Adventures of the Pfeiffer Family

'20 20' ABC News.on Gendercide in India

2011-12-26T19:53:00.000-08:00

I watched this episode a couple Friday night ago and the images and stories that I heard and saw are still haunting me. So many emotions well up within me when I consider the fact that 50,000 female unborn children are being aborted EVERY month in India. It is estimated that since 1980 approx. 40 million girls are missing in India due to sex selected abortions, neglect, or murder.  To kill a baby because she is a girl is mind boggling to me and makes me irate, disgusted, sad, and broken hearted to name a few. What happened to God created ALL people equal?

What is shocking to me is that this is such a common practice in India and is widely accepted. There seems to be NO enforcement of the current laws to prevent the abortion of a baby simply because it is a girl. It breaks my heart to see the look on the face of the relative who holds the baby who was just born after she discovers it is a girl. She doesn't have to say a word, her face says it all....disappointment, sadness, etc. I understand that girls cost a family a lot of money when it comes time to marry, but to have money (the dowry) be the motivation to kill that child is up hauling. So sad that money has taken a higher place than a human life that God created!

In part 2 of the video below I was shocked as I watched the undercover sting happen and the doctor reports with great sadness that the baby is a girl and that the best option would be to abort the baby. Since the mother is so far along they will not be able to perform an abortion, but for more money he will give her drugs to induce a miscarriage. To kill this baby girl it will cost between 60,000 to 70,000 rupees ($1,114 to 1,300 US dollars). The entire scene plays out as such a common practice, which it is, and no emotion attached to what is being suggested....to kill a precious baby! Thankfully these two doctors faced charges, but this appears to be a rare occurrence.

In the second video I was encouraged to see so many happy little girls safe in the Unique Home.  I am so thankful for homes and orphanages in India that give a mother who makes the choice to carry her baby girl to term the option of having a safe and loving place for that baby to go if they are not able to care for her. I find it inspiring how as an orphan herself she established this home to love and protect these girls. She knows all too well what each of these girls have faced. To think that most of these children arrive "half dead" because of the drugs the mother has been given to try to kill them is heart crushing. What a blessing it is to have a women who lives her life bringing these girls back to life and giving them the love and respect they deserve. It is understandable why she doesn't allow the children to be adopted out, because she doesn't want the possibility of anything more harmful to happen to these girls. It thrills me that she teaches the girl their value and that they have a choice. It is sickening to think that thousands of girls in India are shown from birth (if they even make it that far) and throughout their life that they have no value and are only good for producing a boy child for a man. It is so easy living in America to take for granted all the rights women have compared to our fellow women around the world.

This episode really touched my heart, because we have adopted a baby girl from India.   I am so thankful to our daughter's birth mother and father. They chose LIFE for their baby! I don't have all the details or if they knew they were having a girl prior to birth, but I know that this beautiful women carried her baby to term and then after delivery made the decision to relinquish her rights to her precious baby for whatever reason.  This speaks volumes to me!  Whether gender played a role in her decision I do not know, but she chose life for her baby and as a result I have been blessed with a beautiful, joyful, and full of life baby girl. For this I will be forever grateful.

After seeing a 20/20 episode like this, reading articles and books, and hearing testimony from workers in country who face this epidemic daily, it makes me want to adopt all the little girls from India. Since this is impossible, I pray for their safety and that some how they can hear of God's love for them and how valued and important they truly are.

Adoption Today Magazine

2011-12-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

Look who made it on the front cover of the December issue of Adoption Today Magazine. A few months back our adoption agency sent out an email asking for photos for the magazine. We decided to send in a few and next thing we know Alesha is selected for the front cover. We are excited that the magazine and our agency gave us this opportunity. Alesha's daddy took the photo, too. He has a gift of caputuring emotion and personality.

Let the Christmas Season Begin.

2011-12-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

It is tradition at our home to put up the Christmas tree and decorate the day after Thanksgiving. The boys were SO excited to decorate this year. As they went to sleep on Thanksgiving night they confirmed that we were indeed putting the tree up the next day :-) Since we have allergies to fresh cut Christmas trees we invested in a fake tree a number of years ago and this helps in making sure that putting the Christmas tree up on a specific day happens without an issue.

Since the boys were little they have helped me put up the tree and all the decoration. Every year they have taken on more of the set-up on their own. The last 2 years they have completely set up the tree, put on the lights, decorations, and decorated the inside and outside of our home. I am impressed to say the least. The only sad part is that I miss going through each decoration one by one and remembering where it came from and what the significance is. Now I just travel down memory lane as I gaze upon the beautiful tree my boys set up and when it comes time to pack the tree away.

Two things that are amazing to me -

1. My boys clean up their mess when they are done decorating. They put everything back where it goes and all that is left is a home transformed into a beautiful Christmas scene.

2. Alesha, does not touch the tree or anything on it. She loves to gaze at the lights and I find her standing looking at all the decorations, but she never touches them. When my boys were little, this was NOT the case :-)

*apparently I forgot to turn these pics before I saved them and blogger won't post them the correct way. Sorry you will just have to tilt your head for most of these :-)

Tree already assembled. This didn't take long!

Now onto the lights and decorations

The finished product. I did not lift a finger!

When I was younger a friend of our family gave me the stocking below. I thought it was cute so when I got married I made one for Darin, too. As you can see I have added one with every child. Last year I didn't get Alesha's stocking done before Christmas. I was determined this year to have it completed and I finally did it. Each of the kid's stockings represent what they they liked when they were young. Since Alesha listens to music all day every day and sings constantly I thought this would be a good fit for her.

Looks better when it is really dark. They have added some lights since this photos was taken.

We have a TEENAGER in the house!!!

2011-12-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

Our oldest son, Martin, turned 13 years old on November 6th! I am still coming to grips with having a TEENAGER in the house! Still not sure how this happened so quickly. It seems like yesterday I was in the hospital holding him right after delivery. Martin we are proud of the young man you have become. You are a passionate, kind, talented, creative, and loving person who is a follower of Christ. We love you very much! Happy Birthday, son.

Martin, decided to have his party at SkyHigh Sports this year. The boys jumped for an hour after school then we came home for pizza, pop, ice cream cake, and more games. It is crazy how much energy 6 middle school boys have and how much noise they can produce. LOL.

Exhausted after jumping for a solid hour!

Playing dodge ball for an hour straight.

The pizza feast. These boys can sure eat!

October Update

2011-12-06T11:20:00.000-08:00

We took our annual trip to our local pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful day to take the tractor ride down to the patch to find the perfect pumpkin.

Alesha, was a lady bug this year for Halloween. Daddy took some fantastic pictures of her in his new photo studio!

We visited Alesha's great grandma at her assisted living home. She sure brought a lot of smiles to the faces of the elderly living there.

The pumpkins - Alesha liked to just carry her around, so we didn't carve it this year.

Alesha just finished a tumble class at the local recreation center. She really enjoyed it.

I looked high and low for a Diwali festival in our area to attend, but could not find one. So I decided to cook a bunch of Indian food and invite our neighbors over to share in the feast. Our neighbors are from Tibet and lived in India for several years so they are familiar with the holiday and gave us some interesting background and information. As you can see I did not decorate with lights or even a festive table cloth for that matter. Maybe next year I will be more on the ball. Alesha still seems to be oblivious to holidays at this point, so I guess I am not leaving any major scars :-)

The F Word: Famine is the Real Obscenity (US)

2011-10-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

Please sign this petition http://act.one.org/sign/hungry_no_more_us

Triggers

2011-09-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

We all have "triggers" or flashbacks of some sort or the other. I will hear a song or eat a certain food and it reminds me of my dad who passed away many years ago and those emotions come to the surface in a hurry. I hear the songs that were played at my wedding and the memories of that day flash before me in an instant. There are various reminders of my childhood, pregnancy, work, friends, etc. It seems to be easy to connect the dots on what memory is caused by the trigger. I can seem to identify the emotions or reactions, because I have previous knowledge of those events. The problem for me is that even though I can seem to identify my own triggers, it seems difficult to determine what other people's triggers are, especially my daughters.
After leaving Alesha in the church nursery for the first time a couple weeks ago and experiencing the regression in the following weeks, it got me to thinking about "triggers". Today marks 2 weeks since I left her in the nursery. She played happily for 1/2 hour and then they called me because she was crying. As I ran through the church to the nursery a flood of emotions hit me. I shouldn't have left her, is this going to cause regression?, what caused her to suddenly begin crying? As I rushed to the top of the two flights of stairs I could her her screams. As I ran for the door to comfort my sweet girl, I was stunned that she didn't even run to me. When I opened the gate and walked towards her she just stood there not moving an inch and screaming. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead. It was as if she totally checked out. I called her name as I walked towards her scooping her up in my arms. She was shaking and screaming as she buried her face in my shoulder. It took a long time to calm her down. :-( I asked the workers what happened and they said that she was playing so happily and then all of the sudden she just started crying. She said it was as if she got bored and realized that I was not there. This might have been the case, but I think there was a lot more to it with the reaction I saw from my precious girl. I finally got her calmed down and we had a snack together and then we left for home. I knew she might have a little difficulty with the nursery, but I didn't expect this.

I had tried several times before to leave her in the nursery and it was clear to me that she was not ready. The week prior to leaving her, I stayed with her the entire time and observed from a distance to see how she would do. She did fantastic, so I thought it was the perfect time to give it a try. Clearly this time there was something that triggered inside of her mind and heart to cause such a reaction. It was not a reaction of, I don't want to be here and I want my mom. Her reaction was that of terror. It took me only a few minutes to reach her, but by that time trauma had occurred.

These last two weeks have been very emotionally draining for me. To see her become so clingy and not wanting anybody to hold her, but me, brings me back to when we first arrived home from India. I feel sad and broken hearted that Alesha experienced such trauma. I try not to second guess my choice in putting her in the nursery. These events have me praying to God for guidance and insight on what to do in the weeks to come. I pray that God will comfort her precious mind and heart and help her to feel secure again. All I know to do is hold her, love her, reassure her, comfort her and pray for her.

This is the biggest trigger I have seen to date, but there are have been a number of triggers along the way that I have not been able to identify. I am puzzled when we are going about our day and out of the blue I sense her becoming very uncomfortable and she wants to be held immediately as she begins to whine or cry. One example of this is when we walk down long corridors. All is well until we get about half way down and then she begins to panic and wants to be picked up immediately. I always pick her up and reassure her that everything is okay, but wonder what it is that is causing this reaction. When she becomes hysterical when she sees a balloon floating in the sky (whether it is her balloon or not), it makes me wonder what is the event or memory that triggers such a reaction. At times like these it becomes clear to me that there is a 15 month gap of information that I simply do not have access to. What is going through her mind at these moments of panic? What is the flashback or memory that is causing her to feel so uneasy and scared?
These experiences make me very aware that triggers, flashbacks, and regression can occur at any time for any reason, even after being home for 15 months. I am aware that I have limited answers for times like these and that I need to rely on God for his comfort and wisdom. Triggers are a part of life. Figuring out how to handle them as they arise appears to be the great challenge.

Annual Oak's Park Trip - August 31, 2011

2011-09-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember my kids have participated in the summer read program at our local library. You are required to read (or be read to) 15 hours. Once your tally sheet is completed, you turn it in for your prizes. There are gift certificates to a couple restaurants, local attractions, discounted tickets to a sporting event, and you get to pick out a new book to keep as your very own.

Our family loves to read so completing the 15 hours is not a problem. The prizes are more of perk than an incentive. This year Alesha, participated as well as both boys. It did take longer to complete those 15 hours for her as sitting still is not her strong suit :-)

The day finally arrived for our annual visit to the local amusement park. I knew it wouldn't be as "cool" this year since we had been to Great America, but it was still a fun thing to do on a cool summer day.

Waiting for the ticket counter to open

Chilling out while we wait for the boys to get off the scary ride.

This was the first time she had been on this ride so Luke went with her. I love how they are holding hands.

I love the smiles on their faces in this shot!

I'm a big girl. I can go all by myself. I love how she crosses her feet.

The car ride. At one point she bumped her head on the steering wheel. She didn't cry or anything, but then I looked at her forehead and saw this.........

a huge bump starting to swell in the perfect shape of a circle. It didn't take long to fade away.

Luke took Alesha down this huge slide. They were both laughing by the time they reached the bottom.

My three sailors.

Beach trip to Gearhart Condo - August 25-26, 2011

2011-09-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

We had planned to go tent camping again up around Mt. Hood. The problem, a major thunderstorm with hail and lightening was headed in that direction the day we planned to leave. We decided to wait a day and see if things improved, but they did not. So onto "plan B". The Oregon coast looked like it had nice weather so we headed out to Darin's condo in Gearhart. This was quite a luxury compared to camping in a tent :-) The weather was really nice and we actually had a chance to play on the beach and get in the water. It was Alesha's first experience with ocean water and she had a BLAST! I thought she would be too cold, but she was having so much fun jumping and running around the cold water didn't seem to bother her.

Darin took advantage of the overcast skies in the early morning and did a mini photo shoot of the kids. I LOVE these photos!!!!! Thank you honey!

These were taken on the balcony of the condo.

Martin (will be 13 in November)

Luke, 11 years old

Alesha, 2 1/2 years old

Then we headed down towards the beach. These were taken on the hillside right before you drop down onto the beach.

I decided to put some flowers in Alesha's hair and I was surprised at what a difference a few flowers can make :-)

Finally onto the sandy beach! The clouds started to burn off, the sun came out, and playing in the ocean came quickly thereafter.

Alesha, was hysterically laughing as the water would swirl around her feet as it went back out. It was so fun to see her face and hear her laugh with delight!

I love how Luke isn't even touching the ground in this picture.

This last wave got us really wet.........

so wet, that the pants needed to come off.

My boys decided that rolling in the sand soaking wet would be a great idea. I believe I heard the words "Sand Angels"

We had a fantastic couple of days at the coast. Thanks mom and dad for letting us use the condo. We have lots of great memories and photos to remember this trip.

India Weekend August 2011

2011-09-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

This is a weekend I look forward to every year! It is a time when friends from near and far gather together to spend a few special days together. This year was so fun to have additional families joining us. Even though most of do not live in the same state we all have a common bond and that is our children that we have adopted from India.

I so enjoyed seeing all the children playing together. This year several children had just recently arrived home (Asha, Ajay, and Tanaya). How fun it was for me to be able to hold Asha and Ajay again. It had been over a year since I had held them in India when we picked Alesha up. Ajay, was one of Alesha's cribmates for a short time in India. It was fun to see them together and get an updated picture of the two of them. It was amazing how much all the children had changed in just one years time.

Ajay and Alesha (cribmates)

On Friday, we spent some time at Washington Park playing in the sand and the play structures. In the evening we made our way out to Blue Lake Park for dinner and a time of playing in the water and sand. I loved looking down on the beach and seeing all these beautiful brown skinned children playing together. I am sure others at the park must have wondered what was going on. It was fun to talk about our journey to our children, our travels to India, the adjustments of expanding our families, etc. Conversation is easy when you have all traveled the same road :-).

On Saturday there was another park day and then we met at Lisa B's house for a bbq and a time of swimming in a huge pool. The water was refreshing for all the kids as it was a hot day! Again the pool was full of mostly little brown children squeeling with delight. As my friend, Julie, said it was strange to have to look more closely to find your child. Usually in a pool your brown beauty is easy to spot, but not this weekend :-)

Asha and Alesha playing in the sand

Sunday, was the India Festival in downtown Portland. As you enter the square where the event is taking place your senses are bombarded with the sounds of Indian music, the smell of amazing food, and the sights of brilliant colored outfits flowing about as the dancers perform. The crowds were reminiscent of India as well as the high 90 degree day we were having. The festival is as close as you can get to being in India while remaining state side :-)

This year, Alesha had a very different reaction than last year. Last year, she had just gotten home and was still adjusting. I held her most of the time, but she seemed really comfortable with everything. This year, she seemed really overwhelmed. It could have been some exhaustion from the previous two days, but she was really clingy and felt really uncomfortable/unnerved. My friend, Heidi's little girl, who came home the same time as Alesha was having the same reaction.

After we met up with all our friends, we made our way to the food line to get some lunch. The food was delicious. Even though Indian food is Alesha's favorite, she really didn't want to eat. After lunch we made our way to the tent that was doing henna. I have never gotten henna and figured this was a great time to give it a try. Alesha, sat on my lap while I had my hand and arm done and then to my amazement she wanted some, too. As I held her hand in mine, the sweet young girl painted henna on my girl's tiny little hand. Alesha, just gazed up at her and then her hand and didn't move until it was all done. I was impressed! At a concert earlier this summer she cried when we tried to have a ladybug painted on her hand. It was fun to watch her over the next few days point to her hand and say henna, over and over again. Eventhough it has long faded, she will still point to her hand and say henna. It made a lasting impression!

