I hope you all are ready to read and look at pictures. I have been busy tonight posting a lot. I also wanted to let you know our updates:
Chris and Chase flew out of Hawaii today to LA, then to Houston and will arrive home Friday afternoon. Chris sent me a picture of Chase blowing me a kiss (sent from the airport bar where Chris said he was having a much needed stiff drink :)
Our documents are being processed in Manila and all the issues have been worked out. We do not know if they made it in the mail today (our Friday). It was 5pm here and only 1pm in Manila so we don't know if they finished today or not. As of our 5pm, we had no word. Here are specifics to pray for on the document journey:
Documents to get out by Monday at the latest (if not already out today - Friday)
Documents to be sent via DHL instead of FedEx (b/c DHL has a much quicker routing to get back to RMI) - RMI US Embassy was really pushing for this - if does go FedEx, pray for a quick route, also
Micronesian games are going on right now so most flights are full. If the cargo is full, they will boot our documents out to make room for other things. The documents (even though DHL or FedEx) travel on a Continental flight in the cargo area. Pray they make it on the plane and our small little package does not get "booted"
Prayer for arrival in the RMI next week so we can leave at the end of next week.
Those are updates. I hope you will enjoy all the pictures and posts.
Friday, July 30, 2010
Beautiful Boys
Chase snorkeling in the Pacific (that is our boat where they had to bail water the entire trip).
Visiting Elina's House
Elina's house
Outside Elina's house (by our rental car). The kids love to pose for pictures and then they swarm me and to look at the picture on my camera. They love it!
Elina loves Chase
Chase has LOVED being with all the kids. This is the inside of Elina's house.
Outside (Elina asked to take a picture with me.)
Relaxing inside Elina'sMarshallese Fashion
This is a guam - the more casual look. (And me with pink eye and glasses). Everywhere you look the women are wearing these. Elina has given me two of her guams. She has nothing, yet gives me so much. She is so happy when I wear them. 
This is a moo-moo. This is the "dressier" version. It has some more detail on it (ruffles, lace, etc). Again, Elina has given me two of her moo-moo's. The women wear these to church or to important events. In this picture I am also wearing earings and a bracelet Elina made for me. She is so amazing! A little bit of sadness...
Elina's cousin, Elina and Alia, Rickson and me and Godfrey waving and crying. We could see Chris and Chase at the window and they waved and waved to us for about a half hour while we waited at the fence to see the plane take off. It roared right over our heads after it taxied down the runway. Went right over us and into the sky full of stars. It was one of the most beautiful and amazing things I have seen. We all told them we loved them as they flew overhead (Ij yokwe eok). It was a very emotional night.
Chase at the airport wearing his necklaces Elina made for him and presented to him before he left.
Last dinner together at the Tide Table Restaurant.Feeling a little sad tonight. It is amazing how it just hits me out of nowhere. I just miss Chris and Chase so much. Sharing this experience with them was so unbelievable. Having them here beside me made this entire thing right. I just feel lost without them. I did have a really great day. My adoptive friends and I went shopping, visited friends we have made, found some great ice cream at the Payless (thanks Erin) and have had a wonderful day. Then when I came back to the room tonight I just felt overcome with sadness. I know it will pass quickly and tomorrow will be another day full of new experiences. It is just that sometimes I look around the room or walk down to the water and expect to see Chase running around the trees and watching the boats. When he is not there it makes my heart hurt. When I go to dinner I want to share it with him and watch him run back and forth to the room because he thinks he is all grown up. I want to see him giving his baby brother his bottle. I miss him. In only three short weeks, this place is full of memories of them and our time here together. Truly these three weeks have been some of the happiest of my entire life. We are all forever changed because of living Rickson's background, even if only for a little while. Seeing that part of this journey come to a close is the part I wished didn’t have to happen.
I try to think of Elina when I feel sad. She cried at the airport when Chris and Chase left. In just these three weeks she has come to love us as if we have known each other all our lives. The bond we have because of this one small child is unbreakable. When I am sad I think of the sadness she already feels knowing that when Rickson and I walk up those stairs to the airplane, it won’t just be a few weeks until she sees us again. It makes me put things in perspective. As wonderful as this journey has been, it is filled with emotions and sadness in so many different ways.
I try to think of Elina when I feel sad. She cried at the airport when Chris and Chase left. In just these three weeks she has come to love us as if we have known each other all our lives. The bond we have because of this one small child is unbreakable. When I am sad I think of the sadness she already feels knowing that when Rickson and I walk up those stairs to the airplane, it won’t just be a few weeks until she sees us again. It makes me put things in perspective. As wonderful as this journey has been, it is filled with emotions and sadness in so many different ways.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Updates
Chris and Chase are stuck in Hawaii. They have been at the airport since 5:30pm Hawaii time. The were delayed repeatedly and then around 8:30 found out the flight was cancelled. It is now 11:00pm Hawaii time and they are still in a line of hundreds of people that has not moved because they cannot find flights to put this many people on in the next few days. (This was a HUGE flight going to the mainland). Chase is absolutely exhausted from being in the middle of the time changes and my heart is going out to them right now. I hope by the time everyone reads this blogpost things will have changed and they will be in the air on the way home!
