Time for Adventure!

We finished our adoption schedule yesterday with the visa interview, so it leaves us lots of time to see whatever and do whatever we want until her visa is ready, and we fly home next Wednesday.  We decided to take a river boat taxi to Wat Po to see the reclining Budda, and other interesting things along the way. 

The kids did great, as it turned out to be a long day and lots of walking.  Norah did not have any shoes other than her flip flops, that always flip flopped off, so we were on a mission to find this child some shoes.  There are probably 287 malls here, and I can't tell what is in most of them, but if we had a "fail" button, we could have pressed it most of the day.  It seemed every mall we went to had no kid stores.  We finally were directed to a "kid-friendly" mall, and we did find a play area for Norah and Sam to run.  All the stores was expensive though.  I did have her try on some shoes that were darling, (but did not buy because they were $50!  I don't even spend that on my own shoes...), and I spilled coffee on them on accident, so we just brushed it off and pretended not to notice... So over it was to the Big C - like Super Walmart, and we got some cute, good shoes for $6. 
Riding the public transit has been an interesting adventure, and we took the sky train the wrong way several times.  But we are learning and having fun along the way!

It's amazing how many people stop and smile and laugh at Norah.  They all say "oh she so cute!  What her name?"  So we tell them Gluay-hom and they laugh and say all sorts of nice things to her in Thai:)  She is super friendly with strangers, and maybe that is why she is doing ok with us so far.  She really is being so so brave.  I can't imagine leaving my home and family forever to be placed with strangers who spoke and looked different... how terrifying!  Sam has been so wonderful and she really likes playing with him.

This is the view from our room.  It's incredible!  The kids like playing on the terrace, but Sam is a little wary of the height... Me too!  This city is crazy and huge, it just goes on for as far as we can see.

Visa Day

We had our visa appointment today, and again had to sit in a waiting area trying to entertain our sweet angel.  She is SO SO busy!  I thought I had my hands full with Will... They will be great pals.  We had an early start to today, Norah woke at 5:30 pretty upset, and wanted to be walked all around the hotel.  We rode the elevator a few times, paced the hallways and the lobby, and then back to the room.  It took awhile for her to calm down, and it seemed the more awake she got it got better.  We are trying to pick up on her cues of what makes her upset.  We have a lot to learn.  She is still taking a bottle at night and at naptime, and it's killing me... baby bottle tooth decay is all I can think of when she is falling asleep with that thing, but this is no time to correct the habit. This morning when we were getting her dressed, she wanted 5 hair bows in her hair:)  It looked so funny, but we totally went for it.  She also loves the little backpack that carries her building blocks (in pic).

She loves pressing ALL the elevator buttons, and turning the TV on and off, buttons of any kind.  We went to a busy street last night and had all sorts of amazing food.  I pointed out some fried chicken buiscut looking thing, and the man put it in a bag and poured crushed peanuts and hot sauce over it... OH MY GOSH amazing!  We had fried chicken and noodles, milk tea and fresh pomegrante juice.  We love the food here!  The street was so crowded and busy, and the kids got a little overwhelmed.  Norah did not like the baby carrier I was holding her in, but letting her walk was not going to happen, so we had to manage carrying her, all the food, keeping a watch on Sam, and not getting trampled or hit by cars.  It was time to go:)
We have a little while while we wait for our visa to be done, so we are free to see the sights until we go.  We want to see the Grand Palace, Zoo, Aquarium, weekend market, and maybe do the river boat tour too.  Or we will just see how it goes.  I am missing home and Will so so much.

DSDW Board meeting day

We had a successful first night!!  Praise God!  After we got her to sleep last night, she slept soundly and only woke up for 10 min. of crying around midnight.  She got up at 6:30 a little sad, but it did not last long.  We skyped with Will and the family this morning and introduced them to Norah:)  She was not really in the mood to sit, so it was short.  We headed out for our DSDW (adoption board) meeting.  It was a little wait, but we were prepared for that.  Her true colors are starting to show!  She is not a shy girl at all!  While we waited, she was running all around, and climbing on everything, and making her mom and dad chase her everywhere!  Laughing, yelling, screaming in Thai, it was all very cute.  The meeting itself was not long, and the board asked Samuel questions like is he ready to share his parents?  Will he get bored of her because she does not know English?  - He told them he is actually excited he can teach her English, and thinks it's cool that she knows how to speak Thai.  Sam taught her how to say "pop!" when we were blowing bubbles, and she has also learned how to say "Sam". 

