Travel Meeting

Jon & I had our travel meeting yesterday with our agency!  Talk about information overload!  With the Philippines we booked our tickets, arrived, got in taxis from here to there and picked up Nathaniel, Visa, Passport and came home 1 week later.  This time...

Trip:  Montreal-Toronto; Toronto-Hong Kong; Hong kong-Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

April 9...Stay in Ho Chi Minh 1 night
April 10...Fly to Danang
April 11-17...Stay in Danang and meet/receive our son
April 17...Fly to Hanoi
April 18/19...Visit Embassy to get passport/citizenship process started...drive to Fedex (which by the way NO ONE knows the exact address)  We get dropped off at a corner and we have to walk until we find it.  Sounds like great fun!  And have the papers fedexed somewhere!
April 20-25...Touring since nothing will happen until the 26th
April 26...MAYBE Fredrick's passport/citizenship will be ready at which point we can possibly try and get a new flight home.  Jon said at this point it will be like the Amazing Race..Get the documents and run to the airport to be the first to get new plane tickets leaving the other "teams" in the rear! LOL!
April 26-May 1...More touring if we haven't left yet!

Trip...Hanoi, Vietnam-Hong Kong; Hong Kong-Toronto; Toronto-Montreal

It's just crazy when I think of all the things I need to remember.  And all our instructions (maybe 10 pages) are written in French.  Of course I read & understand french, but when it's not your first language and there are so many IMPORTANT details, having to think french gives me a headache and stresses me out!!!  Yes Jon is there to help, but these details are generally left up to me since I'm the one who does all the reading and research!

Our agency recommended on the days when we're touring, to take a 3 hour uncomfortable bus ride to another city...ummmmm PROBABLY NOT! 3 hrs with a 4 year old & 8 month old on an uncomfortable bus doesn't exactly sound intriguing!  We'll see...maybe once we're there we'll think differently.  Jon & I (and mom) aren't exactly the adventure out people which is why we can travel so well together!  This may sound nuts since how often does one get to travel to the Philippines or Vietnam...but you must remember we're not there on vacation.  It's not at all relaxing.  Several families make "vacations" out of these trips and are ready to come home within days of receiving their child but still have another 1-2 weeks to go.  We have NEVER thought of these trips as "vacations"...Vacationing for us is on a campground in the comfort of our tent! LOL!

Here are some of things I've already started to put together.  I just LOVE the little doggie I found on sale at Walmart yesterday...oh I love deals!

Brain Overload

I unfortunately inherited the "can't-shut-down-brain" gene, from my mom! Thankfully t.v. isn't too bad at 4:00am (sadly it's better at 4am than at 8pm)! What's more irritating is Jon is in the other room snoring away! Oh how I wish I could just turn my brain off for just 8 hours! On Monday I just finished telling a friend that I hadn't had a "real bad" migraine in over a year...and voila! I've been nursing a migraine since yesterday afternoon. I've tried my miracle pills (several actually), muscle relaxants, A535 cream to soothe the neck pain, a hot bath to relax, and I even attempted sleep.

Jon & I have a travel meeting today at 10am. Afterwards Jon is off to work and I plan on doing some shopping. Thankfully mom is watching Nathaniel for me so I can do my errands "quickly". I met another adoptive parent online from Ontario who will probably be in Hanoi, Vietnam at the same time as us and he was very nice to send me his packing list. This will be a GREAT help since this is his second time adopting from Vietnam, so he knows what he's talking about. I had to giggle though...I now know how many bras his wife is bringing and even their colors. I also know how many pairs of underwear they are packing...thankfully they seem to be hygienic people! LOL! We'll be staying at the same hotel in Hanoi...I am looking forward to finally meeting him and his family.

Not only do I have to concern myself with shopping and packing, I also have to plan for our 3 cats. Dad will be feeding them and cleaning the litter box but we are still dealing with Daisy and her vomiting episodes. So if I don't want vomit all over my couches/bed while we're gone, I have to think about everything I need to protect! And no one will be here for 3 WEEKS+ to stop her from scratching our couches! Urgh...

I know it sounds like I do a lot of worrying but I really do try and push it all out of my head. I have great difficulty memorizing Bible verses but there is one that I try to repeat to myself whenever I do find myself "worrying"...Matthew 6:27 "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" Our prayer since starting this adoption process has been that the Lord would guide us and provide for us if this is HIS will. He has definitely shown us that this is His will and He has not let us down a step of the way! And I know that something as trivial as a cat vomiting is something I can bring before the Lord and commit it to Him. I shall not worry...I shall not worry...I shall not worry!!!!!

We got "the call"

Yesterday, March 28, 2011 at around 10:15 am we got "the call"! Nathaniel was at school, Jon and I treated ourselves to Mcd's for breakfast and we were sitting around playing SkipBo (our new favorite game!!) The phone rang and Jon got up to answer it as per usual...I HATE THE PHONE! The phone became like a hot potatoe, Jon was dancing around trying to get it in my hands...caller-id told him it was our adoption agency. The nice lady on the other end was singing jingle bells (as nice as the call was, singing jingle bells while we are all dying to see spring was a little mean-spirited LOL). The nice lady then asked me, "Do you have something you would like to ask me?" The only question that came to mind was, "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Jon and I started stomping around as this is the official way to make announcements to mom & dad downstairs! Mom thought we were joking with her, but we yelled down that we're leaving...and to top it off, we're leaving on mom's 60th birthday (ooopppss I don't think I was suppose to announce that part)! So we're on our way in just 9 sleeps! We had a lot of running around to do yesterday with securing our tickets, getting visa pictures, getting travel insurance and Jon spent 4 hours in the dr's office waiting for his last travel shot. Yes you read correctly 4 HOURS...*sigh* Please follow us as we adventure to Vietnam to meet our already precious, beautiful 8 month old baby boy! And please leave as many comments as you like...They will all be read and enjoyed and greatly appreciated!