Our India Adoption Journey

I’ve neglected the blog quite a bit obviously.  My last post was the day we met Anjali.  I’ll have to write some posts to capture more of our time in India and some of the great (and the not so great) things we experienced later.  We made it home on Christmas Eve which was a miracle in itself.  Unfortunately we passed around the flu starting with Anjali (in India), Arabelle got it the night before we left Delhi (poor thing had a 103 degree fever while we were running through the airports to catch our flights), then John and I got it the week we were home.  Needless to say, being sick for two weeks, doctors appointments, adjusting to new family dynamics, and returning to work, I haven’t made time to blog.  So long overdue pictures are in order.

The first few weeks was really hard, just with everything going on and then with adjusting to a new personality in the family.  Arabelle was having a hard time taking in what it really meant to have a sibling in the house every second of every day.  She waited and waited for Anjali just as we did for two years but her 3 year old mind couldn’t comprehend someone coming into the family and not going away ever and being in all “her” stuff.  (Honestly, even our adult minds couldn’t comprehend all it was going to take either).  But each week gets better and now Big Sister is much better and even excited about how she can teach her things especially, “Anglish” (English, my little southern girl).  Anjali has been pretty amazing at adjusting to travelling here and being in a completely new environment.  She just goes with the flow it seems.  Granted we have our typical issues that come with adoption such as food struggles, learning her needs, minor sleep things, but all in all she is happy and the Southern accent is already evident here and there.  It’s cute to hear her call for her sister “Air-a-bay-ull” (Arabelle), she can turn a three syllable word into four syllables with great ease.  Ha.  Her first words she learned with us were luckily a whole sentence spoken as one word but a great one “I-need-to-go-potty”.  That was awesome and we hear it every ten minutes.  We were told they only went to the potty twice a day at the orphanage so now being home and free to potty as needed, it’s often, very often.  So we’re working on it.  She can say that with ease but getting her to say “yes” is a different story.  It just won’t come out of her mouth right.  It’s cute.  So things are progressing, it’s hard and sometimes exhausting, but it’s worth it, totally worth it.  Our family of four is a blessing!

It snowed here this week, hence some of the pictures.  We got about two and a half inches of snow at our house which doesn’t happen often.  Doesn’t seem like much but it’s been called the “Snowpocalypse” which is highly fitting for the misery everyone went through.  I won’t go into all of it but we just aren’t prepared for snow here and usually if there is a good chance of it we stay home and off the roads.  But the forecast was a little off this time and the snow storm hit in our area rather than further south of town.  I was at work 25 miles away and left work when it started snowing and sticking to the roads thinking “I want to go home and see Anjali in the snow for the first time ever”.  Once I got on the roads and it was ice, I said “Oh Lord, please just let me get home.”  The traffic in the city and on the interstate were at a complete standstill.  I watched so many cars go up and hill and slide back down into the waiting traffic on the interstate or slide off into the trees.  I never thought my little Neon would make it but after nearly everyone else gave up or decided not to try anymore and abandoned their cars on the side or middle of the interstate I made it.  Five hours later, I was home and I stayed there for two days.  People slept at their offices, children slept in schools, people in their cars on the side of the road, restaurants stayed open all night and fed people who were stranded, people helped out.  Thousands of cars were left abandoned on the roads which was pretty creepy, hence, the “Snowpocalypse” reference.  People on the outside laughed at us but driving on untreated roads covered in ice is hard for anyone anywhere.  Anyway, just saying another eventful week.  But I got home to my family and played in the snow anyway, once I decompressed from the insanity.  So snow pictures are below too!  It’s finally melted and today it is going to be a glorious 60 degrees, can’t wait to go outside without two layers of clothes on.

Last thing, one of our friends is currently in India meeting and bringing home their daughter!  They waited such a long time and finally they are there.  Please pray for them in this time of transition and excitement! Can’t wait to meet her.  🙂

Long overdue post, but I have hardly had a chance to relax much less find an internet source to post though I’ve wanted to.  The one I wrote on Sunday just went through and posted today…ha.  We’ve been here now for 6 full days.  Tomorrow we leave Kerala and go to Delhi.  This post will be short but I’ll leave you with some pictures.  Everything went great on Sunday when we met Anjali.  We even got to take her with us a day early!  She and Arabelle are already playing and fussing like sisters.  It’s such a blessing to see and still kind of hard to believe we are finally here.  I brought a huge range of clothes sizes and shoes and come to find out she wears the same size shoe as Arabelle so they’re sharing shoes already.  However her clothes size is about 12 months in pants and 18 months in shirts.  Her waist is just so much smaller, she’s only a couple inches shorter than Arabelle.  Anyhow, everyone is fast asleep except me, and I’m fading out after a long day.  Tomorrow we travel on a plane to Delhi, pray it goes smoothly!

