Tomorrow!

Tomorrow we travel! It is just surreal. Sixteen months ago we completed our application to adopt, and finally the trip is upon us. I should be running around like- a- chicken- with- my- head- cut- off, but strangely, I'm not. I'm actually kind of bored. I must be forgetting something important. Or maybe there will be another last minute emergency that sends me scrambling. Hours before our flights in February, I was at the doctor's office having a cast put on Austin's broken arm. That's what I get when I'm feeling overly confident or serene. Ha!! So, today, I'm going to my taekwondo class, and then I'll drive Austin to his friend's house. The house-sitter should be able to hold down the fort, and all should be well. My next blog, I hope, will be from China. If my VPN works. Keep us in your prayers!

Almost, almost, almost....and the Winner is....

I am almost packed, finally, only a few days behind my self-imposed time schedule. Going to New York City Friday-Saturday (a 6 hour drive each way) for a taekwondo tournament with three of the boys, didn't help matters much . But things are slowly coming together. I breathed a huge sigh of relief when David called me on Saturday (while I was in NYC), to say that our passports with the visa stamps finally arrived. I mailed them on March 13th to the visa processing company, and for some reason the 4-5 days to process took over two weeks. I couldn't sleep Thursday night, worrying about our passports all night. Then I just gave it up to God, and went to the tournament as planned. I have also been working hard on our raffle to benefit Daqing orphanage. We're about $1200 short of our goal, but I'm happy nonetheless.  And so...drum roll please, The winner of a week at our cottage on Conesus Lake is Denise Patchett!!! She only bought one ticket, and she won!! Call me please, Denise, if you read this blog!

After church today, the boys spent the afternoon re-arranging their bedrooms. Ben is moving to the new bedroom (that the 3 little ones will share) downstairs. Then, since Connor is messy, messy, and he is no longer going to share a room with Ben, John and Connor are trading rooms. John will have one of the big bedrooms and Connor the smallest room in order to help him contain his mess. I can now cross that off my list of must do things before we leave. I have to go to the pharmacy and Walmart for various last minute items, the dogs have a vet appointment, I might try to get Austin into the dentist this week, and I have a CSE meeting at school for Ben on Tuesday. Of course, things never go exactly as planned, so, if you think of us this week, remember us in your prayers. We'll have family day with Sam exactly one week from today, after a two day stop in Beijing. Wow. Almost there.

Normal craziness--One week before travel

I know that I already blogged today, but it was just one of those days. So, forgive me for venting here.  First of all, the boys' bus was late this morning, and that late start made me late to my appointment to have our dogs groomed. That, in turn, made it too late for me to meet my workout partner this morning, since she had to cut it short today. Then, I dropped my cell phone on the driveway, and completely shattered the touch screen. I spent 45 minutes in the Verizon store, and then had to go back again and spend another 45 minutes back at the store in the afternoon. Grrrr. The upside of the day is that my new cell phone has a really cool app. If anyone whistles, the phone whistles back a fun little tune! It's supposed to be a locator app, for the times we can't find the phone. The boys are having a riot whistling at random times. Then, while the boys were at taekwondo lessons, David and I went over to our cottage to inspect the premises because our tenant moved out on Monday. We topped off our evening with our weekly dinner out. During our dinner, we received an email from our adoption agency. The orphanage director of the Jinan orphanage wants to have dinner with us when we are there. Holy Moly! I'm already lecturing the boys on NOT passing gas during dinner, and I need to work on my chopstick skills. According to the adoption agency, they are "not sure exactly why (this is a pretty unusual request) but guesses that maybe he (our child) is a special child to the orphanage director.  SSIT said that the orphanage has called twice to be sure that you know you are invited to dinner and they’re sure that you’re meant to be the guests." One week until we travel, and I'm still NOT 100% packed, and now I need to learn how to eat with chopsticks. John has already told us that he will NOT translate for us. Great. This, in my opinion, is great news, but it makes me way behind schedule! I still can't believe that we leave in a week and I'm not even completely packed yet.