As the heat was continuing to rise and the kids were melting down one by one, we all said our goodbyes. I so wish we all lived closer together. The memories and pictures from this year will have to hold me over until we meet again next year. I am thankful we have email, blogs and phones to keep in touch in the meantime. What a gift it is to have friends who share such a precious bond......this includes all of my other blogger friends, too :-)

Here is a link to the photos that my husband took on Saturday and Sunday. It is easier to share the link than to download each picture to post to blogger.
https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=442788f05e137632&sc=photos&id=442788F05E137632%213204&sff=1

Already looking forward to next year!

Camp Dakota - August 15-17, 2011

2011-09-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

We went camping with our friends the Fosters. Camp Dakota is a great place to camp! We rented 2 yurts that were right next to each other. It worked out great. We ate our meals together and traded off nights of campfires and smores. The weather was great and we had a lot of fun together. It would be great to make it a yearly tradition.

They have an 18 hole disc golf course, which was a lot of fun.

Me playing Rescue Heroes with JJ.

Alesha, trying her first pistachio.

I was building towers for the kids using the bucket of kindling wood.

The Foster's yurt had a ping pong table and foosball table, which was great fun for everybody.

Ashton doesn't seem to like the wood bin as much as Alesha

Friends.

Our group photo right before we hit the zip lines!

Camp Dakota has recently put in 3 zip lines and an obstacle course. We decided to take the plunge and do the zip line course. I am not a big fan of heights so it was a stretch for me. I really enjoyed it after I got over the shock of jumping off a platform, zooming down a line, to land on the next platform. Our boys had a BLAST! We all had a great time and it made for some fun memories.

Martin's first day of 7th grade!

2011-09-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe I have a 7th grader, too. Not to mention he will turn 13 in a couple months! YIKES, that means I will have a teenager in the house! I am thrilled to have both the boys attending the same school this year. This means we will all be on the same schedule, which makes life a bit easier. Martin, was cool as ice this morning. He is excited to get back to band and see his friends.....the actual academic part of it didn't have the same excitement :-) I am excited to hear how the first day went. Praying for a successful year for both my boys.

My 7th grader!

This picture looks like she is saying to Martin "You are going to be gone the WHOLE day?"

Alesha, will miss Martin

He humored me, too.

My 6th and 7th grader.

Funny boys!

Getting ready for the ride to school with their friend who lives across the street.

Off goes my 7th grader. Hard to believe he is that old.

Luke, the 6th Grader!

2011-09-06T19:20:00.000-07:00

I am still trying to wrap my brain around our youngest son starting 6th grade this morning! This is MIDDLE SCHOOL!!!! How did this happen? Our middle school has all the 6th graders attend the first day without the 7th or 8th graders present. I really like this idea. It gives them a chance to figure out where things are and get their bearings before all the BIG kids come.

Today was a success! Luke, came home happy and said he only got lost twice :-) He has some classes with some friends, which always helps :-) I am continuing to pray for a wonderful school year.

My 6th grade boy!

Alesha, is REALLY going to miss her brother.

I had him hold up his fingers so I could remember what year of school he was in when I look at the picture many years from now. He didn't want to do it, but humored his mom :-)

Off he goes.....I just stood there still in shock that he was going to middle school!

Ocean Park, Washington trip July 28-31, 2011

2011-09-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

At the end of July the kids and went to my mom's house up in Washington for a visit while Darin was away at a retreat. We had perfect weather the entire time we were there and had a lot of fun. We were there long enough that I actually got to relax. Usually the trips are shorter and I feel like I am packing up everything just after I unpacked it.

My mom put up a fence around her garden and wanted all the grandkids to paint it for her. Here are the results.

I used Alesha's hands to make flowers. She was NOT impressed by having paint on her hand. It was a much more difficult process than I thought.

The end result. We had to use Martin, Luke and my hand to make it complete. Alesha, refused to put her hand in the paint anymore. She also played with this sponge and pitcher for about an hour.

One of the days we headed to Cape Disappointment. It is a beautiful cove with lots of drift wood and places to play in the water and sand.

After some searching the boys found this little secluded beach area. It was the perfect place to play for several hours away from the wind and the crowds.

Alesha with my mom. Yes, my mom has a broken foot, but that didn't stop her from going to the beach with the grandkids.

The boys had a blast climbing on all the HUGE rocks.

Luke made a teeter-totter for Alesha

Our three blessings

Martin and Alesha pretending to be in a boat.

Smores are always a must when we go to grandma and grandpa's house.

Saturday, we went to the Saturday Market in Ilwaaco. It is a really fun market with lots of interesting things to look at.

Alesha, wanted to walk, but decided her baby needed to be pushed in the stroller.

This old man was playing and singing as we walked along. Alesha was fascinated by him and stopped to gaze at him as he played. She danced a little bit and really enjoyed it.

All of us at the end of our trip. We were blessed by a sweet man named, Cliff, who bought my boys bags of kettle corn. He said that he wanted to do a good deed. So sweet. Our boys were thrilled and very thankful for his generosity.

Later that day we headed for the annual trip to the local arcade. Here we are playing Deal or No Deal.

After we left the arcade we saw a horse drawn carriage going down the street. I thought this would be so fun. We found the boarding area and before we knew it we were ready for our ride through town. Just before we left the driver looks back and asks my boys if they would like to ride up front with him and help him lead the horses. Both boys jumped up with excitement and took their places behind the reins.

The little bear Alesha is holding was given to her by a man at the arcade. He cashed in his tickets, bought the bear, and turned around and gave it Alesha. What a nice guy.

My boys behind the reins.

This was taken after the ride was over. The man with the hat let each of the boys take the reins during the trip through town. It was really cool and he talked to them the entire time about the horses and how to get the horse to do what you want them to do. It was a wonderful experience!

On the last day before we left for home, I decided to add some additional artwork to the fence. Alesha's flower garden looked too lonely :-)

Me with my little helper. Here is Luke's completed artwork.

As I was painting I turned around and found Alesha painting her toenails with soap using a paintbrush. What a creative little girl.

Almost completed. Ran out of time. I think I will put a tree or bushes to the left of the rainbow or just complete the arch. Not quite sure yet.

Berry Picking

2011-09-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

This summer we tried to make up for last summers lack of berry picking. This year we picked strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, marionberries, and blackberries. Our freezer is now full of frozen berries for smoothies, cobblers, and lots of freezer jam.

I am always amazed when I enter a berry field to see how the rows of berries seem to continue for miles. You are unable to see the end of most rows until you walk half way down them. As I pick each individual berry I am reminded of how amazing God is. His creation is really a beautiful thing. To see how every berry is made so differently from the other, whether it be size, color, shape, the vine it is picked from, some with thorns, some from small bushes, it all brings me back to God's creativity. There is just something about being out in a berry field with the sun beating down on your back as you pick berries that makes me happy and thankful.

Our boys are amazing berry pickers. They do such a wonderful job and are fast, too. Alesha, enjoyed playing in the dirt mostly and running up and down the rows. She did pick some berries, but doesn't like the taste of any of the berries, except for a possible blueberry hear and there :-)

Alesha, loved to pick off each micro berry from the marionberry. This kept her busy for quite some time.

Just a small amount of our berries picked that day.

This is what happens when one washes their hands with berries.

Blueberry field at the beginning of our picking day

Martin giving a high five after Alesha picked a berry and put it in his bucket.

Alesha helping Luke pick berries.

I think she stuffed in her mouth as many berries that would fit :-)

VOODOO Doughnut

2011-08-28T08:29:00.000-07:00

My husband and I have heard of Voodoo Doughnut for many years since we have lived just outside of Portland our entire life, but we have never gone there. It was when we were out one day that we had a fleeting thought of, we should check out Voodoo Doughnut. The problem, we didn't even know where it was. Our friends from Germany who had been living here for a couple years had been there several times, so I thought why not call them and find out where it was located. It was at the moment we looked at each other and just laughed. How ridiculous for us to call our friends who are from Germany to ask them where a local Portland icon was located. We simply could not bring ourselves to do it.

At the end of July after skyping with our German friends, who are now back in Germany, we decided it was high time we took the plunge and find out what was SO great about Voodoo Doughnut. We packed the kids in the car and headed downtown. We found a parking spot in a lot nearby and crossed the street and made our way to the end of the long line that stood before us. Thankfully it was a nice morning and a man was playing some good music on the street corner. After about 1 1/2 we finally arrived hot, tired and had a cranky little girl at this point at the doorway of the longed for donut shop. I joked with the girl standing in line with us that after this long a wait I will be leaving with a dozen donuts not just a couple :-) She told me that she was there earlier in the morning and the line was over twice as long as it was right now. She decided to eat her breakfast and people watch until the line slimmed down before she found her place in line. Apparently there is ALWAYS a long line at this place.

The sign posted on the door said that no credit cards are accepted, just cash. They did however have an ATM conveniently located inside the establishment. When I saw this sign I was thankful that we had cash on us, because we don't use an ATM card and we had a credit card. To think that I would have stood in line for 1 1/2 to be denied the beloved donut would have been beyond irritating.

The inside of Voodoo is quite a sight. With the blaring music, employees yelling out crazy names of donuts and the smell of the donuts had all your senses at their peek. We quickly picked out our donuts from the display case that was twirling about. I felt pressured to make a decision quickly as I knew there were tons of people outside in heat trying to make there way in. We finally paid our bill and headed outside to taste these creative looking donuts.

The family favorite

This was the best apple fritter I have ever had!

I will say that these are amazing donuts! They tasted really good! Would I go and wait in line again to get them, probably not any time soon, but I am glad that we had the experience :-)

The Devastation Happening in the Horn of Africa

2011-08-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

This is a post that I put on our other blog over at http://thirtythrupoverty.blogspot.com/ I am posting this URGENT need here as well in hopes that more people might see it. *** It appears that the text below is being cut off because of the layout of the other blog. Please click on the link above for full post. Thank you!

So far this blog has been used to raise awareness of the extreme poverty around the world. As we continue to bring awareness we would also like to provide you with ways that you can make a difference in helping the millions of people who are living in extreme poverty today.

The news clips that are coming from the devastation that is happening in the Horn of Africa is overwhelming and heartbreaking. The sheer number of people that are being affected is staggering. To think that 30,000 children have already died in the last 3 months alone in mind blowing. I agree with the reporter in the above new clip that the headlines of every newspaper and every news clip should speak of the 600,000 children who are on the brink of starvation every single day until there is action to help these children. To think that over 12 million people are starving is hard to even comprehend, yet it is true and it is happening RIGHT NOW!

Living in the Western world we are so far removed from situations like this. It is only when I view these news clips as though it were ME walking those long dusty roads in the heat of the day with no food or water. It is when I picture myself carrying my dying child while my other children struggle to walk out of sheer weakness from lack of food and water. It is when I put myself in the place of the mother who has to decide which child to continue this long journey with and what child to leave behind. It is when I put myself in the place of the mother who has to walk away from their child who just died, knowing there is NOTHING I can do, but continue on in hopes of getting help for my children that survive the journey. When I put myself, my children and my family into the equation that is when stories like these really pierce my heart. It takes an intangible situation and makes it personal! Every one of these people have a name, they belong to a family, etc. If I were in this situation I would hope that somebody would help me.

Stories like these are too much to take. It seems so unfair, so unjust, as Bono says "It is shocking. It is disgusting!" As my heart crumbles and the tears fall it is then that I cry out to God and ask what can I do to help? How can I put action behind the compassion or emotions that I am having? How can I make a difference?

There are several things that I and you can do to help.

1. Pray for the people of Africa. The unimaginable grief that so many people are feeling right now must be crushing. Pray that God would comfort them. Pray that people would step up and help in any way possible to make this insanity stop!

2. At the bottom of this post there is a link to a petition you can sign to call on governments to save the lives of millions in the Horn of Africa.

3. Make a donation. Though there are many organizations out there, we as a family have supported Medical Teams International (MTI) for many years. We can personally testify that they are a top-notch ministry. You can check out their rating on Charity Navigators by following this link http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4070

Right now MTI has medical volunteers and staff hard at work to help those affected by this famine. In a letter I recently received from them they stated that "A generous donor just offered to match all gifts for our east Africa famine relief effort-up to a total of $90,000. With your help, we could quickly send $180,000 in emergency relief to people suffering from the famine - helping more than 36,000 people in the next three months."

An example of how far your American dollar will go in Africa it is stated that

"For $5 you can provide the medicines and care needed by one person. $30 will help us care for a family. $90 will help three families. $150 will help five families."

The above figures are "because our volunteers contribute their time. The medicines and supplies come from hospitals, clinics and generous companies here at home. On the field, we work with trusted local partners who know the needs and the best way to respond."

Please check out Medical Teams International's website at http://www.medicalteams.org/sf/Home.aspx for ways that you can get involved and make a difference.

New blog - www.thirtythrupoverty.blogspot.com

2011-08-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

My husband, a friend, and myself have started a blog to bring awareness to the extreme poverty that is in our world today. In talking with people over the years it seems that when it comes to extreme poverty it is simply too overwhelming to deal with. We seem to be so far removed from it. When we do hear a news clip or a statistic I think it moves us, but perhaps only for that moment. I have also noticed that many people are not aware of just how FAR the AMERICAN dollar will go in a poverty sticken country. Did you know that there are millions of people living on just a $1.25 or less a day? That dollar amount alone can help put things into perspective.

Our hope for this blog is to keep extreme poverty in the forefront of our minds and share ways that you may participate. It both breaks my heart and angers me that MILLIONS of people are dying daily from PREVENTABLE diseases, malnutrition, and lack of food and water. Extreme poverty is also a reason for the millions of orphans in the world, which are very dear to my heart! We pray that God will use this blog for His glory and His people will be moved to action in whatever way God leads.

Please visit our blog at

www.thirtythrupoverty.blogspot.com

First Tent Camping Trip of Summer - July 14, 2011

2011-07-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

We took our first camping trip this summer to Stub Stewart campground. It is a great campground and in the middle of week it is pretty much vacant in the tent camping section (we only saw 2 other campsites being used). It is close to home so it was a good trial run of camping with a two year old in a tent. Since hardly anybody was there Alesha, had a wonderful time exploring all over the campground and we didn't have to worry about her wondering into another person's campsite. Our boys enjoyed having target practice with their air soft guns, too.

The tent area is a 1/4 mile walk in from the parking lot. They have little carts you can use to pack your stuff into camp. The boys and I took some odds and ends and Darin wheeled the full cart into camp. I was impressed that Alesha walked the entire 1/4 mile herself. She only fell once, on a big rock, and that caused quite a loud cry that I am sure echoed for miles :-) After the fall she was good to go gathering leaves, flowers and sticks along the way.

Alesha with some of her treasures.

Getting the fire started for dinner

Darin with Alesha

Martin's wood gathering success!

Luke's wood gathering success

The camp section we were in was really large and we had the community fire pit all to ourselves :-)

Luke, Alesha, and Martin. It really cooled down that night.

The men got camp all set up and then Martin and Luke went on a wood gathering mission. Dinner with smores for dessert were next on the agenda. Then came time to put our two year old to bed. Let's just say that Alesha was less than impressed with the tent. As I was holding her and singing to her I looked down and her eyes were a big as saucers! She had NO intentions on going to bed in this thing we called a tent. I had brought her port-a-crib, because I thought it would be more familiar for her and it would help contain our active little one. As soon as I put her in the crib, the hysterical crying began. Thankfully I could calm her down quickly, but she made it quite clear by several other attempts to put her in the crib that the only way she was going to go to sleep was in ....wait for it...... MY sleeping bag! I DON"T recommend this if you plan on getting ANY sleep. I will spare you all the details, but we will be buying Alesha her own sleeping bag and hope that sleeping NEXT to mommy will do the trick :-)

We were all awake at 6 a.m. and after some breakfast we decided it was time to pack it up and head home so mommy could recover from the horrible night I had just experienced. Thankfully the rest of the family slept pretty good through the craziness that occurred during the night. When we made it to the parking lot a man who was camping fairly close to us said when he saw Alesha "So you must be the little one I heard last night. You have a very loud cry." I apologized and he said no problem. It didn't last long. Overall the trip was NOT what we had planned, but we enjoyed our time together as a family enjoying God's creation.