 

The permanent pit in my stomach has subsided, and we are all getting a little more comfortable with each other. We hit the pool and the park again today, and may adventure out into the city again for some air conditioned mall shopping and eating.  We were told Gluay-hom likes Tuk-Tuks, the moped type of taxis, so we may try that tonight too.  We love her!  She is so much fun:)

Gotcha Day!

We got custody of Norah today, and we are so thrilled!  Again, it has so many emotions attached, and there were many tears today.  From her and us, and social workers.  We decided to go swimming and then go to the park after lunch.  They were good distractions, but she was showing signs of understanding what was really going down here, and the tears came.  She tried to get out of the hotel room, so I followed her and let her play with the elevator and try other doors in the hallway.  It was emotionally draining, and we are all very tired.  She is drinking her bottle (yes, she still has 4 a day, and sometimes at 2am!!) and Dave is carrying her around singing "It's gonna be ok, It's gonna be ok, cause you belong to us"  (to the tune of Walden Family music Do not be Afraid if you are familiar...)  It's making me so happy, and she seems to be settling in to her daddy's safety.
We also learned to not use the Thai words that mean mom and dad, because that is what foster parents are called, so we are teaching her "mommy and daddy" to not confuse her. 

She seemed to be distracted by stickers today, and used up near all I brought!  Soap and water was alot of fun for her today, and also lotion.  After she ran out of room on her body to put it on, she slathered it on me and Dave:)  We have the Adoption Board meeting tomorrow morning, and will need to have some things along to play and distract, because we were told the wait before getting our name called could be very long... Thanks for the continued prayers everyone!  She is successfully asleep in our bed right now, and we are trusting for a peaceful night.

Day 2

We are having a little difficulty with uploading pictures, but will try to get more up tomorrow.  We had a great day today, taking Norah to the store for things we need, and she seemed to be doing great!  She let us hold her and play with her, and we even got a some smiles and laughs out of her too!  She was clearly feeling more comfortable than yesterday, and got really silly when we took to to have lunch and then back to our room to play.  :)  At one point Dave and I looked around, and the room had toys scattered all around, and we said, "this is a great great thing!!"  A good sign that she was having fun.  She is careful about putting her things away too.  We took her for a little walk out of the hotel for a little while, but as soon as we came back, she started to cry.  I think she was done with our visit and wanted to go home to see her foster mom.  She kept crying and calling for her mom.  We felt so helpless, and tried to distract her with other things, but in the end, all I could do was hold her and rock her.  She seemed to be consoled a little with some milk, but was not very interested in much other than leaving to go home.   We took her downstairs to leave, and then she saw her foster brother and the other social workers, who were all ready to take the children back.  This is the last night Norah will have in her foster home!  I am so sad for her and Ms. Siri, as I know this is such a bitter sweet thing.  I pray a huge amount of grace over their home tonight.  We will see her again tomorrow at 11, and then she is ours!  For the rest of the time, we have custody of her!  I am so happy, but my emotions are crazy right now.  I am at a loss of how to even describe this experience!  I don't know I have ever gone through such a gamut of feelings all at once!  It is all pretty overwhelming.
We are missing Will big time, and will hopefully get some Skype time with him tomorrow.

 

OK turns out I could get one pic loaded:)  This is Dave making Norah laugh at the store.  It was amazing!  She started acting really playful from this time on. 

After saying goodbye, we decided to navigate the subway and skytrain, and got royally lost!  Dave was determined to find our way back to the hotel on foot, but I eventually put my foot down and made him surrender and hail a taxi to get us back.  It was amazing how far we were, and how many turns the cab driver had to take to get us back:)  It was worth the $4 to get the cab.  The adventure was not a total bust though.  We managed to come across a Dunkin Donuts, and had to stop in for a cup of coffee and some donuts;)  We had dinner and some foot massages, and called it a day!  Tomorrow is the day we have her for good, and we are so ready to start this journey of having a daughter:)

Meeting Norah!

