medical care they need. I have encountered this several times over the last few weeks. The most recent was in getting medical help for a very challenged person. The medical professional providing service thought she knew everything about my client's needs because she had a son with similar needs. This person did not see my client as an individual and would not accommodate my client's needs--going against protocols and potentially against ADA requirements. She also dismissed the diagnoses of other medical professionals with a wave of the hand: she knew everything and no one else was qualified to perform the services she did. Other medical professionals had been able to make these accommodations and follow protocols. They were not unreasonable.

Here is an article from USA Today about one family's fight to get medical care for their daughter:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/05/disabled-transplant-amelia-rivera/2917989/

Celebration of light, birth culture loss and growing our family culture

As I watched a family preparing themselves for a Diwali celebration at the beginning of the week, I pondered the loss of birth culture for my children. I thought about how their birth families might be celebrating and the traditions each may have for this holiday. For those not familiar with Diwali, it is the Hindu celebration of light and falls somewhere between the end of October to the first couple weeks in November. Rather than a single day, it is five days--each with its own theme. Family celebrations include special food, prayers, visiting family members, putting on new clothes, and chalk drawings.

This family  included all their members and friends in the festivities, a number of which were born with intellectual and physical challenges. My thoughts turned to my sons. How sad Miracle Man's family hasn't gotten to hear his laughter, listen to his stories, and know the pull of the charisma he exudes. Or even know that he lived and now thrives. I wish they could see him now and see the man he soon will become. Do they ever wonder about him? What is their life like now? What was it like when he was born? Miracle Man remembers enjoying fireworks set off for Diwali and the special time it was for him in India. Would he have had that in his birth family? What would their celebration have been like? And a bigger question: would they have celebrated Diwali? His family might not have been Hindu.

Miss Sunshine surely would have been putting on beautiful sari's or salwar kameez then applying bindis and henna drawings. I imagine her preparing for the holiday with her family and the joyous feeling they may have from visiting with all of their members and friends. I know her birth mother thinks of her even as she goes about her life now.

HH has lived in his birth culture all his years to date. In a little over a month he will either go from all he has known to a world so different he cannot imagine or he will stay in his birth culture but face a life of pain and shame--perhaps not knowing when he will eat again or where his head will rest after a day's toil.  Do his birth parents wonder about him? What would his life have been like if he could have remained with them? What would they celebrate in their family?

I can only give my children small pieces of their birth culture--from the outside. I can give the pieces of my culture which they may or may not keep going forward in their lives. In that way, we graft to one another to grow our family culture and make it our own. We celebrate Diwali, go to India Day celebrations, and eat Indian food. We have in the past gone to Asia Fest, celebrated Chinese New Year, and my children already home love Chinese food. Next year, these will all take on new meaning for us as we work to assimilate HH into our family and bring more of his culture into it.

Freight train a comin'!

That's how I'm feeling today. Tons of paperwork all due at once from every quarter. New system at work which isn't working any better than the new healthcare site. Computer keeps needing to be pushed to load webpages. My brain feels like something ate it, or it dropped out, or I lost it somewhere in my purse. I'll never find it if it's in my purse. I do clean it out. There's a black hole in there.. Honest.  Stuff disappears. Do you think it's related to the worm hole between my microwave and the car--cuz there must be a correlation someplace. Scratch that. A conspiracy. Logically, I know it doesn't take 20 minutes to walk the 30 feet from the microwave to the car. The time has been checked on both. It takes 20 minutes to walk from the microwave to the car. Just does. Cats to dodge/put out. Dog to bribe not to guilt me for not taking him to work. Lights. Grab the stuff Miracle Man was supposed to take out to recycling. Go back for paperwork I forgot.

Anyway, I'm feeling incredibly pressured right now. Only six more weeks. At most. Then HH will be coming home. So much to do between now and then. I wish I could clone myself several times. Or that I didn't need sleep. Or that the ADHD would go back in the box it came out of. God, please make it go away!

Really being tested right now, aren't I? I will win.

Something missing in translation?

So how accurate is Google translate? I went to look up the Chinese characters for HH's name and it doesn't come out the same as what I've been told his name means in English. Not even close. When I type in the translation I get something different again. I tried synonyms. I tried using the description of why he was named what he was named. Nothing. Hmmm.