The little cart to put all your camping gear in.

Martin pulled Alesha 1/4 mile to our campsite so we could pack up our stuff. Alesha had a BLAST!

When I caught up with Darin, he says "Do you think this is going to work okay?" Funny guy! I promptly removed her and reminded him that if he has to ask me if something is okay the answer is probably no :-)

Lessons learned -

1. Don't forget the air mattress when you are tent camping.....small gravel is not fun to sleep on.
2. Being a girl in the woods when it comes to using the bathroom is not as easy as it is for boys!
3. Some 2 year olds don't care for tents.
4. Sharing a one man sleeping bag with a toddler is a disaster waiting to happen.
5. Being in the woods allows you to take a break from the hussle and bussle of life and just enjoy God's beautiful creation and experience some quiet.
6. Pillows are also a good idea to have when you camp.

Great America Video - Day 4 - The drive home

2011-07-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

After packing everything up I finally fell asleep around midnight. At 2:30 a.m. I awoke to get dressed and pack the kids in the car for the LONG drive home. We left at 3:00 a.m. It didn't take as long for the kids to fall back asleep and we made it to Redding California before we knew it. After some breakfast and some stretching we headed out for another long stretch. At last we arrived at our home 12 hours later.

Things I learned on Day 4

1. It is wise to get to sleep a bit earlier if you plan on leaving at 2:30 a.m.
2. There is not much activity in California or a hotel at 2:30 a.m.
3. The McDonald's in Redding does not have a changing table.
4. There is a $5 fee to pay somewhere along the way to Oregon
5. One can experience "carlag" very similar to "jetlag" when spending 12 hours in a car.
6. A 12 hours drive + two 10 hour days at an amusement park + a 12 hour drive home = VERY exhausted parents and happy kids.
7. There is little motivation to empty out a car of luggage, etc. when you have just traveled 12 hours.
8. Laundry seems daunting after a trip.
9. We will probably fly the next time we go to Great America. I think there will be much less recovery time on both ends......at least for the parents.
10. It is nice to sleep in my own bed.

Here is a video my husband put together of the trip. We highly recommend Great America!

Great America - Day 3

2011-07-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up to beautiful sunshine! Perfect weather to tackle the water park section of the park. We decided since this was the last day at the park we would get there when the gates opened at 10 a.m. and stay until close at 8 p.m. In the morning we rode all the rides from the previous day and then when it really warmed up we went to the water rides.

Alesha, waiting for the boys and I to get off the below ride. The crossing of the arms is a new thing :-)

One of my favorite rides! It was nice and smooth, but super fun!

Daddy put Alesha on some of the kid rides by herself today. She did great after riding them with me and Luke the previous day. What cracked us up is that she was more concerned about the seat belt not being buckled next to her than the actual ride. She was determined to get that buckle buckled by the end of the ride.

Running toward her favorite section of the park

Alesha and Snoopy

Buckle obsession continues.

Trying to pump the handle to make the car go up.

On the pumpkin ride. I put her on the end seat so there was not a buckle to mess with and I could actually get a picture of her face instead of the side of her head :-)

In the afternoon we hit the water rides. This first ride was so FUN and WET!

One happy and wet boy! This was his favorite ride - too bad they shut it down at 6 p.m.

This pic cracks me up. Martin didn't expect to get this wet. The wind was blowing so he got cold and was done with all water rides.

Luke and I in the front row.

Our time at the water park lasted about 10 minutes due to cold water and lots of wind. Alesha was FREEZING!!!!

Not very happy about being cold. I am trying to change her into dry clothes as quick as I could.

Once we were all changed to dry clothes we headed to a few more rides before we grabbed some dinner at Panda Express. Martin's $10 voucher came in handy :-)

About half way through the ride Luke tells me he finally has the hang of the steering :-) I had to push the gas pedal because his legs were not quite long enough.

After dinner we split up again and rode rides until the place shut down. It was really a fun day.

Luke having fun!

Goodbye Great America!

Things I learned on Day 3

1. The park is planned out well with lots of areas providing shade.

2. You should buy your souvenir cup on the first day, since the refills in the same cup are only $0.99 plus tax throughout your entire visit

3. I am SO pasty white, especially when I am holding my beautiful brown skinned girl next to me in a swimsuit!

4. A lot of the live free shows they offer don't occur on Wed or Thurs., but the lines are shorter during the week.

5. You can dry wet swimsuits and towels quickly by hanging them on the stroller. Between the heat and high wind it is natures dryer.

6. Having your son wear a neon green shirt is helpful to find him and his dad in a sea of people.

7. Having a stroller is helpful for the husband to find the wife and daughter in a sea of people.

8. A stroller is a lifesaver in not having to carry loads of stuff around the park.

9. Your safe located in your hotel room can malfunction leaving you no option than to call the front desk and have an employee come with his high end gadget to open the safe so you can remove your much needed items.

10. Check your bill upon check-out. They were going to charge us for the kid's breakfasts when they confirmed upon reservation they would not. Upon pointing this fact out, the charges were waved no problem .

Great America - Day 2

2011-07-07T10:11:00.000-07:00

After we enjoyed our fantastic complimentary breakfast at the Hyatt, a perk of our AAA membership we walked over to the park to begin our first day of fun! We cleared the security check and entered the park to see the below sights.

Snoopy and friends were throughout the park. Alesha was a bit skeptical and has no reference for these characters, but found them interesting and did dish out a high five upon request :-)

Our only family photo of the trip. Wish I would have asked Snoopy to step aside and take another one of just us.

Throughout the day we divided and conquered the many rides throughout the park. Alesha and I spent most of our time at Planet Snoopy and the KidZville sections of the park. They had great rides for little kids. Most of the rides I rode were little kids rides. It was fun to watch Alesha's expressions and hear her giggle as she experienced rides for the first time. Luke, spent time with both Darin and Martin as well as Alesha and I. It was great that he could take his sister on the rides. He really liked it and I loved watching them together. He is such a great brother.

Riding the Snail Race. I love this smile!

Such a good brother

Priceless!

One of her favorites. When it stopped she would say "Again, again!"

Darin and Martin went on the bigger rides in the park. Thankfully there were only a few rides that Luke didn't make the height requirement for. The Drop Tower was by far the most terrifying ride in the park. You travel up the pole to 224 ft and then you free fall 22 stories in less than 4 seconds! I only went on this ride once and that was good enough for me.

Darin and Martin getting ready to travel to the top of the Drop Tower

We got our picture taken with some of the characters throughout the park.

Pfeiffer Family with part of the Peanuts Gang

The kids with the Snoopy statue at Planet Snoopy

They had a great ride that took you from one end of the park to the other. This park is HUGE. It was a great way to see an overview of the park and find the location of the rides you wanted to go on. The only problem is that you could only have 4 people to a bucket and they wouldn't let you bring a stroller on board :-( Needless to say I got my exercise in as Alesha and I took the walk from one end of the park to other SEVERAL times a day!

One of my favorite pictures of Luke.

Luke took this picture. It was quite windy, but NO rain so we were happy.

We decided that we would meet at the hotel by 6 p.m. I arrived by 6:05 with Luke and Alesha, but by 6:20 Darin and Martin were not back yet. Finally, they arrived and told me that Martin was on his favorite ride, Flight Deck, when somebody pulled the safety strap after the ride started and the entire ride shut down for 30 minutes! Yes, my boy was stuck on a roller coaster for 30 minutes until they finally got it going again. For the rider's inconvenience they gave every rider a $10 food voucher to use in the park. This explained why they didn't arrive at the hotel on time.

Our next stop was going out for dinner. We were planning on going to Baja Fresh or the Quizno we saw the night before, but when we got out of our car at the mall we smelled Indian food and saw a sign for an Indian restaurant. Without hesitation we were making our way into Mezbaan Bar and Indian Cuisine. After we ordered we laughed at how quickly our dinner plans had changed as soon as we saw an Indian restaurant. There was no discussion we just all filed into the restaurant. What was funny is that the night before, Martin said he smelled Indian food as we left the Safeway store. We all agreed, but we couldn't see any Indian restaurants from where we were standing. Apparently we are very in tune to the smell of Indian food. :-) The food was fantastic and the perfect ending to a LONG day!

Things I learned on Day 2

1. Great America is a FUN place.
2. My boys have NO fear of rides.
3. Watching a child experience things for the first time is priceless.
4. There are only 2 rides that our entire family could go on together (both of which we never managed to go on) :-(
5. You do an INCREDIBLE amount of walking in this park.
6. Thankful that I packed pants for Alesha to change into. It was WAY too cold for her.
7. Mezbaan is a great Indian restaurant!
8. I am really out of shape.
9. If you get stuck on a ride you get some free food for your inconvenience.
10. If you stopped and played all the little game booths they have throughout the park or bought all your food and drinks at the park you would go broke!
11. My 40 year old body does not do as well as my 30 year old body used to do on rides.

The Great America Adventure!

2011-07-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

We took our first "big" vacation as a family of 5 to Santa Clara, CA to visit Great America. The trip began in the wee hours of the morning (4 a.m.) on June 28th. After the car was packed with the last bag we woke the boys up and transferred them and Alesha to the car to begin our 12 hours drive to Cali. Our hope was that by leaving so early the kids would fall back to sleep and we could make some great time missing all the traffic. To our surprise the kids did not go back to sleep for at least 2 hours after we left the drive way. It could have been all the rain crashing down on the car or all the splashing sounds under the car or all the bright headlights, or all the semis whizzing by. Who knows, but Alesha was hysterically laughing, which made all laugh as well. I figure she wasn't sure what to do or what was happening, but she was having fun and that is all that mattered. They would fall asleep eventually.

Our first stop was in Grants Pass. We stopped at a Shari's for breakfast and to stretch our legs. The kids had gotten about 2-3 hours sleep by this point. After a full stomach, fresh diaper, and stretched legs we piled back into the car. The time passed as we watched a movie, read books, and listened to music. To our surprise the rain didn't let up! It actually got worse and fog was added to the equation as we neared the border into California. I thought California was the sunshine state! After several more hours we made a lunch stop just as Alesha was starting to have her first and ONLY mini breakdown. We changed and ate and then mommy moved to the back set for the last leg of the trip. Nap time was on the horizon for Alesha and the boys lack of sleep was catching up to them.

The look on Alesha's face cracks me up. It is as if she is saying "We have how many hours left of this trip?!" So thankful for the DVD player in our Pilot for long road trips.

I could not be more thankful that my husband driving! The driving conditions were horrible with torrential rain combined with fog making visibility nearly impossible. Great fun when you are watching for exit signs and getting loads of water splashed on your windshield by semi trucks. At last we approached the final exit and the road that led to our hotel was within reach. The journey to California was a success. We made it! The kids were fantastic!

It was still raining, but at least it was fairly warm outside. Unloading the car in the rain was less than ideal. After getting settled into our room we ventured out to find a grocery store and a place to eat dinner. With a few wrong turns and severe irritation we eventually found a Safeway and a Red Robin. After getting some food in our system we headed over to Great America to get our passes for the next day and take a look around.

Upon our final approach to the entrance we heard the announcements being made that the park will be open until 8 p.m. Perfect, we still had an hour to look around. Although as we entered the gate we were told that the park was CLOSED! We said "They just said the park was open to 8 p.m." They replied "We are CLOSED!" We asked if we could just get our passes so we didn't have to wait in line tomorrow, which they replied NO we are CLOSED! Apparently because of the rain there were only a few people at the park and they decided to close early. I felt as if we were in the scene from National Lampoon's Vacation when they finally arrive at Walley World to be told by the talking Moose "We are sorry, but Walley World is closed for 2 weeks for cleaning and repairs" Total bummer! Not the ending to the day we had hoped for. On a brighter note the rain had stopped and the sun began to appear for the first time in the last 15 hours since we left our home.

As we walked back to the hotel we discussed a game plan for tomorrow and decided to go to the hotel pool before settling in for sweet slumber.

The cloudy skies didn't stop these kids.

With no warmth from the sun the hot tub seemed to be the better fit for the evening.

First glimpse of real sunshine. I really liked the palm tree shadow on the wall. I finally felt like I was in California.

Alesha, was very cold!

Walking back to the hotel room for a good night sleep!

Things I learned on Day 1 -

1. Our kids are ROCKstar travelers!
2. Driving in rain and fog for 12 hours SUCKS!
3. Found it strange that we were stopped on the border and asked if we had any fruit. We said we had bananas and grapes. The reply was "Do you have any oranges or cherries?" We said no and off we went. How weird. Anybody could just say no to the question and drive away even if they were carrying oranges and cherries. Who would know? They don't do an inspection of your car or anything. It seemed like an odd stop for the "fruit patrol" to really do nothing but take your word for what kind of fruit you had in your car.
4. For someone who doesn't wear flip flops very often it was discoved that walking in the rain in flip flops results in blisters.
5. Trying to find a specific location in a different state with limited directions after driving for 12 hours is fuel for tempers to flair.
6. I discovered even when you pay over two hundred dollars for a hotel room, that doesn't mean you get free wi-fi. Nope, you must pay $10 each day. We didn't pay for internet for the simple fact that we were annoyed that it wasn't included. For pete sakes there was FREE internet at Peet's coffee and McDonalds!
7. An outside pool in California would be great if it were actually HOT and not windy.
8. My husband and I are very simple travelers. We know not the way of the "high-class" travelers or the high-class hotels.
9. One should not assume that there would be towels available at the pool and that you need to bring some with you from your hotel room - hence the way of the high-class hotel etiquette we are not familiar with. Although lucky for us there were 2 towels nicely folded under the cabana on a lounger that I just used. My thought was that they possibly pulled all the towels from the chairs since it was raining earlier and it wasn't the ideal swimming weather so why leave towels out for the guests.
10. You can crank out SEVERAL hours of your summer reading log on a LONG road trip :-)
11. The staff at the Hyatt is very friendly.
12. It is strange that they keep the lobby of the Hyatt so dark with their dimmed lights. I guess it is to set the mood for your luxurious stay.
13. There are a great number of people from India living in Santa Clara or visiting the Hyatt. We received quite a few looks throughout our stay.
14. Alesha, enjoys drinking the small half and half shots they give you for your coffee. This may be a new item to add to her menu in efforts to help her gain weight :-)

Strawberry Picking

2011-07-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

I promised the kids that we would pick strawberries this year. Last year we missed the short season with coming back from India. We headed out to Hoffman Farms on a perfect Friday evening. The sun was warming our backs just as a cool breeze kicked up to keep us nice and comfortable. I have some fast pickers! Between the boys and I we picked 16 lbs of berries in 25 minutes! Alesha, mostly walked the aisles, pulled off a few strawberry bush leaves, and played with dirt clots. I hulled, froze, and made 9 containers of freezer jam. Can't wait to see how the blueberry, boysenberry, marionberry, and raspberry picking goes.

They have a really fun play structure for the kids to play on. The slide is wicked FAST!

Let the picking begin!

Add caption

This was the only berry she ate the entire trip. Not a big fan.

Alesha helped me carry my bucket

Apparently Alesha didn't understand you are supposed to pick the red berry not the green leaves.

Playing with the dirt.

2 of the 3 picked buckets. Can you say YUM?

Father's Day 2011 and Family Dedication

2011-07-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

Our church had their Family Dedication on Father's Day this year. It was wonderful to dedicate our children to the Lord on such a special day.

Our Pastor introducing our family.

Prayer over our family.

I love this picture of Darin with his little princess.

Darin with Martin, Luke and Alesha

Darin and Alesha

Luke's 11th Birthday!

2011-07-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

Luke's birthday this year fell on the LAST day of school! What a cool birthday present, huh? As usual Luke picked Red Robin for his birthday dinner. Let's just say it was PACKED with end of the school year celebrations. Grandma was a blessing getting there early to save a table :-)

Our family with Luke's great grandma not quite with the group, but made it in the photo. Grandma Lulu is taking the picture.

The birthday sundae!

The famous onion ring tower. Grandma buys this every year for Luke.

The following Monday, Luke invited a couple of friends to go to Sky High Jump in Tigard. What a FUN place to go. There is dodge ball, free jump, huge foam pit, video arcade area, and a large snack bar. The boys jumped for 2 hours and had a blast!

The boys all sweaty after jumping.

Catching air in the free jump area

Most of the time was spent in the dodge ball area.

We then came home for pizza, ice cream, presents, and an air soft war.