We are exhausted after the best day ever!!:)  We started today by David and I waking up at 3:30 from nerves and anticipation.  We came out to our living room area and spent some time praying for the day.   I have felt overwhelmed and helpless here, as we do not know the language, and are like fish out of water with the difference in culture, and no ability to navigate anything alone.  The Lord reminded me this morning that His power is made perfect in our weakness, and it set me a little more at ease.  Lord knows I am out of my context all together for strength.
We met the social workers and another family from Norway adopting (Norah's foster brother) downstairs in the lobby.  Jessica from Holt Eugene is here as well, so we went up to her room to watch a video about Holt Sahathai Foundation, and to answer any questions.  I knew the children were downstairs in the courtyard waiting to come up at any moment!  Then came the knock at the door and two beautiful children came walking in with more social workers!  Watsana was calm and cool, came toward us, and then walked away, and then back, with a very un-bothered look about her!  The social workers were incredible at directing us where to sit, when to touch her, and how close to get.  We played with some stacking blocks and cups for awhile, and she focused on the toys, and looked at us with no fear at all!  It only took a few minutes to warm up a bit, and we were told she only knows her name as "Kluay-hom".  This is her nickname, meaning banana:)

In no time at all, she was letting me take her to wash hands and carry her around!  She was so silent the whole time, and she did not smile.  BUT she did not frown either!  It was time to have lunch, so we left and went to the Mali resturant accross from the hotel.  I held her the whole time, and she fell asleep in my arms!  I could not really eat holding her, but setting her down was not at all happening. 

I love my daughter!  She fell asleep without a fuss or sound, and seemed to be settling into the idea of who we were.  We came back to our hotel for play and rest, until it was time to visit her foster family's house at 2.  She seemed to be warming up to us, and was letting Dave play with stickers and bubbles with her.  She had to go to the bathroom, and let me help her.  After the bathroom break, the social worker prompted Kluay-Hom to thank me, and she did with a sweet little Thai bow.  They told me she loves dresses and girly things, and hair bows!!  (THANK YOU LORD!!)  Really, I was surprised at how at ease she seemed with us today.  The social workers were too, but reminded us that this is only day one, and tomorrow or the next may be different.  She thinks she is only visiting, which today she IS only visiting.  two more days until we keep her for real.

At 2pm, we traveled to her foster family's home, where we met the family who and loved and cared for her for her two years of life!  They showed me where the water level rose in the house during the flood of 2011, and it was up to my head!  Norah was only 2 mos old, and they had to live in the Holt Sahathai office for 20 days.  The boy in the picture is her foster brother, who is being adopted by a very nice Norwegian couple.  The other older woman is Ms. Siri's sister.  The sisters live next door to each other, fostering kids together.  The children are like siblings.  Ms. Siri cried as we came to visit, knowing that the time has come to hand Kluay-Hom over to new parents.  I really can not imagine how foster parents must feel!  She told us she loves Kluay-Hom, and is glad to see "good, young" people taking her.  We promised to send photos.  I felt like a home wrecker!  Of course the situation has always been temporary, but watching her weep and love all over Norah brought me to tears and a loss for any words of significant comfort.  I am so thankful for Ms. Siri and the love she has shown my daughter her whole life.   She said Kluay-hom would be her last foster child.

 We said goodbye to Ms. Siri and Norah, and traveled back to the hotel.  We could not get over how at ease things were today, and how we did not hear a cry out of her all day.  We pray that the transition would be grace- filled.  Tomorrow is another day, and we continue to ask for prayers!  It is our day for shopping and exploring a little more with Kluay-hom!

Counting down... We are at the Pantip!

We just checked into our hotel in Bangkok.  I picked up the schedule waiting for us, and it looks like we meet Watsana (Norah) at 10:30 tomorrow morning, and then stay at the hotel for lunch and playing until 2.  Then we accompany her to her foster home and meet the people who have loved and cared for her for her entire 2 years of life.  I am so indebted to these people.  I really can't wrap my mind around what tomorrow holds, but I tell you, my emotions are everywhere!  I am nervous, excited, overwhelmed, overjoyed... and a host of other emotions I can't even describe.  I am looking out over the terrace of the hotel, 21 floors up, awed by this huge beautiful city, and feel like the luckiest person (blessed) for having this privilege.  It's tomorrow.  The time is here and we are ready!