Farewell, America!

Tomorrow is the day we leave for the adventure of a lifetime.

Many things have led to this day.  For us, of course, there was the paperwork.  There were the social worker visits, fingerprinting appointments, and immigration approvals.  There was OH. MY. GOD. THE. PACKING for 6 people, one of whom I have never met, for 2 ½ weeks. If this kid doesn’t like giant flower headbands, a small piece of my soul will surely wither to ash. 

There was the hammering out of travel details: visas, hotels, planes (Mommy’s got her Ativan!), trains, and passenger vans.  There was the embarrassing attempt to recollect all the gear that babies need and all of the second guessing that occurs when browsing the vast store aisles filled with said gear.  There was the incredibly somber last visit to my sweet Target to pick up all our last supplies.  (My Beloved Target, you know that I simply will have to cheat on you with Chinese WalMart, but please know it means nothing; I will be thinking about YOU the whole time.)   And of course, there were my recurrent nightmares about the flights.  Bygones.  We are ready.  We are ready to love this little girl in real life instead of just through photos.

But there were also things that led to this day that happened somewhere else.  The gravity and heartbreak of what happened to our daughter and her birthmother on a summer day in 2012 in China will never leave me.  We will get the privilege of raising this little girl--sharing in her joys and sorrows, going to her school performances, brushing her hair, baking muffins, helping her fill out college applications.  For reasons most of us will never be able to understand, there is one other mother who will not.   This part always nearly breaks me, yet we’re the one who are getting the best end of the deal.  I can’t imagine how the other missing piece of this puzzle feels.  So while we are SO grateful for all the well wishes and prayers we’ve received, would you take a moment to spare a kind thought or whisper a prayer for the mother who had to walk away? 

During 15 hours of bliss, we fly from San Francisco direct to Hong Kong tomorrow.  We will then drag our incoherent selves to Kowloon where we’ll stay for 2 days at…(drumroll please)…The Nathan Hotel.  You might think we chose it for rather obvious reasons.  But you’d be wrong.  This picture on the hotel’s website is definitely what did it.  

Who can say no to free name brand hygiene products?  Not me. On Friday, we take a train to mainland China and fly from there to the city where we will meet our new daughter and sister.  She will be brought to our hotel on Sunday.

By the way, we did get an update on her this week.  She’s gained some weight and is walking!!!  Can you even stand the preciousness?!  And it looks like they are letting her hair grow out?!  Usually our kids come to us with heads that have a cleaner shave than my legs.

Ok, one more thing, then I’ll shut up.  If you’ve read this whole blog, remember the post where I talked about affording adoption and how somehow things have always worked out for us?  Well, I was hitting the Pepto Bismol pretty hard last week because we had received no grants and it was time to pay final travel fees.  But on Wednesday, we received two grants and a gift from my parents!  On Thursday, Nathan got an unexpected bonus, not to mention a nice raise.  So in 2 days, a huge portion of our adoption costs were covered.  And the rest will be covered by the adoption tax credit.  

Lovely blog readers, new and not so new: We LOVE your comments and emails.  If you are reading, please comment, even if it’s just to say hi and tell us about your day.  While adoption trips are amazing and beautiful and life changing in the best possible way, they can also be messy, heartbreaking and isolating. There is no way to describe the feeling of being in a foreign country with a terrified and possibly grief stricken child who doesn’t know you, surrounded by unfamiliar sights, sounds and smells, and thousands of miles from anyone who might recognize your name.   Suffice to say, there are some pretty intense moments.  So if you stop by here, for the love of unicorns, please tell us what you had for breakfast. 

See you in Hong Kong!