It is hard to believe that my youngest boy is 11 years old already. As I get older the years seem to fly by quicker all the time. Luke, you are such a loving, compassionate, giving, and funny young man. You make me smile, and I am so proud to call you my son. Happy Birthday! I love you!

Alesha's Adoption Video

2011-06-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

My husband completed our adoption video for Alesha. Adoption is truly a miracle and we are so blessed and thankful to have our little princess. Below is my husband's explanation on his song choices.

So after a year I finally put together a slideshow from our adoption of Alesha (May 2010)

The first song is U2's "40". (Can you ever really go wrong with U2?) I chose that song because it communicates not only the long wait to get Alesha (2.5 years) but also the new work that God had done in our lives that gave us the heart for adoption. As we waited for two and a half years, we sang, "How long to sing this song?" Yet at the same time we rejoiced in singing a new song..."He brought me up out of the pit, out of the miry clay...He set my feet upon a rock and made my footsteps firm" God set me free from the bondage of drugs and alcohol, He put a new song in my heart!

I chose Beck's "Broken Drum" because it seems to capture some of the haunting aspects of India that April and I experienced. We're haunted by both the oppressive poverty and injustice we saw when we were there in 2008 and when we picked Alesha up last year. We're also haunted by the sheer beauty of Mother India! Her beauty really is indescribable.

Finally, I chose Cold Play's "The Scientist" because it captures some of the grieving that we went through as a family in those early days with Alesha. Honestly, I would say those early days with her were more about grief than anything else.

I hope you enjoy this video, I pray God speaks to your heart through it. I hope you'll see it for the miracle that it truly is.

Meeting friends

2011-06-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

Today, Alesha and I were able to connect with another Dillon family who was visiting from out of state. We met the Shah family at a local park and had a chance to finally meet face to face. Both of our daughters are from the same orphanage. It was so fun to watch the girl together and talk about adoption. Everybody was so busy running around it was hard to get photos. Thank you Shah family for making time to meet with us. We look forward to more visits in years to come.

Brie, we are so sorry that your little one is sick. We missed you! See you August!

Alesha and Liya

Adorable!

Me, Alesha, Shefali and Liya

Look at those curls! Blogger won't post this in the right direction - Uhg!

Alesha, running about.

I love the look on Liya's face - it is as if she is saying "Alesha, why are you putting those bubbles on your shoe? :-)

Liya has such a great smile - Blogger is messing with me again!

Shefali and Liya - with husband and boys in background

Alesha Day Celebration - 1 year - May 20, 2011

2011-05-30T15:35:00.000-07:00

We made a stop at REI on our way to dinner, so I took the opportunity to get some shots of the kids together with the flowers and fountain.

The boys walking their sister safely along. Martin looks less than enthused. Must be that he is 12 and has the attitude to match :-(

Mommy and daughter.

Brothers and sister

Darin and his girl!

Our next stop was the India Palace for our celebration dinner. The staff is so nice there. We explained that we were celebrating Alesha being home with us for 1 year. We asked if they could take a family photo of us and below is the result. Too bad Alesha wasn't looking at the camera. Oh, well I am just happy to have a family photo of our special day.

When we finished dinner we were given free dessert for everybody at our table. How sweet is that? The funny thing is that Alesha doesn't like anything sweet, but apparently Indian desserts are different because she gobbled down the entire dessert! I was shocked! Her first taste of Gulab Jamun was a success.

On the way home I tried to get a shot of the three kids together. As you can see it was quite the challenge to get everybody looking and acting appropriately. We had a lot of laughs!

At home we had a small cake to finish off the celebration. Alesha, of course didn't want any of it, because it was not an Indian dessert :-)

Daddy with his three kids

Me with my three children

Alesha was all done having pictures taken and was ready for bed after a long day of celebration.

Home 1 year today

2011-05-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, we stood in an orphanage in Kolkata, India and became a family of 5. Alesha, you were placed in our arms FOREVER! We have been blessed beyond measure. Daily we look at you and thank God for allowing us to be your parents and brothers. You are full of energy and bring so much joy to those around you.

It is so exciting to celebrate our first Alesha Day/Forever Family Day! It is hard to believe that we have had you for a year already! You are a precious gift to our family. There are not enough words to describe all that you have added to our family. Alesha, we love you SO much!

My husband did an amazing job on capturing Alesha's joy and beauty.

Our beautiful princess - 26 months old

She is so full of joy!

Blowing mommy kisses!

Sweet girl!

Gearhart April 2011

2011-05-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

We took our first mini vacation as a family of 5 to Gearhart to visit Darin's parents. It was so fun and relaxing! Our family really needed a break and a time of relaxation. We enjoyed taking Alesha swimming for the first time, walking around Seaside for a bit, taking Alesha on the carousel for the first time, playing lots of card games, and having meals prepared for us for the few days that we stayed. Alesha still hasn't experienced the beach, it was too rainy and cold. The beach will have to wait for this summer.

Getting ready to swim

Now that my hair is up I am ready to go

Our little turtle! I got this brand NEW in the package Speedo swimsuit at a garage sale for $1 before Alesha even came home. It has the float devices inside the suit.

The kids having a GREAT time together!

My husband's awesome photography!

WOW, the majority of our family is REALLY pale! How I wish I had beautiful brown skin like my girl.

Adorable!

Going to throw the diving toys in the water for her brothers.

These are some of my favorite pictures. I LOVE my husband's photography!

Alesha's first time on the carousel. She did great. Held on all by herself as the horse went up and down.

Look of wonder as the sea gulls flew by.

Easter 2011

2011-05-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

There have been so many firsts since Alesha has come home. Easter was no exception. The boys showed her how to color the Easter eggs and she really liked it. There were numerous cracked eggs and lots of splashes of color on the table and hands, but it was lots of fun. Can't believe I never got a shot of the finished eggs. Martin and Luke did some really cool ones this year.

Easter baskets. Alesha, didn't even really care about the basket. It wasn't until the next day that we actually investigated its content. She was at the beginning of a melt down as I was taking this photo. At least the boys liked their gifts.

We had Easter dinner over at my mom's house. It was a great spread of food!

I love this picture. She was looking down at her Grandpa Tom who was winking at her.

Our little model

Finding out what was inside those eggs. Putting necklaces inside was a genius idea Grandma :-)

Alesha and her daddy

Alesha with her Great Grandma Haley

Grandma Lulu, Alesha, and Great Grandma Haley

4 generations!

Me and my girl

Trying to get the first Easter picture of the three kids together = failure.

A little better shot.

I have to say it is REALLY fun to dress up a little girl.! Getting her to stand still for pictures is not so fun :-)

Spring Break - March 2011

2011-05-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

We made our annual Spring Break Trip to Gearhart, OR and then to Ocean Park, WA. The kids get to see both sets of grandparents on this trip. Last spring break we were on pins and needles wondering when we were going to travel to India to bring our precious Alesha home. In fact, at this exact time last year Darin called me to tell me that we were granted guardianship. This year Alesha was traveling along with us. Amazing what can happen in a year. The weather wasn't that great this year so we spent a lot of time inside playing games, watching movies, putting models together, swimming, and eating good food.

Alesha, with her Grandpa Pfeiffer

Grandma and Grandpa Pfeiffer with our kids

Alesha with her Grandma Pfeiffer. I love her smile in this pic.

The pictures below were taken in Ocean Park, WA

Playing a little basketball with her brothers

Grandma Lulu got her a tricycle.

Not quite big enough

This works, now I need a push

Martin comes to the rescue

Our three kids

Putting model cars together with Grandpa Tom

This picture looks like a photo used for advertising toys. I used to play with these blocks when I was a little girl.

She found the UNO cards and was having a hay day sorting through them

Found her brother Luke's shoes - Peace out

Martin decided to braid Alesha's hair

We had to end Martin's spring break early as he woke up with 102 degree fever :-(

After we returned home and I was tending to Martin, Alesha got a hold of a bottle of nail polish, got the lid off and decided to paint my carpet with it. What a lovely gift for her mommy! I must be getting old, because it didn't really even faze me. There is never a dull moment in our house! Look at that innocent face.

Final thoughts of our India trip to bring Alesha home

2011-05-03T14:29:00.000-07:00

As I have been recounting our travels to India I have been amazed at how clearly all the details of the trip are. When I type the words it is a though I am reliving those moments one at a time in real time. It is as though I can feel the heat, smell the various aromas, and hear all the chatter and horns. I guess when you experience something so emotional and life changing those experiences stay vivid in your mind.

Throughout our adoption process I have referred to the TV show the Amazing Race. Along the 2 1/2 year process we hit some mandatory rest stops (playing the waiting game!) and hit some major speed bumps (USCIS, expired paperwork, etc). We have now finished the FINAL leg of our race. We have won the grand prize of bringing our precious daughter, Alesha home to her forever family! Our travels to India continued our Amazing Race scenario with our fair share of "u-turns and speed bumps along the way. With the relentless heat, extreme sickness, a family death, moments of panic, we made it through with God's help. Our friends in India could not have been a bigger blessing to us while we were there. They helped us out in so many ways they are too many to count. From being there for emotional support, to providing meals, lodging, and transportation, to building a deeper friendship together while there, are all priceless gifts to us. God used our friends in a mighty way on this trip and we could not be more grateful for their hospitality, kindness and friendship.

This trip to India was life changing. We left the United States as a family of 4 and returned as a family of 5. The memories and experiences we had in India will last a lifetime. How grateful I am that God helped me to overcome my fears of taking our boys with us to India. I believe that God will use this experience in their lives for years to come. Our family could not feel more blessed to have Alesha a part of our family. It feels as though she has always been here. I love watching Alesha with her brothers. They absolutely adore her. Their brother/sister relationship is precious.

We are so thankful to God for the gift of adoption. We thank God for providing and meeting our needs every step of the way throughout our adoption process. How thankful we are to God for allowing us to be the parents of three amazing children! We are also forever grateful to Alesha's birth parents. They chose LIFE for their baby and even though we don't have much information regarding their circumstances, I hope they can have peace knowing that their daughter is loved beyond measure by her forever family and by the God who knitted her together in her mother's womb.

Alesha, we love you so much!. Everyday I look at you I am thankful that God brought you into our lives. You keep us on our toes. Your wonderful personality and beautiful smile bring us so much joy. You are truly a treasure!

Alesha is HOME! Originally posted May 2010

2011-05-02T18:26:00.000-07:00

Darin took this photo in the Amsterdam airport. What a beautiful girl God has blessed us with!

We finally arrived home on Tuesday night at about 11:30 p.m. It was a LONG trip home. Alesha did fantastic considering she was on 3 different planes for 20 hours total and 2 layovers totaling 12 hours. Everybody said what a good girl she was and were shocked to know that we had only had her for a few days. She only had one mini breakdown on the last leg of the trip. The boys did a bit better on the way home. They were able to sleep some, but they still had a bit of an upset stomach. I think the layovers helped them readjust a bit before boarding another plan. Darin was wonderful tending to our needs. He made all of Alesha's bottles, washed them, and kept things organized. Thanks, Babe!

Alesha, has bonded so well to me. We had an instant bond. I feel EXTREMELY blessed! I know this doesn't always happen and feel very fortunate. She is slowly warming up to Darin and the boys. She doesn't seem to care for men, probably because all her caregivers have been women. The boys have been able to walk around carrying her on their hip, it is really cute to watch. Darin takes her on a daily walk outside and shows her the yard, garden, etc. We are longing for the day when she will reach out to daddy!

We are happy to be home and to able to finally give Alesha some Consistancy. She is eating much more food since we have been home. She is really a happy little girl. Alesha, claps her hands, babbles all the time, waves bye-bye, crawls all over the place, pulls her self up to a standing position, grabs everything in site, and loves bath time. She could stay in the bath all day and be thrilled, but very pruney!

Our once problem is that she is not sleeping the best. The current trend is to wake up crying at around 1 a.m. and play, talk, babble, etc. for about 3 hours and then fuss and cry for the next 2 hours. This is making me a bit crazy as the rest of the family is on a more normal schedule and when everybody wakes up I end up trying to get a few hours of sleep to function through the day. I am hopeful that his will pass soon. It is difficult for me to know all that is going on with her; I tend to all of the her immediate needs (diapers, food, cuddle,etc.) but trying to figure out if she is she scared, nervous, upset, overtired, jet lagged, etc. is difficult. My guess is probably everything I listed and more. We are just taking it a day at a time.

We feel SO blessed to have Alesha a part of our family. We are thankful to all of our family and friends who have prayed and journeyed with throughout our process. It is great to see the faithfulness of God is so many ways. Our time is India was amazing and I will be blogging about it as time permits. There is A LOT that happened! Darin is still processing photos so it will be a bit before I will post pictures.

May 25, 2010- The LONG flight HOME

2011-05-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

We arrived at the Delhi airport without a problem. As we drove up to the drop off area, the airport was packed with people and the sounds of horns and chatter filled the air. We loaded all the bags onto carts and said our final goodbye to Uma. We then took our place in the long line waiting to pass security. I remember getting the cart behind me rammed into the back of my ankles several times....OUCH!

Once we entered the airport the crowds seemed to disperse and we found our way to the waiting area by our departure gate. There was no crazy dash for the gate this time around :-) Our flight number was called and we boarded our first LONG leg of the flight home landing in Amsterdam.

Our seats were not together on this flight, but Darin was close by to my right and 2 isles back sitting with Luke. Martin was beside Alesha and I. I remember the flight attendant bringing me an extra belt to buckle Alesha in and instructed me to face Alesha outward. This was a joke as Alesha only wanted to face me. Since the day we picked her up she has been wanting to be held CLOSE facing me. At times it felt as though she was trying to climb inside me, she just couldn't get close enough. We finagled the belt and before long we were in the air.

There was a very sweet Indian lady sitting next to Martin. She began asking questions about Alesha. As the flight continued Martin began to feel sick. This sweet lady offered to go and get some water for Martin as I was trapped holding a sleeping baby. She showed great concern for our son. Eventually Martin fell asleep and that helped pass some of the time and sickness. Alesha, slept the majority of the time only waking to have a bottle or diaper change. This flight was really long having a baby laying on you and not wanting to move and wake her as to disturb all the other sleeping passengers.

At last we landed at the Amsterdam airport. We had a 7 hour layover here. Darin attempted to find a flight that would depart earlier, but no luck. I made a beeline to the restroom. One thing that stuck me about the bathroom stalls is that the door went all the way to the floor. It felt as though I walked into a closet and shut the door. Darin was able to distract Alesha by pushing her around on one of the luggage carts with the boys so I could go to the bathroom without holding a baby :-)

We passed the time by looking in the shops, giving the kids rides on the luggage carts, taking rides on the moving floor escalators, taking some pics and of course getting some coffee (for my husband). My husband had a gift card for Starbucks and brought it along for the trip. As we entered the Starbucks he asked the lady behind the counter if they took gift cards. She looked at the card and said " no, but I like it." This made us laugh. We used regular payment and enjoyed some coffee and some treats for the boys. After several hours we found another coffee shop and Martin and Darin had a cup of coffee.

Getting some more coffee

One of my favorite pics of Alesha

Our THREE kids

Shortly thereafter we made our way back to the departure gate and chatted with an Indian guy who had been stuck at the Amsterdam airport for 3 days unable to get his outgoing flight. WOW, and we thought 7 hours was a long time. Before long we were in another security check line.

This flight was our first EVER bulk-head seating. We were all seated together in the same row :-) The only down fall of this seating was that all the bags needed to be stored in the overhead compartment including the diaper bag. This meant every time Alesha needed something Darin had to get up and get the bag down. There was also a bassinet area for Alesha to sleep in, but the stewardess said that Alesha was too big for it. I looked at her in disbelief. My TINY 13lb baby was too big for the bassinet? It didn't really matter in the end as Alesha probably wouldn't have slept in there anyways, but it bugged me that they told me it wasn't an option.

We were now in the air for our 7 hours flight to Detroit. About 3 hours into the flight, Martin is sick AGAIN, but not as bad as before. I think the long layover helped his body adjust a bit. The male stewardess stops and says to me, is he okay, he looks a little green?. I told him that we discovered that our son does not fly well. He felt so bad for Martin when he found out that we came from India and we still had a long flight ahead with another connecting flight to Portland. Luke, did well this flight and Alesha, slept the majority of the way, what a blessing that was. As we departed the plane everybody was telling me how well Alesha did and were shocked to find out that we had only had her for a few days. These comments always make a parent feel good :-) Our kids are AMAZING travelers!