The flying bugs in my room seem to be increasing in numbers tonight…
Document news…. They are officially in Manilla at the US Embassy being processed! We heard from our contact that they are in the process of doing our Visa’s. This is great news considering sometimes it sits on a desk for up to two weeks. We did find out that the Manilla Embassy believes we all paid on incorrect amount on an invoice (due to Marshall Islands advising us) and we all owe them $29. Okay, fine, we will pay, get us home…One other family had some documents lost in transit, but we believe all this can be resolved tomorrow at the Embassy. They have assured us this will not slow down our process and we take this as good news that they must be making great progress on the Visa’s to have seen these mistakes. We all have an 8:30 am appointment at the Marshall Islands US Embassy.
I love Skype and have been able to talk to Chris and Chase many times today which truly lifts my spirits. Chris bought shirts in Hawaii for the boys and himself and a dress for me which we will all wear at Rickson’s Kemen (first birthday celebration – Marshallese style).
My pink eye is FINALLY getting better. The redness is almost gone. I do have several more days of wearing my glasses, but it is so nice to finally have the irritation going away!
We saw a beautiful double rainbow today at dinner.
I have such mixed feelings of how I can ever leave this place.
The flying bugs in my room seem to be increasing in numbers tonight…
Document news…. They are officially in Manilla at the US Embassy being processed! We heard from our contact that they are in the process of doing our Visa’s. This is great news considering sometimes it sits on a desk for up to two weeks. We did find out that the Manilla Embassy believes we all paid on incorrect amount on an invoice (due to Marshall Islands advising us) and we all owe them $29. Okay, fine, we will pay, get us home…One other family had some documents lost in transit, but we believe all this can be resolved tomorrow at the Embassy. They have assured us this will not slow down our process and we take this as good news that they must be making great progress on the Visa’s to have seen these mistakes. We all have an 8:30 am appointment at the Marshall Islands US Embassy.
I love Skype and have been able to talk to Chris and Chase many times today which truly lifts my spirits. Chris bought shirts in Hawaii for the boys and himself and a dress for me which we will all wear at Rickson’s Kemen (first birthday celebration – Marshallese style).
My pink eye is FINALLY getting better. The redness is almost gone. I do have several more days of wearing my glasses, but it is so nice to finally have the irritation going away!
We saw a beautiful double rainbow today at dinner.
I have such mixed feelings of how I can ever leave this place.
Taxi Rides
Since Chris and Chase are no longer here, I turned our rental car in last night. Today was my first day of taking the taxi’s by myself. It is quite the experience, but isn’t everything an experience here in the Marshall Islands?
The taxi’s cost fifty cents no matter where you go. The fifty cents will get you a block up the road or to the other end of the atoll one hour away. There is only one road in the RMI. It is a small two lane road that runs the length of the atoll. There are no stop signs or stop lights and the taxi’s are probably as plentiful as if you were in New York City. However, it isn’t quite the same… Taxi’s are beat up old cars, vans, pick ups or whoever decides they want their car to be a taxi. Also, whoever wants to get in the taxi can jump in. Today when I was taking my laundry, we were able to cram three adults, one baby, my huge laundry bag and diaper bag in the back seat, an extra passenger in the front and we probably could have picked up more. When you see your location, the local Marshallese wait until the taxi is right up on it and then announce that is where they want to get out. The taxi driver slams on the breaks (although at the 25 mile an hour speed limit it isn’t too bad) and drives up on the sidewalk. The taxi’s don’t just pull over, they literally drive off the road completely up on the sidewalk (well, what I consider a sidewalk of sorts).
Today I was in a total of four taxi’s and spent a grand total of $2.00. Two of my taxi’s stopped for gas, two didn’t have air conditioning. And all four got me safely to my destination. Tomorrow I get to do it all again.
The taxi’s cost fifty cents no matter where you go. The fifty cents will get you a block up the road or to the other end of the atoll one hour away. There is only one road in the RMI. It is a small two lane road that runs the length of the atoll. There are no stop signs or stop lights and the taxi’s are probably as plentiful as if you were in New York City. However, it isn’t quite the same… Taxi’s are beat up old cars, vans, pick ups or whoever decides they want their car to be a taxi. Also, whoever wants to get in the taxi can jump in. Today when I was taking my laundry, we were able to cram three adults, one baby, my huge laundry bag and diaper bag in the back seat, an extra passenger in the front and we probably could have picked up more. When you see your location, the local Marshallese wait until the taxi is right up on it and then announce that is where they want to get out. The taxi driver slams on the breaks (although at the 25 mile an hour speed limit it isn’t too bad) and drives up on the sidewalk. The taxi’s don’t just pull over, they literally drive off the road completely up on the sidewalk (well, what I consider a sidewalk of sorts).
Today I was in a total of four taxi’s and spent a grand total of $2.00. Two of my taxi’s stopped for gas, two didn’t have air conditioning. And all four got me safely to my destination. Tomorrow I get to do it all again.
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