 

Our personal attempt at a family photo. I have better ones that need uploaded from the camera of course.

December 14
It is Saturday night and after so many unknown hours of plane rides and airports we are here!  It’s hard to comprehend that we are really here after nearly two years.  India is amazing already even though it was seen through the eyes of a delirious traveler who can’t sleep on planes. I have never been more tired in all my life. So we (I) broke the jetlag rule and slept for 5 hours right when we got in at 6 am. But it’s bedtime again and i welcome it gladly!  Arabelle did amazing on the plane no real meltdowns at all. I wish i could say the same for myself…ha. She was hilarious when we finally got here, of course everyone was looking at us when we walked out of the airport and we were searching for our driver. He saw us first and then unfolded the big sign with or names on it with a huge grin and wave. Arabelle was riding on top of the luggage cart and when everyone sitting outside was watching us she said “look mommy, all our friends are here, look!” And she waved vigorously saying “hey friends”. Of course everyone waved back and just smiled big smiles.

The hotel we are at, for only tonight, is on one of the rivers here in Kerala, i couldn’t understand the name but will look it up later but it’s really beautiful. We finally mustered up the strength and mental awareness after sleeping to go for a walk around the resort. We went down to the river and walked all around. There’s some type of tree (shaped like a fir tree or something that is in the middle of the courtyard and it’s all decorated with Christmas lights and ornaments. Really neat. And down at the river we saw a ton of bats, big ones! Like i thought they were hawks or some big bird until one flew in the tree next to us and hung upside down. And we looked at one of the infamous houseboats of Kerala that was docked at the edge of the river.

Right now it’s still surreal. Tomorrow afternoon we meet our sweet girl for the first time! The next day we go to court for final approvals…maybe. Pray that everything is great tomorrow and she maybe recognizes us (every adoptive mommas dream) and she at least warms up to us a bit. And pray that Monday is our court date, we are moving forward like it is but there is a chance the judge may not be back in town. Pray he is and that things go smoothly, I’m still nervous about that part!

And sorry, i only have a couple picture on my phone so far, no wifi at this hotel, will be tomorrow. More pictures then.

Arabelle eating aKrispy Kreme doughnut at the airport in Dubai

Arabelle eating Krispy Kreme doughnut at the airport in Dubai

Backwaters of Kerala

Hotel

Hotel for tonight

Please pray that we will be united with our little girl soon!  We have been waiting for her passport for weeks and found out today that they have not even been able to apply for it yet due to some political strikes in the area.  We just want to be with her and bring her home so badly.

I know God’s timing is perfect, I just wish it was now.  Please pray that everything will get back in order and be open for them to apply for her passport as soon as Monday.  I know it can happen!  There’s still a small chance she could be home with us by Christmas…praying for that small chance.

And please pray for our friends who are in India as of today and will be meeting their girls in the next couple of days.  They will also get to meet our sweet daughter while they are there.  I can’t wait!

Pray with us please! 

It’s been three months since I’ve put an update out.  I’m a pretty terrible blogger, I know.  But just because it’s been three months doesn’t mean nothing has been going on.  So much!  We had a speed bump back in July while waiting for NOC but after huge prayers, meetings with consulates, more prayers, and a much needed long weekend at the beach, things were resolved and we are moving at full speed again!  We received notice of our NOC on August 27 however, when our agency finally got the paper in the mail the first week of September, we saw that it was actually issued on August 22…John’s birthday!  So cool!  Along with our notice of NOC from the orphanage, we received 18 new photos of our sweet baby girl.  And there is no question about her personality.  It shows on her face so much, I love it.  She is going to be a feisty one that girl.  She showed the sweet smile, the frown, and the classic caught-ya “I wasn’t doing anything wrong” look that transcends cultures.  I love facial expressions for that reason; you can read so much from them and not even speak the same language.  🙂

In the last two weeks we received notice that our case is officially in the courts and they expect to get written orders in October!!  So after that they will apply for her passport which should only be a matter of weeks after court.   We could seriously be looking at travel by early November.  I pray that is the case and that there are no other roadblocks that popup to keep us from our daughter any longer.  I think I can actually breathe a little these days, maybe.  Can I really start thinking about travel, for real?  We don’t expect to hear anything new until October sometime.  I haven’t looked forward to time passing without news during this process ever, ‘til now.

