Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
From Zambia
Hello, family and friends!
We are settling in in our apartment. It’s really big and nice (I use the term loosely, of course). But we have a lot of room, 1 and 1/2 bathrooms, big kitchen, and really big living space. The Jeantets came over for dinner last night so that we could all fit around the table together and talk in the family room. Their apartment is on the small side.
Zambia is wonderful! I don’t feel homesick at all here! I ALWAYS feel homesick when I spend the night away from home and I don’t here, so that’s so nice. The windows are open, the kids have a playground right in front of our apartment with a big grassy area to play in, so they can go in and out and play all day. I can see and hear everything through the open windows. There’s an American missionary family staying here for a few days, with kids close to our kids’ ages, so Kate and Will have had the best time playing with them on the playground. Of course, Jeremiah (the Jeantets’ 2 year old little boy) is very popular with them, too! The missionaries leave tomorrow, which is sad, but the playground will still be here.
We went grocery shopping yesterday. In the afternoon, we visited House of Moses, the orphanage we’re adopting from. The lady we met with said that she couldn’t help us with our adoptions till she met with the social worker from the government and that wouldn’t be till Tues, which was not the way we had been told the process would go. But we stayed for 2 hours and held the 16 infants there and fed them bottles, etc., and loved every minute of it! I was in heaven with all the babies! They were all under 6 months old and were so adorable. I wanted all of them, except the one who threw up everywhere!
So back to the adoption info.... We visited the orphanage again today and the older children’s orphanage down the road from House of Moses. We loved them all, but there were a few we thought might be “the one”. So at this point, we’re going to keep visiting and playing with the orphans, meet the social worker on Tues., and hope that they’ll tell us they have a little girl ready to be adopted.
We’ll update as we have news. Kate, Will, and Hudson were so good at the orphanages today. They played so well with all the kids. I was a little worried about Hudson because of his age, etc., but he loved them all and was so sweet to the little ones. I’m so proud of how all 3 of them are doing and how much they’re loving stranger kids and on top of that, strangers who don’t look like us. Today was really great.
We love you all and hope to have some good news soon!!
We are settling in in our apartment. It’s really big and nice (I use the term loosely, of course). But we have a lot of room, 1 and 1/2 bathrooms, big kitchen, and really big living space. The Jeantets came over for dinner last night so that we could all fit around the table together and talk in the family room. Their apartment is on the small side.
Zambia is wonderful! I don’t feel homesick at all here! I ALWAYS feel homesick when I spend the night away from home and I don’t here, so that’s so nice. The windows are open, the kids have a playground right in front of our apartment with a big grassy area to play in, so they can go in and out and play all day. I can see and hear everything through the open windows. There’s an American missionary family staying here for a few days, with kids close to our kids’ ages, so Kate and Will have had the best time playing with them on the playground. Of course, Jeremiah (the Jeantets’ 2 year old little boy) is very popular with them, too! The missionaries leave tomorrow, which is sad, but the playground will still be here.
We went grocery shopping yesterday. In the afternoon, we visited House of Moses, the orphanage we’re adopting from. The lady we met with said that she couldn’t help us with our adoptions till she met with the social worker from the government and that wouldn’t be till Tues, which was not the way we had been told the process would go. But we stayed for 2 hours and held the 16 infants there and fed them bottles, etc., and loved every minute of it! I was in heaven with all the babies! They were all under 6 months old and were so adorable. I wanted all of them, except the one who threw up everywhere!
So back to the adoption info.... We visited the orphanage again today and the older children’s orphanage down the road from House of Moses. We loved them all, but there were a few we thought might be “the one”. So at this point, we’re going to keep visiting and playing with the orphans, meet the social worker on Tues., and hope that they’ll tell us they have a little girl ready to be adopted.
We’ll update as we have news. Kate, Will, and Hudson were so good at the orphanages today. They played so well with all the kids. I was a little worried about Hudson because of his age, etc., but he loved them all and was so sweet to the little ones. I’m so proud of how all 3 of them are doing and how much they’re loving stranger kids and on top of that, strangers who don’t look like us. Today was really great.
We love you all and hope to have some good news soon!!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Getting closer
So much has been going on lately! It's been quite the roller coaster! As of this past Tues., we have confirmed our reservation for the cottage we'll be staying in in Lusaka (the capital of Zambia), we have talked to the officer assigned to our case at Immigration who assured us that she would hurry our application through to approve us to bring a child home from Zambia, the kids have started packing their suitcases, and we've bought our plane tickets for Apr. 26!!!
