We are officially in limbo and it is not a good place to be right now. I cannot rush Grace's passport through until we have an official itinerary. I can't get an official itinerary until my agency approves my travel arrangements, I can't even start thinking about a visa until we have the passport and the travel arrangements. So we are at one of those points where you hurry up to wait, wait on people to answer their emails, wait on the post office to deliver the documentation the passport people have now decided they needed, and the sweet girl trying to make the reservations keeps warning me that fares will probably go up and she will only be able to hold them for a short time.
Last night I couldn't even make a decision what airline to fly. I looked at the numbers and the departure and arrival times until they all blended together. I knew someone could surely help me out on picking the best airline. I finally called Josh. Josh told me last time that he could never get the prices on this type of trip that those who specialize in adoption travel could, but I knew he has been all over the place and would have an opinion on airlines.
But first I have to tell you how Josh saved us right after we returned from China with Grace.
I was driving from our other hospital, Methodist Charlton, when I got a phone call from Josh, which was surprising because he wanted to know if I was at home yet. No, still in my car, about 15 minutes away.
Now Josh and Beth, his dear wife whom I have known since we were kids, live in the neighborhood. Josh was home sick with a cold, full of cold medicine, drifting in and out of that NyQuil kind of sleep, when he heard someone try his door. He got up and the guy made excuses and ran off. Josh tries to return to Lala land, but something is bothering him about how the guy reacted. So Josh, running at least 103 temperature :), gets up and starts cruising the neighborhood looking for this guy. Josh is a travel agent, not a policeman. He sees the car in front of my house, with the trunk open, guys shoving my TV into the trunk, 2 others with hands full of stuff, realizes what is going on, so he jumps out of his car and starts chasing them. They throw the stuff down and when they scale a fence, he decides to chase the getaway car. He followed them for miles, calling the police, my dad, and anyone else he could think of.
These guys had to be nuts. We had deadbolt locks, a security system, and a big dog. Yet here is Josh out chasing them on foot and then in the car, in his cold medicine fog! If he had not shown up when he did, I am sure the loss would have been much greater!
Since it happened only a month after we got home, there wasn't a lot of English communication going on with Grace, but I wanted her to feel safe in her new home. Dad and a friend of his had to come over and nail the door shut since they had ripped the molding and door jamb off.
At least with these older house, you had lots of doors to choose from, so I just kind of told her we were trying out a new door. That was fine, but boy did she miss the TV!
Back to the present. I called Josh, gave him our choices of Northwest, Continental, United, or Cathay Pacific. Quick and easy choice for him: Cathay Pacific. The cost is a little more, but the schedule works out for us much better, putting us in Nanchang at a reasonable hour. Thanks Josh for helping with that decision.
I also got an email from our friend Laura today. Laura was one of the first of many Moms I have met who adopted from China. One of the best benefits, that was totally unexpected, about adopting from China, is all the fantastic people you meet. When we tried to start a playgroup, Laura responded immediately. She always made it fun to get the girls together. Today at just the right time I got an email from her. When she heard about my dilemmas, she immediately started trying to help from 300 miles away!
At least I got a few things marked off my list of things to do. Grace and I got hair cuts (my mom says mine looks rather butch. Not exactly the look I was going for!). I just get so hot and knew it would be hotter in China, that I had Tina whack it all off.
We got Grace some new tennis shoes and went to the Container Store. But my Hague Training says kids need a snack about every 2 hours. Well, since we were at Preston and Northwest Highway, there was only one choice of snacks: a Sprinkles cupcake! I really didn't know you could have too much of a good thing, but one of those is too much!
My brochure about the Container Store's travel sale expired on Sunday. Oh well, at least they had some of the things we needed still on sale. Now who sat down one day and thought, Mmmm, I think people will be $100s of dollars just to buy something to contain something in. I believe they even had containers to hold containers! I'm a big fan of Space Saver Bags, especially since I have a ton of clothes I am taking to the orphanage and needed something to hold all of our important documents in one place. Last time, Jana and I split up the cash. For those who don't know, you have to take several thousand dollars in cash, $100 dollar bills that do not have tears, marks, or folds. I had mine in a money belt that was not really comfortable to wear. So after a while I took it off and shoved it into the pocket of the seat in front of me. Jana found it when I went to the restroom and from then on relieved me of the duty to carry anything important!
This has been one of those days when no matter how much you are looking forward, you can't help but continue to look back. It's so difficult to plan something that Jana had been so actively involved in before. It is even more difficult to have her girls with me and that big void that she always filled. I want to tell her something funny one of them said or how Gillian reminds me of her at that age. I want her to be here to put her imprint on them, not some substitute. Even though it goes against everything I have ever been taught, I truly cannot imagine Jana being happy in heaven, without her girls.
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