We’ve had some fundraisers throughout our adoption mostly consisting of yard sales and the bracelets we made.  Both were great and a HUGE help on our fees.  But a fellow adoptive momma, also adopting from India, has recently started a fundraiser selling t-shirts.  I think they are AWESOME and am totally getting one. They have to sell 50 in order for even one to get printed.  If they don’t sell 50 then you don’t lose any money. But wouldn’t it be awesome if at least 50 people were walking around sporting cool shirts to bring orphan awareness to everyone on the street?  Below is what the shirt looks like, it comes in soft-tee ($15), long-sleeve tee ($20), or hoodie ($35).  Click here to buy one! https://www.bonfirefunds.com/natasha

I don’t know where to start now. I have been deep in the valley and then up on the mountain top. I guess I try not to share so much of the mishaps and frustrations for some reason. But now that the latest ones are hopefully past, I can recap them and move on to the good stuff. Since March we were working on getting our three approvals from the U.S. side of things otherwise known as the I800a, the i800, and the DS-230 (Article 5). Last adoption update we were supposed to be getting our i800a in the mail at any moment. We got it and thought the i800 would be a snap since they already had it after all the mishaps with paperwork routing and such at USCIS with the i800a. Well, right, again I was reminded that nothing goes as planned in this process. Our i800 was in the Officer’s hands, had been reviewed and ready to hit “Approve” and then she couldn’t find our i800a paperwork. Yes, the paperwork I had received approval for the very day before. Long story and miserable 3 weeks later short, our paperwork had been routed to the “Expired Paperwork” facility across the country rather than just back downstairs! Insane…so it took two weeks to get it back and then to the correct floor of the building. Believe me these last few sentences pack a lot of frustration and desperation in them. I literally called or emailed every day while our paperwork was lost. So, we FINALLY received our i800 provisional approval (Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as an Immediate Relative) on May 22 nd ! It actually made it to us in the mail on last Tuesday. So we quickly sent in for our final approval on the U.S. side last Tuesday night! This is the visa application which results in a letter of approval (Article 5) that our sweet girl will be allowed to enter the country with us and that the U.S. approves for the adoption to move forward! This is supposed to be the fastest approval averaging at about 1 week and the best part to me is that it comes in the middle of the night when you are sleeping so I don’t have to psychotically hit “refresh” on my email account every 30 seconds throughout the day when I’m trying to work to see if I have received any updates. And I woke up on Wednesday to find, YES, our letter!!! Woohoo!

And the good/great news doesn’t end there. The next step in the process is the ARC meeting and approval which is basically the State level approval over there to say they approve of the adoption. Monday morning our agency sent me the email text from the orphanage where ‘A’ is wonderfully cared for. We had inquired last week as to when the date for the committee meeting would be and their response to our agency today was that the “ARC meeting is over” and we are now waiting on the NOC (No Objection Certificate)!!! Again such a short sentence brings so much relief and joy. That brings about instant reflexive text messages and phone calls to anyone who knows what an ARC approval means (which aren’t that many).  🙂 My husband, my Mom, and my dear friends in the adoption world. I know there are many families in the process that have been waiting agonizing months to hear of this approval. I prayed and prayed that we wouldn’t have to endure that wait. And I continue to pray and pray that the NOC will come soon as well, then court, then passports, and travel. Pray with us and for all the other families and children waiting. We’re still praying that we have a summer travel date!

Something else I haven’t written about was the fact that God put in our path meeting another family who is adopting from the SAME orphanage where our sweet baby girl lives. I have not the words to express how awesome that is! And I can’t wait to meet them all in person and to build our friendship and have the ability for our baby girl to be connected to these friends from her birth land and first home. Though it will take some travel and coordination, it will be great. I can take on The Big Apple from time to time!!  🙂 (And yes, just me calling it The Big Apple should tell you something.).

Hopefully next adoption update post will be NOC! Pray that things move smoothly and timely and in our favor (no roadblocks please)!

Tomorrow she turns three! It’s hard to remember life before her. Such a blessing and so much fun and laughs she brings to us. Happy Birthday sweet girl!