At last we are back in the United States. We make our way to the immigration line. Thankfully this was a very short line. A very nice lady walked us through the final inspection of paperwork and we were on our way through another security check. When I put our carry on luggage through the screener

This should get us through the final leg of flight. This pic is funny to me, because it looks like it was for me, but in fact I was just holding it for my husband so he could take the pic.

This water feature behind us was VERY cool. It was really fun to watch.

Our precious girl!

We are SUPER excited as we board our FINAL flight home. Knowing that this is just a short 2 hour flight, makes Martin thrilled. He doesn't seem to get sick until about the 3 hours mark. This flight was pretty cramped and we were not all seated together :-( Darin was able to switch with someone to be within seeing distance of me in case I needed him, which was nice. We chatted with several people seated around us about our adoption and they were all really happy for us and thought Alesha was adorable. At one point I remember the flight attendant dropping a soda on the floor and it EXPLODED everywhere leaving many people including me with sticky legs and feet..YUCK! He later came around and gave us a coupon towards our next flight along with an apology. Alesha, did well until the very end of the flight where she began to get really squirmy and started to cry. I was able to calm her down right before we landed at the PDX airport.

Our flight was a bit late on arrival. It was around 10:30 p.m. when we finally arrived. We made our way to the restrooms to regroup a bit before we were greeted by my mom, Tom and a few friends. It was so nice to finally be home and to see some familiar smiling faces. How wonderful that people would come out so late at night to greet us. We chatted with our friends and family briefly about our trip home, thanked them for making the trip out, and made our way to the luggage pick up area. Thankfully all our luggage made it home. What a blessing to have all our luggage make it all the way to the other side of the world and back without getting lost. Our next stop was the car and to buckle Alesha in the car seat for the fist time. Let's just say she wasn't too happy about this and cried the majority of the 40 minute ride home. For one thing she wanted me to hold her, just like I did the entire time in India. Second I think because it was pitch black outside and all the lights flashing about made her unnerved. This combined with an exhausting trip she had hit her wall and was ALL done.

I love this pic. The look on Alesha's face is like hey, you look like me :-) My friend Cheryl came to the airport to greet us. Her daughter is holding a sign she made for Alesha - it says - Welcome home Alesha. I cannot wait to play with you. How sweet is that!

To drive up and see our house was a happy sight indeed. We unloaded all of our bags and walked into a kitchen full of groceries. Fruits and vegetables were such a lovely sight after not having them for over 2 weeks. We grabbed something to eat and got settled into our home as an EXHAUSTED family of 5.

Now the real fun would begin. Getting over jet lag and finding that new "normal" was now on the horizon.

May 24, 2010 - Embassy Day

2011-04-29T21:03:00.000-07:00

Our morning started out bright and early. We had our big Embassy appointment at 9:30 a.m. SHARP! This is one appointment you DON'T want to be late for. As I was double checking all the paperwork to make sure it was in order I took my first "close" look at our flight schedule. My husband had done all the travel arrangements (thank you, honey) and I was going along for the ride. Since we left the states in less than 24 hours from booking our tickets, I was frantically trying to get 4 people ready to board a plane I didn't pay too much attention to the itinerary. It was at that very moment upon my close inspection that I realized that our flight back to the U.S. was going to be at MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!!!! YIKES! For some reason when I looked at the itinerary I saw depart from India Tuesday at 12:00, but in the craziness I was thinking that was 12:00 MIDNIGHT on Tuesday, NOT 12:00 MIDNIGHT (Monday). This needless to say kicked my butt into hyper speed to finish off all those loose ends. My mind went wild and my heart about stopped when I realized that we MUST have Alesha's visa TODAY before we leave the Embassy or we don't fly out at MIDNIGHT and we have to change plane tickets for 5 people....can we say EXPENSIVE!!!! All along I was thinking we had until Tuesday at Midnight if we had to go back to the Embassy to pick up the visa. In my mind we had the perfect plan with plenty of time in case it was needed. In India I always find it funny that when everything seems to be going wrong, they will always say "no problem, no problem" as they do the famous India head bobble. Well my friends this could potentially be a MAJOR PROBLEM!!!!!!!

I am frantically fluttering about and my husband is cool as a cucumber. It is funny how throughout this entire process I would get all worked up over different events and he would just be all calm cool and collected :-) He assured me that it would be fine. We gather Alesha's diaper bag stuffed to the hilt, because who knows how long we will be camping out at the Embassy at this point, get all THREE kids ready, pack snacks for the boys, grab all those priceless pieces of paper we have been toting around India, grab the famous "PACKET", and head out the door with our wonderful friend Uma.

As we begin our drive I begin to pray that our Embassy Day will go smoothly and we can walk away with that visa in our hands so we can board that midnight flight back home as a family of 5. The first part of the drive went quite quickly, but then the traffic pretty much stopped cold! It was some of the heaviest traffic I had seen to date. Uma, who is always so calm and nothing seems to faze him says "Oh, this is not good." To this I am starting to freak out that we may not make it in time for our appointment. It is relentless stop and go with long periods of going NOWHERE! I notice that Uma is squirming a bit and this tells me that this is not a good situation. I am sure Uma was praying the entire way as he knew how important this appointment was.

The traffic began to let up and we were picking up some speed as the minutes ticked by. I was watching the clock on the dash board click 9:25, 9:26, 9:27 at this point we are all squirming in our seats! Just then we round the final corner and see the Embassy gate. Uma, drove up and let us out right in front of the drop off area to check in your cell phones and electronics. Time on the dash board just flipped to 9:28!! We decided to leave all our electronics at home including our cell phone so we could save time in the security check. We rushed into the main building and were finally in line to go through security. This step went quickly and we made our way through a door into an outside waiting area that was packed with people. From here we were told to go into the other building (it was air conditioned) and we grabbed our number, took our seat, and waited for our name to be called.

This area was very crowded with only one seat available to sit in. I sat down and held Alesha, while the boys sat on the floor next to me and Darin stood. It wasn't long before our number was called and we headed to our first window and spoke to a very nice lady. She said hello to Alesha and told us how beautiful she was. She asked us a bunch of questions and requested we hand her a bunch of different documents. One document she asked for I didn't have and didn't know what she was talking about. She must have sensed my panic as she said it was okay and that they probably had a copy already there. WHEW!! She then told us to take a seat and wait for our name to be called.

At this point Alesha, had pooped her diaper and the smell is beginning to fill the room. I ask where the restroom is so I can change her and they direct me back outside. As I leave the building I verify with the guard that he will let me back in and that I just need to use the restroom. He was very friendly and pointed me in the right direction. Upon my return the guard asks me some questions about Alesha, says several words to her, smiles, and opens the doors for us.

We found our places in a different area that had emptied out some. We were able to sit all together in a row of seats. Before long our name was called. Although they pronounced it kinda funny so we had to guess that they were calling us. We made our way to another window were we were greeted by an American. He asked us a few questions and then had us raise our hands and swear to whatever it was he stated. Then he asked us when we needed the visa. To this we told him that our plane flies out of Delhi for the U.S. at midnight tonight. He then says we should be able to get this done today, but it might take awhile. We said no problem we will just wait. He says it might take several hours, to that we said no problem we just need it so we can leave tonight. We make our way back to our previous seats and settle in. After about one and a half hours our name is called again. He hands us Alesha's passport, congratulates us, and we are off to call Uma to come and pick us up. Praise God for answering our prayers.

As we make our way out of the air conditioned building into the sweltering heat outside we ask to use the phone. After asking several people we were informed that the U.S. Embassy has NO outgoing phone lines. This was hard for us to believe, but they were adamant and escorted us outside of the building. We are now standing in the front of the building trying to figure out what we are supposed to do now. Apparently, you are NOT allowed to linger on the sidewalk in front of the main doors of the Embassy, because the guard came out and told us that we needed to cross the street and wait on the other side of the road. By now we are kicking ourselves for not bringing our cell phone. We are pretty much screwed at this point. Here we are dripping with sweat and no way to call our friend to come and pick us up! As we are making our way across the street we run into a VERY sweet lady who is holding a cell phone. Praise GOD! I promptly asked her if we could borrow her phone to call our friend who is waiting to pick us up. We explained that the Embassy said they don't have an outgoing line, which she agreed was ridiculous. She then dialed Uma's number for us and handed us her phone. At last our ride was on the way. We thanked her for her kindness and made our way across the street to join a large group of people who were gathered under the ONLY tree on the corner. As we stood there absolutely soaked with sweat we received many looks and heard a lot of chatter among the locals. Alesha, at this point feels like she weighs about 100 pounds and she won't let Darin hold her so there I stand exhausted. I must say our boys did amazingly well under these conditions. After about 20 minutes a lady stands up from where she was sitting and hands me a crinkled newspaper. She motions for me to put the paper on the curb and sit on it. I guess my exhaustion was pretty visible and she wanted me and our baby to rest. I could not have been more grateful. About 20 minutes later Uma arrives and be make a beeline for his car. The airconditioning felt like a cool ocean breeze after standing/sitting in that heat for so long. The cool hour long car ride home felt amazing!

Now crunch times begins. I am crazy busy trying to get all of the last things sorted out. We all have to shower and redress after our day in the heat. By this time we are approaching the dinner hour. Our friends had pizza delivered. It was delicious :-) After dinner we all gathered to take some photos.

All the kids together

I love this photo and this family!

Our friends with Alesha

Before we left for Kolkata to meet Alesha, Yaman sat us down and asked us if they could be Alesha's Godparents. Without hesitation we excepted. What an honor to have such Godly people be a part of our daughter's life. Alesha, now has a "family" connection to India for years to come.

It was now 9:00 p.m. and we had to say our final goodbyes. It was really difficult to leave knowing that it would several years before we would make it back to India. We could not thank our friends enough for ALL they did for us during our stay in India. They blessed us beyond measure!

We gave our final hugs and headed downstairs to load our bags into the car. It was staggering how hot it was this late at night. Our next stop Delhi Airport.

May 23, 2010 - A Day of Rest

2011-04-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

We had told our friends the night before that we would not be attending church in the morning as we just needed to rest and bond with Alesha. The day before had really taken its toll on our family. They totally understood and decided that they would stay home with us and do a few fun things with the boys. The boys went swimming with their children in the early morning and then Uma took Darin, Martin, Luke, and his two children to go and see Shrek 4 in 3D at the movie theater. The kids had a blast! How cool to see a movie in a foreign country, right? While they were gone it was just Yaman, Alesha and I. I so enjoyed just spending time with Yaman. She is such a Godly women and so sweet and comforting. I remember watching Father of The Bride 2 with her as I held Alesha. At one point I decided that I would try and feed Alesha a mixture of formula and the cookies that the Children's Home had given us. Alesha, actually took a few bites and Yaman was so excited to see her eat. We both celebrated this moment together. Since Alesha had been with us she refused to eat anything other than Gerber stars or a bottle. It felt good to see her eating some food. After a bit, Alesha, fell asleep and Yaman and I tried to get the beautiful anklet and bracelet set that they had given us on Alesha. The problem was her little legs and wrists were SO tiny that they just slid off. I was so sad because I wanted her to able to wear them, but I was not going to risk having this precious gift getting lost.

Yaman and I finished our movie and the boys arrived home from their movie. Since this was really our last full day left with our friends the boys wanted to soak up every last minute. They promptly went down in the heat of the day to play a few hours of cricket. I still don't know how they lasted that long in that heat, but they had a blast! Alesha, Darin and I took a nap and tried to gain some energy and strength for the last push of our trip.

Upon waking up, Yaman asked if I would like to go shopping with her to pick out some outfits for Alesha. She was on her way to visit her dad in the hospital and made time to take me shopping. While we were in Kolkata, Yaman's father underwent open heart surgery, quadruple bybass if I remember right. This is another BIG thing that happened during our time in India. Despite all that Yaman was going through with her dad in the hospital they still welcomed us into their home, cooked for us, transported us to our appointments, and encouraged us with our daughter. They were truly a blessing to us the entire time we were in India.

Uma, Yaman, Alesha, and I headed off to FabIndia. The clothes were amazing and high quality. I picked out several adorable outfits for Alesha and a shirt for Martin, Luke and Darin. I didn't get anything as I would have to try it on and Alesha would have NO part in me putting her down even for a second. Next, we dropped Yaman off at the hospital and headed home with Uma.

I then began the overwhelming task of reorganizing and repacking all our luggage and got all the paperwork in order for our Embassy appointment that would take place tomorrow. This was a difficult assignment when you are holding a baby in your arms. I could not put her down or let anybody hold her as she would just start crying/screaming. We called her cry/scream the "air horn". It was just that LOUD! I could tell that yesterday had really taken a toll on her and she just needed extra holding, hugs and kisses.

Our dinner was fantastic as usual. Yaman, is a fantastic cook and we enjoyed every meal she prepared for us. I felt so spoiled having 3 meals a day served to me. It was delightful! I remember how Yaman would comment how she just loved to watch our boys eat what she cooked. Her children were pretty picky eaters so it brought great joy to her to see our kids gobbling up her delicious meals :-)

We settled in for the night and prepared for the long awaited Embassy Day!

May 22, 2010- Emotional Day

2011-04-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

Alesha, did well during the night and only needed one bottle during the night and then slept until morning. I had filled our thermos with hot water before going to bed so I wouldn't have to disturb the entire house boiling water during the night when she woke up. That thermos was a lifesaver MANY times on our trip :-)

After we were all awake, we were greeted with another delicious meal prepared by Yaman. While I was finishing up my breakfast, Darin, got on the computer to check on email and facebook. During his facebook check, his youngest brother instant messaged him and said that he had some bad news and felt awful in having to tell him over facebook, but didn't know what else to do. He then proceeded to tell Darin that their oldest sister had died. He told Darin he didn't want him to come home and find out and wonder why nobody told him. In the end we were glad he told us while in India so we had a few days to process it before getting off a plane back home and being given this news. As I entered the room Darin explained to me the news he just received. This was a devastating blow to say the least. We went from the elation of bringing our daughter into our family and then we receive news that another family member had died. The gamut of emotions were all over the board. Shock, grief, disbelief were all in the forefront of our minds. Keep in mind this was first thing in the morning, NOT a great way to start the day we ahead of us.

As we were working though our emotions we packed up our things to head BACK to the Embassy doctor. This car ride seemed to last forever. So many thoughts were swirling around in my head. A couple of days after our arrival home we will now be attending a funeral. I am thankful that we have Alesha and that she will bring some joy to such a difficult time in our families lives. We just felt helpless being thousands miles away from all our family who were grieving. It was just a heartbreaking situation.

Upon our arrival at the doctor's office we were escorted to the same room as the day before. Alesha, began crying the second we entered the room. Three more shots were on the horizon. The nurse had me lay her down again on the table to stab one leg (we did the same holding down procedure as before) and than I had to hug her really tight while she was sitting up to keep her still as she stabbed her in each arm. The tears were flowing from all of us and Alesha pretty much checked out at this point. It was heartbreaking to see her shut down. This is what we had feared would happen splitting the shots up into two days. I gave her another bottle and tried to soothe her as we finished up the paperwork and paid our bill. It was interesting to me to watch the office staff as they counted our money. They inspected every bill and put each one under this light before accepting them. They spent more time and were more concerned with the money we gave them then they were with our baby girl. This was irritating and disappointing. Upon exiting the building we were relieved to know that we would NOT be returning to this horrible place again.

When we arrived back at home we were greeted with our daily afternoon Chai that Yaman had made. After Alesha woke from her nap I went to change her diaper and as I layed her down on the bed she began to scream and cry. It was then that I realized she thought that I was going to hold her down for another shot. It broke my heart to see her so upset. To think that now every time I would change her diaper or lay her down on her back she had this flood of memories coming back that she was going to get hurt. After a bit she finally calmed down and she decided she wanted to show us that she could crawl. It was so cute to see her come out of her shell a little bit.

One her way to mommy.....or probably Mickey Mouse:-)

She made it! So proud of her.

This was a common sight. If they were not playing cricket or swimming you would find the kids together in the entertainment room playing games, watching TV, or listening to music.

The time came for all of us to load up and head off for Uma's pediatrician's office. Uma dropped Yaman, Darin, Alesha and I off at the front of the building and took the rest of kids so they wouldn't have to wait for the appt. As we entered the pediatrician's office I was struck by how tiny it was. There was a small desk as you entered the room and chairs were along the 3 other walls. There was a tiny door leading into the doctor's office. When our name was called we entered the office where we met the doctor. She was very sweet. We looked around the small space and saw her desk, a couple chairs, a scale, and an exam table. This was such a tiny room for all of these items. We sat down and she began reading the medical files while asking questions and making lots of notations. We were able to ask her some specific questions we had and her answers brought relief to both of us. One thing that got cleared up was our file had said that Alesha had humming when she would breathe. Our doctor said she had never heard that term and figured it must be like wheezing and that she might have ashema or something of the like. When I asked this Indian doctor she said that the humming was actually a heart murmur and that it is cleared up now. CRAZY how one word can mean two completely different things in two different countries.

