We were met at the train station by a new driver, one I think many of the other families have seen before however. Like all the rest of the team so far, he was a very nice man. We have had a few people on the ground here that many of the previous families have not worked with before. I heard that there were 5 families in country from our group at the same time when we arrived. That is more than normal. But the people who were assigned to us have been nothing less than phenomenal. They know what to do and when to do it. They know what questions to ask and what the answer should be. And when they don’t get the answer they were expecting, they know how to push it. VERY helpful in this process. Advice to families coming behind us, trust them 100%.
We had a quiet afternoon at the flat. We are repacking and reorganizing for the trip home. Like all the other families, we filled one suitcase entirely with clothes for the orphanage (thank you to my friends and relatives who donated!). We put that suitcase inside the big one then for the trip home. But we know we are over the weight guidelines now on the big one so we have to take some time and move things around. My recommendation for those traveling behind us is to bring orphanage clothes in a large duffle bag that can roll up inside another suitcase for the way home. It would be SO much easier. That is our plan for trip number 2.
And since I’m on the subject of packing, I did promise a few families that I would put together a packing list. Understand that I think this is 100% dependent on where you are going. And understand this is an adventure and learn to make do. Just like the locals do! I will not bore my friends and family but will post it in a separate blog. You can read or skip, your call.
Trip two to come back and get V has taken a twist. Based on some events from trip one, we have decided that Robert will be accompanying Alex and myself when we go to pick up V. And after discussions with David and the head coordinator here, we are re-planning the entire trip as recent families have not needed as much time as David and I originally planned. Alex and I will need to change our tickets later today and we just booked Robert’s trip on line. If all goes well, trip two will be less than a week. Pray that we do not run into any delays please. We have truly been blessed with trip one. There certainly were a few surprises and a few worries along the way but we have been very good about keeping our eye on the prize. That has helped us take it all in stride. We are taking precautions that are probably not necessary and adding Robert to the second leg of this journey will certainly add expense but in the long run, we are happy with our decision. It is what we feel is best based on the situation. And in the grand scheme of things, this additional expense is a tear drop in the river. We will all look back and be thankful that our entire family was there together to welcome our newest member. We will make some fantastic memories!
So...now I’m off to finish repacking and get some rest, 4:00 a.m. will come way too soon for this night owl. The anticipation is killing me. I can hardly wait to see that other killer smile I have been dying to see. I’m gonna give him the biggest hug of all and a big fat kiss on the cheek (sure hope none of friends are reading this blog cause he’ll kill me for writing that if they are)! Sure have missed that sense of humor, he and I have that in common. And I miss our debate’s, usually over something trivial. They drive dad nuts but it’s just what we do (right Alex?). I also better send a few emails. We just realized that if grandma or grandpa isn’t at our house when we get dropped off by our wonderful volunteer “airport picker upper”, we don’t have any keys to get inside the house. That would be the worst. Home but you can’t get in! Can you imagine?!
1 comment:
When we picked up our two, the car was the same 5 seater hatchback, so Anna sat on our lap all the way from the orphange to regional capital. If you can, you want to make sure they have a bigger car for you or have really sturdy legs for a large child to sit 2 hours on your lap. hehehe :0)
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