We are so excited! An added huge bonus is that we are taking British Airways from Philadelphia to London and London to Lusaka. This means that we'll be in London for almost a day on Wed., Apr. 27, so hopefully we'll be able to see some Royal Wedding preparations in person! I've been counting down to the Wedding and realized I would already be in Zambia for the big day, but how exciting that we'll be in London a few days before! But the biggest benefit, in my opinion, of going British Airways is that our other option was Ethiopia Air, and we've heard not so good things about Ethiopia Air, such as, the passengers clapping and cheering when they finally land because it was "up in the air" whether they would actually land or not. But of course, those were really cheap tickets so I was afraid that Luke would insist we go with Ethiopia Air, and I'm so thrilled that we're not. I imagine the trip is going to be enough of an experience without worrying about crashing over the Atlantic Ocean!
So we're making lists and consulting other lists and hearing about things it would've never occurred to us to pack, like travel sized toilet paper because there's no tp in the public restrooms in Zambia. So much to do!
I'm trying to enjoy every minute of the day now since it's like I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant and having the baby in 2 weeks. I'm appreciating Hudson being the baby for now and being a family of only 5 before everything changes.
It's definitely starting to feel more real and not like some far off dream that will happen "one day". Luke and I are taking our live typhoid vaccine, I'm cancelling Hudson's swim lessons I had scheduled for May, we're saying goodbye to Community Bible Study friends because the year will end while we're in Zambia, etc., etc. I'm getting used to the reaction of people thinking we're crazy for doing this, and it doesn't bother me anymore, so that's good. Kate, Will, and Hudson are excited to go play with the orphans and see a new country and Luke and I are excited for them. We think it'll be a wonderful experience for them and hopefully make them appreciate all our blessings a lot more than they currently do, and give them compassion for the orphans and the less fortunate.
Hopefully, my next update will be that we've received our immigration form which is the last piece of paper we need to travel. I forgot to mention we sent all our paperwork to Zambia and they should've received it yesterday so it won't be a surprise when we show up in 2 weeks and say we're ready to adopt a baby.
So that's what's going on with us! And watching the Rays is a nice way to make the days go by faster till we leave! The first week of the season was not nice but things seem to be turning around for them now!
We've been so overwhelmed by family and friends being so excited for us and supporting us, which is so nice. We're so thankful for that!
We are so excited! An added huge bonus is that we are taking British Airways from Philadelphia to London and London to Lusaka. This means that we'll be in London for almost a day on Wed., Apr. 27, so hopefully we'll be able to see some Royal Wedding preparations in person! I've been counting down to the Wedding and realized I would already be in Zambia for the big day, but how exciting that we'll be in London a few days before! But the biggest benefit, in my opinion, of going British Airways is that our other option was Ethiopia Air, and we've heard not so good things about Ethiopia Air, such as, the passengers clapping and cheering when they finally land because it was "up in the air" whether they would actually land or not. But of course, those were really cheap tickets so I was afraid that Luke would insist we go with Ethiopia Air, and I'm so thrilled that we're not. I imagine the trip is going to be enough of an experience without worrying about crashing over the Atlantic Ocean!
So we're making lists and consulting other lists and hearing about things it would've never occurred to us to pack, like travel sized toilet paper because there's no tp in the public restrooms in Zambia. So much to do!
I'm trying to enjoy every minute of the day now since it's like I'm 8 1/2 months pregnant and having the baby in 2 weeks. I'm appreciating Hudson being the baby for now and being a family of only 5 before everything changes.
It's definitely starting to feel more real and not like some far off dream that will happen "one day". Luke and I are taking our live typhoid vaccine, I'm cancelling Hudson's swim lessons I had scheduled for May, we're saying goodbye to Community Bible Study friends because the year will end while we're in Zambia, etc., etc. I'm getting used to the reaction of people thinking we're crazy for doing this, and it doesn't bother me anymore, so that's good. Kate, Will, and Hudson are excited to go play with the orphans and see a new country and Luke and I are excited for them. We think it'll be a wonderful experience for them and hopefully make them appreciate all our blessings a lot more than they currently do, and give them compassion for the orphans and the less fortunate.
Hopefully, my next update will be that we've received our immigration form which is the last piece of paper we need to travel. I forgot to mention we sent all our paperwork to Zambia and they should've received it yesterday so it won't be a surprise when we show up in 2 weeks and say we're ready to adopt a baby.
So that's what's going on with us! And watching the Rays is a nice way to make the days go by faster till we leave! The first week of the season was not nice but things seem to be turning around for them now!
We've been so overwhelmed by family and friends being so excited for us and supporting us, which is so nice. We're so thankful for that!
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