The next step was to give Alesha an exam. Alesha, of course freaked out and didn't want anybody to come near her. We explained that she already had 3 shots this morning and yesterday she had 3 as well. The doctor was very understanding, gentle, and sweet with Alesha. Her final thoughts were that Alesha was VERY tiny, but was a very strong and healthy girl considering all that she had been through since birth. She wrote out a prescription for some iron and vitamins, congratulated us, and wished us luck. This was more what I had expected from a doctor. This visit was so meaningful and a wonderful blessing to our family. To top it off the total office visit was like $13.

Our next stop was to hook up with the kids and head to pharmacy to fill Alesha's perscritions and buy additional boxes of formula and cereal. We then all headed over to a super fun restaurant for dinner. This restaurant was all in neon colors and had really cool shaped tables, chairs, light fixtures, etc. I can't remember the name of it, but they had really good Chinese food. They had several brain teaser type games for the kids to play and our Martin won a free drink. The kids had a great time. Darin and I were still reeling from all the information we had taken in that day and all the emotions that went along with it. Eating with friends in a fun place was a nice way to end such a difficult day. As we walked back to the car in the sweltering heat, we piled in and listened to some Toby Mac as the kids danced about belting out the songs.

When we arrived home we settled in for an early night of sleep. A rest day was on the horizon for tomorrow. We were physically exhausted (the heat was really taking its toll and Luke and I were still weak from our illness) and we were emotionally spent. Hopefully a good night sleep would make tomorrow look a bit brighter.

May 21, 2010 - Back to Delhi

2011-04-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

Our day started really early. The boys went down to grab some breakfast at 7 a.m. sharp and to pay the bill with Dad right before our departure to the airport. I stayed with Alesha to gather the last few things that needed to be packed. We then all made it downstairs and were greeted by our wonderful driver from the day before. At last we were headed for the airport. It was strange to know that we were leaving the city of our daughter's birth place and would probably not return for many years to come. We finally arrived at the airport and said goodbye to our driver and thanked him for his kindness during our trip. We were so very grateful for him. There was plenty of time to settle in for a bit before our flight boarded. As you can see from the photo boredom had set in for the boys. The boarding of the plane began and we were escorted to the front of the line, what a treat :-) We found our seats and received the same wonderful service that Kingfisher provides. Alesha, did amazing on the plane ride. She played with her toys, ate Gerber stars, giggled, bounced in my lap, and had a bottle. She never even cried :-) The flight flew by and before we knew it we were unloading into the shuttle bus headed for the Delhi airport terminal.

Upon entering the terminal I had to go to the bathroom really bad.....too much water on the plane. This was going to be a problem, because Alesha, would scream if anybody held her besides me. It was apparent that I would experience this bathroom trip with a child in tow. As we were entering the bathroom I was thinking through how this was going to work. I was not going to put Alesha down on the ground so I would have to hold her. Without going into details it was the most difficult bathroom trip I have had to date. To juggle a little one without dropping her and go to the bathroom was a challenge to say the least! I got several looks as I exited the stall. Darin, asked me what took so long and I just laughed.....if he only knew :-)

Next, we made our way outside and was greeted by our wonderful friend, Uma. He took us back to his home where we unloaded all of our things and introduced Alesha to his family. It was nice to hear their comments like "she looks so comfortable and relaxed", "she is making great eye contact, etc". These comments were very meaningful as Uma has worked and seen many families during the adoption process, his family included. Uma and Yaman have a birth son and they adopted their little girl when she was an infant. We discussed our adoption processes together. The main difference was that they met their daughter one day and the next day they had her at home with them. ONE day!!!!! It was hard to not be a bit jealous of that fact since we had to wait 2 1/2 years to have our girl in our arms. What a treat it was to talk about how their first days and weeks played out and to have friends who could totally relate to the things we were going through and be so supportive. This was a gift I will forever cherish.

Our next stop was the Embassy doctor. The boys stayed to play with Uma's children and we were off for the doctor. I had been dreading this appt. since I had first read about it. We packed all the paperwork and diaper bag and off we went. The office was located in a beautiful part of town and we entered down a long driveway to a small office building. We checked in at the front desk and waited our turn. Alesha, was already a bit nervous and was looking all around. I think she sensed something was up! Our name was called and we entered through a door into a very small exam room. A very tall man with a big beard and turban on his head entered the room, and Alesha began to squirm and cry. He turned out to be the doctor and examined the medical files we provided. He asked a couple of questions, shined a light in Alesha's eyes, and said that she would need 6 shots! YIKES! I knew she would need several shots, but 6, oh my! We told the doctor that we wanted Alesha to have all the shots right now so we didn't have to put her through this twice. He REFUSED and said "that she would get 3 today and we would come back tomorrow for the other 3. My husband explained again our desires and informed him that we were staying an hour outside of Delhi and we really didn't want to have our friend drive us back the next day if we could avoid it. To all of this the doctor replied "She will get 3 today and you will come back tomorrow for the other 3". It was apparent that he was NOT going to budge on this and we were both really upset. He left the room and that was that. My husband was furious! We really didn't have much choice in the matter. We had to do what they said in order to get that "all important packet" to take to our Embassy appt.

The next thing we know a nurse came in and began filling the needles. AleshaAlesha was kicking so hard that she pushed off the table and slammed her head into the wall that was a good distance away. It was an absolute NIGHTMARE!!!!! To think that we would have to put her through this again tomorrow was more than we could take. After the third shot was completed Alesha was crying so hard and was so upset she almost threw up. Darin and I were in tears as well.

We exited into the waiting room and I prepared a bottle for her as we explained the situation to our friend. He said not to worry about coming back tomorrow and that we just needed to do what they said. The ride home was miserable for us emotionally knowing that we had to replay this nightmare tomorrow. I was really disappointed in the sheer standoffishness of the doctor. He was all business and really didn't care one bit about our daughter. He didn't really check Alesha over as I would have expected a doctor to do when giving an all clear to leave the country. To me it felt like an obligation and it was easy money to be made.

When I was getting ready to get into the car with Alesha, I turned her around and saw that she was holding something in her hand. She was given this small toy to try and calm her down and she clung to that thing the entire time we were there and I didn't even realize she still had it. At first I thought I should run this back into the office and then I thought NO WAY, after what you put my girl through and making us come back tomorrow this little toy is going home with us! Probably not the best attitude, but at the time that is what I decided. As we drove away with the toy in hand, Alesha, fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion.

Here she is, statesideck with the very toy that she confiscated from the doctor. (sorry blogger is being weird and I can't turn the pic)

When we returned home, we were greeted by our boys who wanted to know how their sister was and couldn't believe we had to go back again tomorrow. We discussed the appt over dinner and our disappointment over the whole thing. This is when Yaman and Uma said that they would make an appt with their children's pediatrician for tomorrow. We could take all of our files along and ask as many questions as needed and she would do a complete exam of Alesha. I cannot express to you what a blessing this was for our family. We had several questions and terminology that did not translate well for our doctor in the states. We were thrilled for this opportunity!

After dinner we decided it was time for our girl to have her first bath. This girl really likes the water. She had a great time splashing in the water and there were lots of giggles.

Getting ready for my first bath. See the one bandaid on her leg. The other leg had 2 more.

Look at those BIG black eyes and LONG lashes.

She is so tiny she fits perfect in this little tub.

All done!

It was so fun to get Alesha dressed and put some hair accessories in her hair. Having had boys in my house for the past 12 years, this was a treat! I had to laugh because the first outfit I put on her fell right off when I stood her up. There were very few outfits that actually fit her. She was just SOOOO tiny!

Our little princess.

With utter exhaustion from the day we had experienced we decided to call it a night and get some rest for what the following day would hold. We were so grateful to be in such a loving and understanding environment. Uma, Yaman, and their children were such a blessing to us. There are not words to express the many ways they blessed us on our trip. They all taught us through their actions an entirely different level of hospitality than we had ever experienced.

We have our baby girl!!!!!!!!!! - May 20, 2010 Posted from Kenilworth Hotel

2011-04-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to let you all know that we have our daughter. It has been quite an emotional day. Alesha is absolutely gorgeous and VERY tiny. The dress we picked her up in is a 0-3 month!! She has bonded well with me, she is laughing, smiling, and such a good baby. She is slowly warming up Darin and the boys. Will have to give more details later. Thank you all for your prayers. We were able to get pictures of all the babies!

May 20, 2010 - Alesha Day!!!!

2011-04-18T21:55:00.000-07:00

After a VERY LONG night of little sleep, we all awoke at different times and made an assessment of our health situation. It appeared as though the medicine did its work, the vomiting stopped,and it looked like we were finally on the mend. Martin had his appetite back and wanted to go with Darin to the buffet downstairs and get something to eat. Luke, was still not feeling all that great. His issues were compounded by his IBS and the meds were not helping the situation. He was past vomiting, but felt very nauseous mostly due to IBS. I was feeling much better, but VERY weak, as we all were. Luke and I stayed in the room and asked Darin to bring us back a piece of toast to see if we could eat anything at all. I am TOTALLY bummed that I missed out on the breakfast buffet. It sure sounded amazing! Anyways, a knock was at the door. Who I thought was Darin, turned out to be an employee standing there with a tray of food. Later I found out that Darin tried to just bring it up, but they refused and said they would do it for him. All the while I am looking just awesome after the night I had and have not even started to get ready for the day. He leaves the tray and Luke and I take a few bites and call it good. Still not much of an appetite.

We are not scheduled to go to the orphanage until 2:00 p.m. As we try to pass the time the boys watch their favorite episode of Pink Panther and Darin and I each write a letter to Alesha. It is amazing that this day is FINALLY here. I am nervous, excited, antsy all at the same time and am struggling to find energy to get through this big life changing day. I am thrilled that our prayers were answered and we are well enough to make it to the orphanage as a family. As we continued to wait, I double checked all of our donations for the orphanage, Alesha's bag, the carrier, and made sure all the paperwork was in order. We then took our last family photo as a family of 4.

The time had come for us to grab all our stuff and head to the lobby to meet our driver for the day. Let me just say that we had the BEST driver! He was the sweetest man and had been driving the streets of Kolkata since 1969. He was really excited for us when we told him that we headed to the Children's Home to pick up our daughter. Once our bags were loaded and we were safely buckled in, our driver began talking with us in perfect English. We first chatted about the differences in transportation compared to Delhi. In Delhi you see a lot of green auto rickshaws and in Kolkata you see yellow cabs. We discussed Hinduism, Jesus Christ, and the difference between the two beliefs, he told us about his family and gave us some history on India. We arrived at the orphanage without a hitch :-) Did I mention I LOVE this driver!

We were asked by our caseworker prior to travel if we would be willing to take photos of all the children at the children's home. My husband who has a photography business on the side was delighted and honored to take the photos. I was so excited that he could use his gift of photography to bless the waiting families. Darin and I were very aware of how precious and meaningful each image was of Alesha during our process. We had only received a handful of photos during our wait so we were determined to get several images of each precious child. Any photo or video clip you get is priceless during the wait. These are the life line to your child. What was really exciting for me was that I could meet, hold, and tell some of my friend's babies how much their mommy and daddy loved them and they would be coming soon to bring them home.

The Children's home is split into two building a couple blocks away from each other. Upon arrival at the 9B building we were joined by an employee who traveled with us to the other building. This was our first glimpse of where our daughter had been staying. With the list that Tami emailed me with the specific photos that needed to be taken of specific children, etc and with the famous name signs in hand, we proceeded into the building. At this point I am half expecting to round a corner and see my precious daughter standing there. Alesha, had been in this building since her arrival at the Children's Home. So as we moved from room to room I was expecting to see Alesha's sweet face.

An overall picture of the room with the babies

Our boys with some of the Ayahs and babies

The photo below is very meaningful to me. When we first entered the building we stopped in a room where the newborns were located. This sweet women was feeding this precious little one. She chatted a bit with us and helped me get the photos of the infants and helped me with names of the babies. We then walked throughout the other rooms and got additional photos of the children. When we were about to leave I hadn't seen Alesha anywhere and was told that she was in the other building now. As we were leaving we passed the first room again and this sweet Ayah was still there. She asked me who my baby was and I said "My baby is MugdhaMugdha. The weight of her comment really hit me at the point and when I see this picture of her holding this tiny little baby it gives me a visual of her caring for my precious baby girl. What a blessing it is to have such beautiful and caring women caring for our children until we are able to bring them home. They are truly a treasure and my heart breaks for them as each of "their babies" leaves the home to be joined with their forever family. It takes somebody special to care so deeply for someone and have them taken out of your life over and over again. Although it is a beautiful thing that the children are going to a forever family, they still grieve that loss.

This photo was taken as we left the building to go back to our car. I just love all these tiny little clothes hanging out on the line.

We all piled into the car and headed back to the 9B building. We knew we had arrived as we saw the famous sign that I had seen in so many blogging friend's photos over the years :-)

WOW, this was it! This is where our daughter is and we will finally be united with her. As we entered the home we walked up a long marble stairwell and into a small lobby area.

We were directed into Ms. Roy's office, the door on the left, where we were greeted by her sweet smile. She had all the paperwork set out and we began our meeting. I had my list of questions to ask and fumbled through the list as my nerves were shot. After my list of questions we signed the book saying that we were Alesha's parents. We saw the most precious little newborn photo of Alesha. So glad we were able to see another photo of her. After all the signing was completed I asked Ms. Roy to please write Alesha's name and those of my boys in Bengali. It is a treat to have that paper as a memory. We then presented Ms. Roy with our donations. It was so awesome to present her with an entire duffel bag full of diapers and wipes that were donated by the hospital my husband works at and to also give a milk donation. These items are so expensive in India and it felt so good to give back to the home that had cared for our daughter for so many months. Ms.Roy then gave us our box of cereal and formula and then brought out the most precious memory book for us. It had photos in it of Alesha's friends and some tid bits about our girl. It brought tears to my eyes. What a beautiful gift for them to give us on such a special day.

By this point we have already spent 1 1/2 at the other building and have now been here for about an hour. My sweet, Luke, was feeling sicker by the minute. His IBS was really acting up and the heat was not helping things a bit! As we left the office Luke made his way to the bathroom where we thought he was going to throw up. Thankfully he didn't, but my husband (being the documentary photographer that he is) documented the moment.

My emotions were running really high at this point. My boy is not feeling well and he felt horrible that he was sick on the day he was going to meet his sister so his emotions were high and lots of tears from pain and sadness, it is hotter than anything, and now I am seconds away for seeing my baby in real life. We proceed into the first room and took the photos of the children on the list and then entered the larger room where the other children were located. When we walked into the room my eyes scanned the room in record time looking for my girl. There she was! One of her Ayahs was holding her and she looked a bit nervous. I walked slowly over to her, smiled, and said "Hi, Mugdha" I knew that she had NO idea who I was and had seen many of her friends leave with people with white skin so I wanted to take it really slow. She just looked at me and clung to her Ayah. Notice how curled her feet are in the below photo. She did this a lot when we first got her. When she was scared or felt uncomfortable those little feet would just curl up really tight.

Our first glimpse of each other. Our son, Martin, was in charge of the video camera and did a fantastic job!

My first touch of her beautiful skin.

Alesha, with one of her Ayahs

Alesha, with another Ayah

We decided that Alesha would just stay with her Ayahs while we continued taking photos of the rest of the children. It was so fun interacting with all these precious children and getting them to smile for the camera! When our photos were complete it was time to hold my precious girl! Boy, when her Ayah handed her to me I instantly felt how TINY and frail her body was. She was light as a feather.

There was a bit of hesitation from her, but there were no tears, which surprised everybody. Ms. Roy was pretty confident that Alesha was going to cry and have a really hard time leaving. I just talked to her and tried not to hold her so tight. The top button of her dress was missing and I noticed the tag inside and quickly caught a glance at the size and was shocked when I saw 0-3 months!!!! YIKES,all the clothes I brought were 6 months. This could be an issue, I was thinking in the back of my mind.