It's all what you're used to

People regularly ask me, "How on Earth do you do it all?" Honestly, I think for most things, it's all what you're used to doing that makes things easy. I used to train for marathons, and in 2009 (before my knees gave out) running 10-15 miles was super easy. Now, I can't run 3 miles without a break. I'm in as good of  shape physically, since I still work-out 2-3 hours a day, but I simply am not used to running anymore. When you only have a 10x10 apartment, you are used to living in a 10 x 10 space. See http://www.myoverthinking.com/2012/03/100-sq-feet.html
People also ask me if our adopted sons are extremely grateful to us. I try to explain that, No, our adopted children are not any more grateful than our bio children, nor would I expect them to be. They were used to living in an orphanage. We took that away from them. Then, we forced them to get used to living in a family in America. It wasn't a perfect life in China, and our sons were severely malnutritioned, but it was what they were used to. In the past two years, our adopted sons have gotten used to walking up to the enormous refrigerator (or the double door pantry) and complaining that there's nothing good to eat. Obviously, they are now used to living in the land of plenty. I'm used to a houseful of many, noisy, rambunctious, flatulent, boys. I make great big pots of food everyday, because that is what I am used to doing. I do laundry everyday, and I drive boys to sports everyday. There's no secret answer to the question of how do I do it all. Adding two more boys to our family won't change what I do everyday, because I am used to a chaotic, busy household. I pray that our new little guys will adjust quickly. I pray that they get used to us, and that they are healthy. But, if they are not, I'll get used to that too. We are now used to giving Ben his various daily medications, while watching his every breath. Humans are amazingly adaptable, and we can rise to every challenge if given enough time.

Getting close now

We've had a super busy weekend, as I try to pack in as much stuff before our trip as humanely possible. Friday night we had a bunch of friends (and their children and dogs!) over for dinner and a bonfire. A sort of "last hooray" before we travel and grow our family. The weather has been unseasonably warm, so David cooked steaks on the grill and we had a big bonfire in our back yard and made S'mores. The 9 dogs and dozen kids ran and played on the new athletic field that was rolled on Wednesday, and it was great fun for all. Saturday, we spent the day at taekwondo lessons. One of our last tournaments before the Jr. Olympics (we'll miss one when we are in China) is in New York City (6 hour drive, each way) on March 31st.  Although I know it's crazy, we are jamming that event in our schedule just before we leave for China. I've also been spending unbelievable hours managing our new raffle. In a flash of  what I hope is brilliance, and not stupidity, I decided to sell $25 raffle tickets--with the prize being a week at our cottage on Conesus Lake!! The drawing is April 1st, so if you want to participate, quickly make a donation on our fundraising page! 

Travel Call

Last night our agency representative called to make certain that I have compiled all the documents that I need to take with me to China. We have a stack, literally, 3 feet high of papers, and sometimes it is difficult to know what papers are significant. I save everything, of course, just in case. I found that I had everything I need to carry at my finger-tips, except the passport photos. Our passports are off in Washington DC right now, hopefully getting a visa stamp. In the meantime, I am filling up the days working out, packing, cleaning, and cooking. Yesterday, I helped cook and serve a lenten luncheon at church for 40 senior citizens. I made three big crockpots of soup (chicken-taco, 5 bean and sausage, and beef-vegetable) and an enormous platter of chicken-salad sandwiches. I also hired and supervised a crew to roll out our 3 acre front field. The addition of two more boys inspired me to convert our previously unused land into a soccer/lacrosse/football/baseball field.  Two nice farmers spent 5 hours on a 10 ton roller truck and we now have a relatively flat sports field. Next up--planting a vegetable garden!

Normal family dysfunction

David and I had our strictly scheduled 2 hour date night tonight, and during our "date" we received the email update for Sam. Yes, I check my emails on my smart phone during date night, and yes, I know, I am a bad, bad wife. Give me a break; David was watching March madness too. So, during our date-night, we received a photo of Sam raising his hand at his desk (which is bright pink!), while standing up (and everyone else is seated). He looked like Horschack (spelling?) from Welcome Back Kotter. Ooo, Ooo, Ooo, Pick me!! So DARN CUTE. I wish that I could post the photos of our boys, but I signed a contract with our agency that I won't post their photos until they are legally our sons. Although virtually every other adoption blog has photos of waiting children, I signed the agreement to keep our sons' identities private, and I stick to my word. After looking at the new photos of Sam, we began to talk about our 6 sons, our aspirations for them, our dreams and hopes, and of course our own misspent youth. Yes, our dates are DEEP. Ha. Ha. Anyway, David's earliest traumatic memory is when he was in Kindergarten (or maybe first grade), and he brought a knife to the after-school program to cut the ropes on the tree fort they were building. He was accused of bringing a "weapon" and all that entailed (which was considerably less fuss 35 years ago, I'm sure).  David remembers being irate that someone would misunderstand his intent and accuse him of wrong doing. This small tale makes me appreciate even more how our sons must feel, when they are first adopted from China. We CONSTANTLY misunderstand them. They have different cultural norms, and when I flip out because they are spitting (I take it as the biggest insult ever!), or slurping their food, they get irate because I just don't understand them. Hmmm. Food for thought anyway.