Pick me! Pick Me! OOOh, ooh, oooh, pick me!

I see you standing on that chair waving your arms about as if you were a windmill, screaming at full volume. You want this so bad you can taste it, right? Right? Wrong.

I need to start sending Murphy birthday cards, presents, build an altar--something. Murphy who? You know...Murphy. The famous one. That Murphy. Of Murphy's Law fame. The man loves me.  Or maybe he hates me and has put a curse on me. I can't tell. All I know is that he and I do a lot together. Too much. Hasn't he ever heard of absence makes the heart grow fonder?

Jury duty. Grand jury duty. For a whole month. And no, they do not let you out of it if you write them a letter explaining what a hardship it will be for you, the plans you have that it will ruin, the impact on your boss' business. Not anymore. Yeah, if you're over 70, sole caregiver to small children for whom you cannot afford daycare or not a US citizen.

Did I need this a month before travel? Did I? When I need the income the most? And, I'm sorry, the puny $10 a day compensation really stinks (of which the municipal parking lot eats half and the burger joint the other half. So they may as well save a dime by not paying at all since they're getting it back anyway.)  I understand they don't want jurors to be in it for the money. But seriously, the guy at the freeway on ramp makes more in an hour!  It feels like my life will be held hostage. And the adoption. And the people I'm contracted to serve who won't get their services because I'm not there to help them.

A funny thing happened on the way to get the kids' passports renewed...

Or maybe not so funny. You decide. You know, adults can renew by mail, right? Lucky us! However,  If you have to go to an actual passport office or a post office, take notice. Children must go in whether it is a renewal or a brand new passport. Stands to reason--they change so much. This travail began over the summer. When the kids weren't in school. When my schedule was packed to the brim.  So far, I have made four trips to get my children's passports renewed. There will be at least a fifth trip. Trip one: office moved. I just assumed they would be in the same place they were a few years ago. The post office doesn't move so why should the passport office, right? Yeah, wrong.  Trip two: We arrive at 2:30 p.m. great, huh?! Not so great. On Friday's they aren't open till 3 p.m., they closed at 2 p.m. I pulled the kids out of school early for that fiasco. Trip three: one app accepted, one rejected. Trip four: they closed early (even though I got there before the posted closure time). You see, they "have paper work to do and there is no budge room on Friday's." That's what the clerk told me.  What happened with the rejected app you ask? Well, your photo cannot have the person smiling with their mouth open. This will be rejected. Costco didn't know that. Neither did I. Now we all know. Copy both front and back of supporting documents--on the same page. DO NOT copy back and front on separate pieces of paper and staple them together. You will either be told to go redo your copies or have to wait for the clerk to redo them for you.

Other things you should know: Your child's emergency contact must be a family member, not a family friend. I had put a family friend since I have no relatives nearby and all close relatives are dead. HIPPA, I was told. What do they do for people who don't have any relatives? And for that matter, how would they have known if I hadn't put family friend in the box--not all of my relatives have the same last name as I do! Remember to initial your corrections.

Allot way more time than you think to get the passport(s). The clerk who helped us worked excruciatingly slowly. I understand they have to be careful and look everything over but this was ridiculous! I about went around the bend. Good thing she works for the government. There was only one person ahead of me the day I actually succeeded in getting into the office and it took nearly an hour to get finished. Yes, I let her know I had to be back to work. No, it did not do any good. And that was with all the forms printed and filled out beforehand. Take your kids out of school to get this done. There is no other option.

Do not expect the clerks to be knowledgeable about which offices do offer Saturday service (at least the ones in the local officer weren't). The website says our passport office does Saturdays by appointment. Well, not according to the folks who actually work there. They suggested I try the post office. Well, that would be a great idea--except the post office has almost no one able to provide passport services and all of them in our area have been switched to weekdays. Nearly 20,000 postal employees retired or left the postal service this year or so I was told.

Call ahead to find out the forms of payment accepted. Our office does not take cash. No credit. No debit.  Only checks and money orders. The one time I had cash, too. I think the website may have even said something about bringing in cash.

Processing times have pushed out to between six and eight weeks. Expedited service, which costs $60 more, will get it back hopefully in four weeks. You may be able to get it back in three weeks with overnight shipping both ways....And, if you don't have to make five trips, or schedule around work, school, and life. Or get the clerk I had. Good luck.