After some little games with the mirror and more talking, the most incredible thing happened. Alesha, just layed her head down on my shoulder and totally relaxed. It is funny, because months before we got the all clear to travel, I felt as though I could literally feel Alesha in my arms in this EXACT position, and now it is actually happening. My baby girl is in my arms at last. The other thing that stuck me was that just the day before the little twin of Alesha's at the Mother Teresa home did the exact same thing.

This is one of my favorite photos my husband took. It captures so much with the reflection and moment. The clock and the Ayah in the background just bring this photo full circle. What I really love is that look at Alesha's feet, they are completely uncurled and relaxed.

Alesha, met daddy and her brothers, but didn't want them to hold her or touch her. That was really hard for all of them, but they understood and didn't press the issue. The boys kept saying how adorable she was and they were SO happy to finally have her.

After we chatted some more with the Ayahs and asked more questions, it was time to leave and to say our good byes and thank yous to the Ayahs. We took a few pics with Ms, Roy, gathered all of our things from Ms. Roy's office, and we were off to start a new life as a family of 5!

Hugging Ms.Roy goodbye and telling her thank you!

As I turned to walk out of her office, I was overcome with emotion. The reality that I was taking my little girl from everything she has ever known and all of the changes that would be coming her way in the days to come hit me really hard. I think I was also feeling the grief of the care givers as well. It was really overwhelming!

I remember walking down those final steps to the entrance of the building and thinking this is it, Alesha is in our care from here on out. It was a mix of excitement, grief, anxiousness of how she would react, etc. The interesting thing was is that I just walked right out of the home with Alesha in my arms and nobody followed, no guards, nobody, just me and my family.

The boys so excited to see their sister

One of my favorite photos from the trip. Thanks to my husband for capturing these first precious moments as mother and daughter.

Our driver was all smiles as he drove us to the passport place to get Alesha's photos taken. He took us right to the location, but there was no parking. Unlike the crazy driver we had the day before, this driver made sure exactly where the place was and instructed us how far to walk and told us that he would drive around the find another parking spot. We found the place, the photos were taken quickly and without a hitch. Once our transaction was completed we exited and there was our driver flagging us down from a bit down the street and ran up to us to guide us to our car. What a blessing this driver was this important day.

One of the rare photos with my husband in it

Love this sweet smile

Walking to our car.

Our next stop was the Kenilworth Hotel. As we entered the hotel all the staff were full of smiles and congratulated us. They said how beautiful Alesha was and said a few things to her that I didn't understand. We made our way to the elevator, which Alesha found fascinating. At last we were inside our room and could relax for a bit before getting some dinner. It as amazing how well Alesha did. She cried a couple of times, but overall was all smiles and relaxed. She did not have an appetite outside of bottles and a couple Gerber stars here and there.

The boys trying to get as close as they could to their sister.

Could her bottom lip come out any further? This was the warning before the loud cry :-(

Laughs and smiles didn't take long at all.

Daddy feeding Gerber stars to Alesha. These things were an absolute life saver!

Our little girl with frog legs. So cute!

Getting paperwork in order for the next day.

We headed downstairs to update our blog and let everybody know we had Alesha. Next, we decided to take in the dinner buffet. It was amazing! Unfortunately, the boys and I didn't have a big appetite, but the food we did have was fantastic. It was later in the evening so we sat out on the patio area and listened to live music and vocals. It was really a surreal moment. I wish we had photos, but nobody had the energy to go to the room and get the camera. We will just have those images in our minds.

After dinner we returned to the room where I got everybody settled for the night and frantically packed all of our bags and got the remainder of our paperwork in order. See we were flying out of Kolkata at 8:30 a.m. the next day for Delhi. Unfortunately, with all us getting sick the extra day I had scheduled to bond with Alesha before we put her on a plane, was used up with our recovery from illness :-(

I felt horrible putting Alesha on a plane after only being in our care for about 14 hours, but there was nothing I could do at this point. I just prayed everything would work out and she would do okay on her first plane ride.

May 19, 2010 - What should have been Alesha Day :-(

2011-03-25T11:11:00.000-07:00

It is 3:30 a.m. and I wake up and have a very upset stomach. I am thinking to myself I will just go back to sleep and when I wake up again I will feel fine. As I lay there trying to disregard the extreme stomach cramps I notice that it is absolutely silent. For the first time since I have arrived in India I am not hearing cars, dogs barking, excessive horn honking, chattering of voices, etc. NOTHING, just silence. It was really bizarre.

Just as I am starting to fall back to sleep, our youngest son, Luke, enters the room and says "Mom, I don't feel very good at all and I think I am going to throw-up". As I try to comprehend what I just heard, Luke rushes into the bathroom and proceeds to puke! I am in total denial!!! This is NOT happening. This must all be a BAD dream! Today is Alesha day, the day we have longed for for over 2 1/2 years. Surely this will all pass and we can stick to the plan.

When I go and comfort Luke I realize that I am NOT in good shape either. Let's just say that the beginning of excessive diarrhea was upon me and it had NO intentions of letting up. Luke, continues to puke about every hour. Darin, thankfully is feeling fine and we wait for Martin to wake up and see how he feels. At about 7:30 Martin, awakes and says I feel fine, what a relief! Darin and Martin decide that they are going to go downstairs to the amazing breakfast buffet and Luke and I will stay in the room and pray that this passes quickly. Right before the boys head downstairs, I look at Martin, who is sitting on a chair, and he turns white as a sheet and says "I don't feel so good." This is where the real nightmare begins. He runs to the bathroom and when I enter to check on him this is what I see -

My poor son was sitting on the toilet in tears. The poor guy had diarrhea and is vomiting at the same time!!! As I entered the bathroom I was in shock to say the least! I stood there and was in complete denial at first, but the smell and sights quickly brought me back to reality! I burst in to tears and was laughing all at the same time. It is hard to put into words all that I was feeling at this point.....you can only imagine..... This CANNOT be happening!!!! This is Alesha Day, we have to go and pick up our little princess today and I have two VERY sick children and I feel horrible! This is NOT how I had invisioned this day.

I proceed to clean up the disaster that is before me and try to get everybody situated the best I can so we can decide what we are going to do. We were scheduled to pick Alesha up at 3:30 and at this point I can tell that this is no longer a possibility. I ask Darin, to call my mom and ask for prayer. He had to call, because there was no way that I was going to be able to carry on a conversation without bursting into tears the second I heard my mom's voice. We then called, Tami, to ask how we go about rescheduling the pick-up day of Alesha. She said it shouldn't be a problem, just call Ms. Roy and tell her the situation and we should be able to pick her up the following day. If there was a problem, just call her back and she would help us arrange it. Darin contacts Ms. Roy and explains everything and she said it was fine to come tomorrow instead. This was a relief! My main concern at this point was getting my boys well and finding out what they have. I did not want to arrive at the orphanage with anything contagious. While all this is taking place, Luke and Martin are continuing to vomit simultaneously as my diarrhea is relentless! Thank GOD we had a room with 2 bathrooms!!

The boys and I tried to get some rest as Darin went down stairs to explain the situation to the front desk, cancel our driver for that day, reschedule a driver for the following day, etc. He was told that they have an on-call doctor for the hotel so if we needed that service, to let them know. Darin also walked to a small shop down the street to purchase multiple bottles of water as we needed to keep hydrated and he needed a break from all of the sickness. I could not be more grateful that Darin did not get sick during this ordeal. I cannot imagine how this would have turned out if we were all down for the count.

One word - MISERABLE!

Laying there in bed I was literally begging God to heal by children. Martin's stomach hurt so bad that you couldn't even touch his stomach without him crying out in pain. He just layed there and moaned in agony. It was so heartbreaking. While Darin was gone the housekeepers came to the room to bring more toilet paper, towels, change the bedding and see if we were okay. The one housekeeper was so sweet as she was speaking to me Luke rushed to the bathroom to puke and as he heaved over the toilet she squatted down next to him and rubbed his back. She told me call the doctor, call the doctor. I said my husband will when he returns. She was VERY concerned and felt really bad for our situation. When Darin returned I told him we were taking a bigger turn for the worse and we need the doctor to come ASAP. He called the front desk and got it all arranged. The doctor could not arrive until 7:00 that evening. The wait for his arrival was brutal.

When the doctor arrived he was so quiet and had a very calming personality. He asked all the pertinent questions and then examined me, Luke, then Martin. My diagnosis, acute gastroenteritis and dehydration, Martin, the same, and Luke, acute gastroenteritis and SEVERE dehydration. He took one look at the color of Luke's tongue and he got very serious and said that he must drink LOTS of water the rest of the night or he will have to be hospitalized! The problem was Luke was drinking water, but he was throwing up so much it wasn't doing much good. He made it VERY clear to Luke that if he didn't continue to drink and do what we said he would have to get an IV at the hospital. Luke, has had experience with an IV and that made him gag down the water even though he didn't want to. When the doctor examined Martin, he touched his stomach and Martin flinched. The doctor asked if he was ticklish. Martin, said no, it just hurts so bad you can't even lightly touch my stomach. The doctor thought this was strange. After the examines he wrote out a diagnosis on his letter head for each of us with a list of medicines that needed to be taken for the next 5 days. We confirmed with him that we did not have anything contagious and that we would be fine to go to the orphanage to pick up Alesha the following day He said that would be fine if we were feeling up to it. We thanked him and paid him for his services, which was little of nothing for having a doctor come to you and examine 3 people. Before he left he told Darin that the pharmacy was right around the corner and they would be open and have all the medicine that were listed. Darin followed the doctor downstairs and as Darin headed past the front desk he overheard the doctor giving a report to the front desk clerk, and said that "he was really concerned about the little one and that if he doesn't drink a lot he will end up in the hospital!" He was definitely concerned about our Luke :-(

After a little bit Darin returned with all the medicines for his family. Thankfully, medicine is cheap in India.

This is the line up of the meds we had to take. What you see if one to stop the vomiting, one to kill off the bad stuff making us sick, and another one to rebuild the good stuff to make us well.

I can tell you that these medicines were the WORST tasting medicines I have every had. It was pure torture trying to get the boys to drink these without gagging and throwing up even more. We had a long night ahead of us. After the first couple doses we had a system of Darin holding their nose while they chugged the nasty liquid down as quickly as they could. It seemed to help if they were not able to smell the stench of the meds. You have to do what you have to do.

***Side note - We still do not know what caused us to get SO sick. Our entire family ate the exact same thing while in Kolkata and Darin never got sick. Whatever it was appeared to affect the kids much worse than the adults.***

While laying there reflecting on this horrific day we had I began to pray. I was sure that we were supposed to bring the boys with us to India to bring their sister home. One of my greatest fears of bringing them was that they would get sick and here we are sicker than anything. Going to the orphanage together as a family of 4 and leaving as a family of 5 was to be the highlight of our trip. Having the boys there to see and experience the city that their sister comes from, seeing the orphanage that their sister lived in until we could bring her home, meeting the Ayahs that took care of their sister, etc. All of these things at this point might not happen. The thought of not going to the orphanage tomorrow was more than I could handle. I began to beg God for his healing touch upon my family and a restful night sleep. I prayed that we would be well to go to the orphanage as a family of 4 to meet Alesha for the first time. I began to thank God that we were in a safe place, in a hotel that had a doctor available to assist us, medicine readily available and for a cheap price, and a husband who could manage all these details and care for his sick wife and boys. I was also thankful that I had budged that extra day in Kolkata. That entire extra day was supposed to be spent bonding with Alesha before we put her on a plane back to Delhi, but now that day allowed us to get well enough to pick her up without having to rearrange our entire itinerary. As I drifted off to sleep I was thankful that tomorrow was a new day, it couldn't be much worse than what we experienced today and I hoped that it would be a day filled with joy as we bring Alesha into our arms forever.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - Continued....- Kolkata - The Mother Teresa Home

2011-03-23T10:46:00.000-07:00

After we regrouped we headed down to the lobby to meet your driver to take us to the Mother Teresa Home. We were a bit concerned when we discovered that the car the driver took us to was not the car we were told we would have. We had arranged for a Honda that was 1,500 rupees for 5 hours of time within a 50 meter radius. We figured this would be plenty of time to accomplish the sites we wanted to see and the price fit our budget. The problem was he took us to a Toyota Corolla, which was 3,000 rupees for the same amount of time. Not wanting to get stuck with a bill we didn't budget for we asked him to double check with the desk and make sure everything was okay. At this point we realized our driver spoke hardly any English and kept asking the receptionist for instructions and procedures. The car issue finally got settled and as we would be getting the 1,500 rupee price for the Toyota so we headed off to our first stop. Before we left the hotel parking lot he was on his cell phone again asking more questions and getting additional directions. I was thinking how could one not know where the Mother Teresa House is if you live and work in Kolkata. She is known all around the world. . This was going to be an adventure for sure. As we drove along the crowded streets of Kolkata we took in additional sites of our daughter's birth country. At last we stopped at what we thought was the home, but to find out our driver was asking for directions. We continued on and stopped again for yet MORE directions. We are very concerned at this point wondering what it up with this driver. Finally, he makes a final stop at what we hope is the destination we requested.

A very sweet young lady meets us and talks with our driver briefly and she says to follow her. We proceed through a gate that leads to a playground. We are thinking this is really strange to see this at Mother Teresa's Home. As we enter the gate we are bombarded by children. They are EVERYWHERE!! They swarmed us immediately. My husband had a little girl run up to him and hold her arms up for him to hold her. In a minute or so he had 2 children in his arms, I had one in my arms and several pulling at my skirt, while our boys are wide-eyed as the children are all around us talking to us a mile a minute, but we don't understand anything they are saying. We ask the lady "Is this the Mother Teresa's home?", and she says no this is Mother Teresa's Children's Home. Yep, our driver still didn't get us to the correct place. Although we were excited to see this home, we were not emotionally prepared to see what lay ahead. The lady begins to tell us a bit about the home. The children on the playground were out for playtime. She explained that a lot of the older children attend school. It was the middle of the afternoon. There were probably 50 children playing in a dirt floored play area. There were teeter-totters, a tire swing, and a large piece of play equipment that the workers placed two children per seat facing each other, it held about 30 kids at time and once loaded they pushed it around in a circle. The children seemed to really enjoy it. My husband was down to one child in his arms and I still had the little girl who jumped in my arms. This little girl had NO intentions of me letting her down. I tried several times to put her down so I could hold some of the other children who were begging for me to pick them up, but as I got her close to the ground she would pull her legs up and cling even harder to my neck and body. It was clear that this little one was going to be a permanent attachment for the remainder of our time in this area. At this point my son, Martin, had a little one in his arms and our youngest son was not sure what to do as he was not big enough to hold any of the kids. It was fun to watch my boys interact with these children. The children wanted to show us every little thing in the playground. They showed us the climbing vine, the sticks, the water spicket, the caged birds, etc. It was explained that the children at this home were either dropped off at the gate or were brought back to the home after the worker's combed the streets for abandoned children. It was truly heartbreaking to see the amount of children at this home. One of the buildings housed approx. 80 children. The other building housed the special needs children ages newborn to approx age 12. There were close to 200 children overall at the home. As I stood there in the HOT, DUSTY, DIRTY, NOISY playground and saw how few workers there were to care for ALL of these children my heart broke. These women must be exhausted! With every child fighting for attention it must be frustrating for them to know that it is impossible to meet the needs of all of these children with the shear number that stood before them. It was a very overwhelming scene.

We were directed over to the building where the 80 children were housed. The toddlers were having playtime. As we stood at door taking off our shoes we noticed they were kicking a ball around. As we entered the room and I looked down as this little girl walked up to me. I could have sworn it was Alesha's twin sister!!!! The site of her took my breathe away! She had the same short hair cut, pixie face, teenie tiny body and huge eyes. My first thought was, "What is Alesha doing here?!" I picked this beautiful little girl up and it was funny she didn't want me hold her on my hip, she wanted to be held facing me. As I turned her little body towards me she layed her head on my shoulder and began to suck her 2 fingers just like we had seen Alesha do in previous photos. It was INSANE how much this little girl reminded me of my daughter. It was almost like a mini preview of what tomorrow was going to be like. My emotions were running at top speeds at this point. Our boys kicked balls around with the children and pushed them on their little bikes, and carried the little ones all around. It was fun to see them interacting so well. The building was quite dark and had several levels. The top level had the newborns and we were not allowed access. The toddlers were on the other level and I assume the school children who were attending school at the time were on the bottom level. After much play time, I put down my daughter's twin sister :-) and headed over to the other building.

We asked if any of the children get adopted and she said that a lot of the younger children are adopted, but they have a huge number of special needs children they continue to provide care for. As we entered the second building we were taken to the room with infants (1 year and under). There were several workers on the floor playing with toys and feeding the children. It was such a small area and so much commotion.. There were rows of cribs to our right so I walked along looking at these precious little babies. Some of them were so frail. There was a baby probably 2 months old and she was skin and bones. She was just laying there fast asleep with a small cloth where a diaper would be. She was the most frail little baby I had ever seen! Truly heartbreaking. I was able to get some smiles from some of the babies and interact with them a little bit. There were some babies with some with significant special needs and at the far end of the aisle of cribs there was a caregiver giving breathing treatments to several children. It was really hot and crowded as additional tourists arrived and were trying to make their way through the small quarters to see all the children. I just wanted to scoop them all up and take them home. My heart broke for these workers as trying to meet the basic needs of all these tiny children all the while dealing with the overwhelming heat.

We then went up two flights of stairs to an area where the older children were residing. As we entered we saw several children strapped to chairs as their disabilities would not allow them to sit up on their own, we saw several workers changing out beds, a group of children gathered on a large rug doing various things, while there was also a small room off to the left where a class seemed to be taking place. To take in all of this a one glance was overwhelming to say the least. We stood there for several minutes before we began to ask some questions to gain some insight.

A little boy on the large carpet was on his back in a fetal position and was rocking from side to side over and over again. We asked if he was okay and she explained that this is how he comforts himself, because he has never had anybody hold and love him. This was the most heartbreaking thing we had heard all day. My husband had a very difficult time with this and walked to a small bench in the corner of the room and began to weep. Our boys were taking in all these sites and asking me all kinds of questions that I didn't have answers for. All this was going on while I was trying to process what I just heard. I was called into the small room that was having a class. As we entered all the children were seated around a large table and their instructor said they were all so excited to see my boys. They all reached out their hands for us to shake. (they especially wanted to shake my boys hands) There were smiles and giggles all around the room. They were so excited to have visitors, especially children. So many things happened in such a short amount of time it was so difficult for me to process everything and keep it together emotionally. We decided it was time to go as we still wanted to see the Mother Teresa home before it closed. Our sweet guide took us out to the main entrance and I explained to her that our driver had no idea how to get to Mother Teresa's home and could she help him with directions. She was so sweet and chatted with him and I felt a bit more comfortable knowing that our chances of arriving at our original destination was actually tangible at this point. We said our goodbyes and thanked our guide for her service and love for the children and for her time. She was very gracious and sent us on our way. We piled into the car and headed out.

After a short drive we ACTUALLY arrive at our original destination the Mother Teresa Home. Our driver says he will wait for us (at this point I don't trust this guy one bit!). We make our way down a small sidewalk, following a few people ahead of us, as we have no clue where to go. The home is very small, peaceful, and extremely quiet. People are quietly making their way through a room (a museum of sorts) that has a display of Mother Teresa's belongings and large boards that explain her ministry through the years. It was fascinating to read of all the things this one women accomplished in her life. What an inspiration! We traveled up a small set of stairs to peer into Mother Teresa's bedroom. There was a bed, a desk with a chair and a couple belongings. It was as simple as it gets. Exactly what you expect from a women who gave everything she had to those in need. The last stop was the area where her tomb was. There were numerous people praying, chanting, and gazing upon the tomb. The only photo we were allowed to take was in this room. I love what it says on top of her tomb. "Love Until It Hurts" What a powerful statement. We were able to take some dried flowers with us and a set of praying hands for each of us. I am thankful I have these mementos and I can share them with Alesha as she grows. How wonderful for our daughter to have such an amazing person who cared about so many people by doing mighty work in the city that she was born in. The boys and I had studied a lot about India and Mother Teresa in homeschool prior to our trip so it was exciting for them to see in real life all that we had been studying about. I pray that this will have an impact on their lives for years to come.

While we were stopped after exiting the gate of the home, a lady came running from the gate and asked if we wanted to give a donation for milk for the babies at the Children's Home. After just seeing all these precious faces, we decide that yes, we would like to do this. My husband went with the lady and make the donation while we waited with our driver in the air conditioned car. The boys were exhausted at this point and extremely HOT. After a few minutes our insane driver decides that he was going to go and check on my husband and leaves me with my two boys in the back of the car with the car running and the doors unlocked!!!!! This happened so quickly I didn't even have a chance to say anything! As he leaves he says something to two guys that are standing nearby and they keep looking at us in the car. Can you believe this is happening?!!! I am gripped by FEAR! My mind starts running a mile a minute. I CANNOT believe I am sitting in a running car with the doors unlocked in the crowded streets of a foreign country with people passing by the car every second. The boys begin to panic and I try to stay calm, cool and collected...YAY, right, VERY hard to do! I begin to pray for protection as I don't know what else to do. How could this guy leave me and my kids here alone? I am looking around playing out different scenarios in my head. What if somebody jumps into the car? I will just jump over the seat and pull the keys out of the ignition before he gets fully into the driver's seat. I don't think we will have enough time to get us all out of the car before they would drive away.I could pull the keys right now, but we would probably suffocate from the heat. I don't think it would be safe to exit the car with two kids, at least I have some protection inside the car. Just as my nerves are about shot my husband and the driver arrive. My husband is furious that the driver left us alone in the car. At this point I told Darin I just wanted to get back to the hotel. We originally were going to go to a restaurant that was recommended by the hotel for dinner, but after what this driver put us through and what we had seen that day I just wanted to go to the hotel. We told the driver to take us back to the hotel. He says "You want to go to the airport?". NOOOOOOOO! He is really freaking me out. I am on the verge of tears. This day did not turn out how I thought it would and my emotional tank had exploded by all the sites I have seen and knowing that tomorrow I will be meeting my baby girl for the first time. We tell the driver to go to Kenilworth Hotel! We begin driving and the next thing I know he drops us off at the front door of the restaurant we had mentioned to him prior to leaving the hotel. At this point there is no communicating with this guy. He doesn't understand anything we are saying and we are NOT getting through to this guy.

We walk into the Peter Cat Restaurant and are greeted by very nice people. The airconditioning felt so refreshing after being in the heat all day. They seat us in a booth towards the back of the restaurant. Before the waiter arrives our driver is standing at our table. He starts talking to us and from what we can gather he is saying he has to park down the street and that he will meet us when we are finished. I made sure the best I could that we was going to WAIT for us and NOT leave us. He says yes.....oh God, please don't let him leave us stranded at a restaurant in the middle of Kolkata!. We are served the most delicious butter chicken, rice, naan, and bottled water. It tasted so good after such a hectic day.

During our meal, the owner of the restaurant comes to our table and begins talking with us. He has traveled to the states many times and speaks English very well. We took the opportunity to ask him if it is customary to tip a hotel driver? We knew you were supposed to trip drivers 10%, but if they came with the hotel were we supposed to. Since our driver was horrible and scared the wee out of us we were not wanting to tip the guy (we didn't tell the owner this)! He says that no, you are not expected to tip the drivers that are associated with the hotel, but if you would like to that is fine. We then talked about his restaurants and how delicious the food was, we pay our bill and try to decide what to do with our transportation issue. We go out the front door of the restaurant and what do you know.....our driver is NO where to be found.We explain to the owner that the driver said that he was going to park and wait for us down the street and we now think we are supposed to meet him there since the car is not outside the restaurant. By this time it is pitch black outside and we are supposed to walk with our two young boys down dark alleys to a car that we HOPE is there waiting for us. The owner says "no problem" with the friendly head bob that only the Indians can do so well. He smiles and says "I will walk you down to your car." What a relief! I could not have been for thankful for his compassion and friendliness! The walk to the car was very LONG! I would say at least 3-4 blocks away. The owner of the restaurant was talking to us about different things along the way and keeping a close eye on us making sure were were right behind him. My son, Luke, was very uncomfortable and scared. Finally, our CRAZY driver comes running up and hustles us to his car. The owner says a few words to him and tells us goodbye. We tell him how thankful we are that he took the time to walk us to our car. I cannot imagine an owner of a restaurant in the USA doing the same thing for us. This man was a God send in our time of need.

At this point we tell the driver to please take us to the Kenilworth Hotel, he says, "yay, yay, yay" and begins driving. Then he says "You go to airport? and we say NO, KENILWORTH HOTEL!!!!!! At last we are in the hotel parking lot. I could not get us out of that car FAST enough. As I rush into the hotel with the boys, the driver stops my husband and demands a tip! WOW! my husband just hands him a dollar to make him leave us alone and walks away. This driver has the nerve to tell my husband he wants another dollar! My husband walks away. The driver follows us into the hotel to take care of his paperwork with the front desk then follows us to the elevator and asks my husband again for a tip. My husband is furious and just wants to drop this guy like a bad habit and hands him another dollar and we head up stairs exhausted!

After we calm down a bit we go to the front desk to arrange our driver for the next day to the orphanage. We said that we did not want the driver we had today and would like a different driver for tomorrow. They had a puzzled look on their face and we told them that he took us to the wrong locations all day, made us very nervous, and asked for a tip. They were NOT pleased and apologized. They said they would have a different driver arranged for tomorrow. There was NO WAY that I was going to have that crazy person taking us to meet our daughter for the first time and him screwing the whole thing up! What a relief to know we would have somebody different at the start of a new day. After scheduling everything we went back up stairs to get our things together for tomorrow's trip to the orphanage. There was a knock at the door and a hotel staff person was standing there with our $2 in hand and said they were VERY sorry and that she rebuked the driver and demanded our money back. My guess is that this driver is not associated with the Kenilworth Hotel any longer.

What a day! Tomorrow is Alesha day and I couldn't come fast enough!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - Kolkata - arrival and park

2011-03-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

We began the day super early! We had a 6:25 a.m. flight out of Delhi to Kolkata. Uma, was flying out on business the same morning so it worked out well for us all to go to the airport together. What a whirwind! The lines were huge! As we waited patiently so get through the first line of the ticketing counter we noticed the time was ticking by rapidly and the line to get through security was extremely long! My heart started racing a bit as I wasn't sure we would catch our flight to Kolkata. Uma, explained that in India they have a list of all passengers on the flights and the plane will not leave unless everybody is accounted for. They began making overhead calls for people on the flight we were taking to move ahead through security. I remembered then that the men and women go through different check points so I was sorting out passports and bags to get us all through security. We then scrambled to make sure we didn't forget anything and rushed to find our departure gate. As we were running we heard the last call for our flight come over the loud speaker. The man at the departure gate hurried us to a shuttle that only had us and one other person on it as it traveled swiftly to the airplane that was waiting for us. As we stepped onto the plane a sigh of relief came upon me as I knew we were now on our way to Kolkata and one step closer to our baby girl. I told Darin that I felt like I was going to be induced like I was with the birth of our first son. The anticipation of it all and knowing we were going to meet soon. On the 19th we will meet our daughter and our lives will be changed forever and life as we know it will be different....in a wonderful way.

The flight was short and the service was AMAZING! King Fisher does a fantastic job. Everybody was so friendly and the food was very good, too. We checked with our friend about eating the food and he said it was safe and not to worry. The newspaper caught my attention as the headline read Record Breaking Temperatures in Delhi. Boy did I know what they were talking about. On Monday the day before we left it was 115 degrees. The paper said that the last 2 days in Delhi had record breaking temperatures and they were the highest temperatures on record for the last 8 years. I had never in my life experienced heat to this level. The building, cement, everything just radiated heat not to mention the sun just blaring down on you. It felt as though you were standing in a furnace! As the plane approached Kolkata a flood of emotions filled me. Tomorrow we will meet our little girl for the first time. I am actually in the birth city of my baby girl. The reality was really beginning to sink in that the next flight I will be on we will be a family of 5!!

As we exited the plane and walked to the OVERCROWDED shuttle bus I was surprised at how muggy it was compared to Delhi. Delhi, felt more like you were walking around in a furnace, as Kolkata, felt more like a sauna! When we arrived to the terminal we were unsure of where to go. It was awkward walking around and seeing security all over with VERY large guns. Our boys were very impressed with the size of the guns. We had a bit of a problem at this point, because there was an issue with the Alesha's return tickets back home. We were told in Delhi to get that taken care of BEFORE we left the airport in Kolkata. The problem was the guard, who was holding an extremely large machine gun, would not let us into the area where we needed to conduct this business. We tried to explain the best we could, but to no avail. Not wanting to argue with this man or his gun we decided we just needed to find our driver and deal with it later. As we exited the terminal there was a sea of people, many holding up signs. We were told our hotel would send a driver to pick us up and to look for him holding a sign with our name on it. We walked slowly through the crowd scanning every sign for our name. Even though we ALL scanned the signs we didn't see our name!!! YIKES, I started to panic. My husband said, don't worry, you stay here with the boys (it was SO difficult to move about with the kids and all the luggage), and I will go and look again. Thankfully, he returned with our driver. He had been holding a sign that had our name on it, but it was totally spelled wrong. My husband just made a guess and approached the driver and thankfully he was correct! We asked for the sign as a memory, but with the language barrier we never obtained it. :-(

Safely in the car with all our baggage our driver proceeded to drive us to our hotel. As we drove along I noticed such a difference in the landscape compared to the city of Delhi. There were a lot of open fields, greenery, and more of an "old traditional" look to the city. We were at last in the city of our daughter.

Upon our arrival at the Kenilworth Hotel our jaws dropped at how nice it was. We are not ones that would typically stay in a hotel of this calibier, but with not being familiar with the surroundings and having our children with us we wanted to stay in a place that came highly recommeneded. It did not disappoint. The staff was super freindly and it was really beautiful. At last we arrived in what would be our new home for a couple of days.

This is a view from our balcony looking down into the hotel parking lot . What is interesting is that the cars go this direction for about half the day and then the traffic changes direction the other half of the day. It is really crazy how traffic works here in India. One of our drivers said you really need to know your way around or you can get in trouble in a hurry.

We really wanted to take in some of the sights of Kolkata before we picked our daughter up so we started making some plans. We were disappointed to find out the Naheem, the driver that came highly recommended had left on vacation the day before we arrived. Bummer! So we arranged for a car later that afternoon and were off. Our first stop was a local park not too far way from the hotel. We decided that we would walk to this stop so we could take in the some of the city. It was really hot, but we decided to go anyways so we didn't miss the opportunity as we also wanted to go to the Mother Teresa Home and that would be later in the afternoon.

Our walk to the park was much longer than we had originally thought. As we made our way among the crowded sidewalks, walking past the various food carts, hearing all the horn honking, we were quickly overwhelmed with the poverty that surrounded us. A sadness came over me as I looked upon small children with little to no clothing and families sleeping on the sidewalk. This level of poverty is difficult to comprehend when we come from such an affluent country. The reality is, is that so much of the world lives below the poverty line. What is amazes me about India is how you can see extreme poverty and extreme wealth all at the same time quite often within looking distance. I am always taken back by the sheer beauty of India even amidst the poverty. The colors, smells, beautiful faces of the people, scenery, etc.

Our boys kept very close as we made our way to the park. As we were approaching the park we were approached by a very young mother with her son. She asked if we had any food for her and her baby. We had packed along with us multiple baggies full of dried banana chips and mixed nuts, so that we would have something to give to people when this situation arose. This is something we learned on our 2008 mission trip. It is so difficult to just walk by these people and not do anything and giving money is an ABSOLUTE NO as you will be mobbed! Giving food was a great way to not feel like we were ignoring the great need that was facing us and knowing that the food was helping in a small way. What was different about this encounter was that she asked us to take a photo of her and her son. We were honored to do so and it was great to see a such a sincere smile on the mom's face. She thanked us repeatedly as we continued on.

We finally made our way to the final stretch of sidewalk leading to the main gate of the park. As we looked upon the wall surrounding the park we noticed something sticking up out of the concrete. Upon closer evaluation we found nails, spikes, and shards of glass sticking up. This was their way of keeping people from jumping the wall into the park instead of using the main gate. It seemed like a good deterent to us. We entered the main gate and began to take a small tour of the park. It was getting REALLY hot and we had run out of water. The park was fairly crowded with people having picnics, couples strolling about, people reading, etc. It was quite beautiful to see all the flowers in bloom, the lush green grass, and the different elements the park had. We didn't stay long and headed back to the hotel to rehydrate and cool down before our next adventure.

The wall surrounding the park

Entrance to the park

We thought this was the park at first, wrong...much further to go

Fun garbage can around the park

Beautiful

One of the beautiful trees.

A small pavilion. The pillars helped us stand up in the sweltering heat LOL!

TO BE CONTINUED.........