We made it home...

last Wednesday night. My family and our good friend Paul and his daughter Katie were waiting at the airport for us. It was so nice to see all of them. I started to cry as we came down the escalator and saw their faces. It felt so good to be home and have them meet our new baby boy.

We have been trying to get settled in and unpacked. Our house is still a mess but I get a little done each day. Ron's mom is here visiting and she has been helping us out. Ron had to go back to work today and I was sad. I liked him being at home with us. Sydny went back to school on Monday and is having a great time seeing her friends.

I want to say thank you to my good friend Melanie who made us dinner and brought it over on Sunday. It was so yummy! And also to Paul who had welcome home signs and real milk and chocolate donuts for us in our house when we came home. You guys are the best!

Landon's cough has returned unfortunately. We took him to the doctor yesterday and he had a TB test, chest x-ray, blood work and a breathing treatment. The doctor said he is wheezing and might have bronchitis or maybe whooping cough. We will know more when we get the tests back. We have him on breathing treatments at home now 4 times a day along with some other medication. I am thankful we have a doctor who is taking action.

When we left the Marshall Islands last Wednesday, our lawyer, our coordinator, the family that wasn't leaving yet and Kiomi and Phillipo all came to the airport to say goodbye. It was nice to have all of them there. The airport is so small and so HOT and humid. It was a three hour ordeal but we made it through. We had a fun day in Hawaii and went to Waikiki beach and Sydny got to swim. We also went to CPK and ate wonderful food! We didn't take any pictures while in Hawaii but it was so pretty there.

I am going to go squeeze Landon now and give him lots of kisses.
Kim

Ron's Song

Kim's song is "I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again." I have heard her sing that line a million times in the past two days. My song has been "Stars and Stripes" by Aaron Tippin. If you have a minute, do an online search for the lyrics to that song. Better yet, download it to your computer. It is a great song by a proud, unapologetic American. I have been singing it in my head this entire trip. I can only imagine that he must have been in a similar situation when he wrote the song, stuck somewhere for longer than he wanted to be, homesick, and ready to get home. I feel like I could have written the song myself any day these last couple weeks. See you soon.

Ron

We ARE leaving on a jet plane....

and we don't know when we will be back again. We are leaving tonight and will be home Thursday evening. We picked up our documents last night and we are elated!!!! See you soon.

Kim

I think we are leaving on a jet plane...

Our documents left Manila on Friday, traveled to Hong Kong, Seoul and then Guam. They left Guam Monday morning and we pray they arrived on last night's flight. If they did we can catch our flight out tomorrow (Wednesday) and then we will stay in Honolulu for one night and be home Thursday evening. If they didn't we will have to try and catch the Friday evening flight if they have seats available.

We are elated that we will be coming home soon!

Kim

Picture of the termites

Five weeks and still counting...

We were told that our documents may have gone out last night (Friday) but may not go out until Monday. If they went out last night, it is very possible we will catch the Wedensday flight home. If they go out Monday, it is possible to catch the Friday flight home but could be the following Monday flight. We are so frustrated and homesick. I so look forward to sleeping in my own bed and taking a bath in my own tub! I also look forward to not eating out every single day and also eating different foods.

Other than being homesick, all is well here. Kiomi invited us to the beach with her family on Thursday. Sydny and Ron went swimming and Sydny had fun. It was a little uncomfortable because no one really talked to us. Sydny didn't get a nap that day so she was a bear by 4:00 so we had to leave early.

Landon is getting cuter and chunkier by the day. He is a little butterball turkey and we love him so much. Sydny has been telling us every day that she loves us from her heart (at least 50 times a day)and she melts my heart every time she says it. She can be such a sweet loving little girl. I honestly think she is going to be sad when we have to go home. It will take her some time to adjust to our routine upon returning home.

The two other families are still here also. The Embassy in Manila is processing all our documents at the same time and we think that is part of the reason it is taking so long. The family that is renting the house invited us and the other family over for this coming Sunday for a home cooked meal...so exciting! Sydny will be happy because she can play with their kids. All three families will leave at the same time so we will all be on the same flight out of Majuro.

Hopefully I will be posting good news on Monday that we are leaving Wednesday...

Kim

Pictures of Kiomi's house & family

We are still here...

We were supposed to leave tonight (Wednesday) but we were told on Monday that our documents hadn't left Manila yet. We had our travel agent book us for the flight out this coming Monday knowing that we may not have our documents yet. We will just have to change the flight again if they are not here by Monday. Our travel agent could not find an available flight for us out of Honolulu for next week but said he would let us know tomorrow if he was able to come up with something. I can't imagine leaving here and then having to stay in Honolulu for a week. Even though it is a nice place to be, we are ready to be home.

We went to the grocery store on Monday and bought groceries for Kiomi and family. We took them over Monday evening. The children were so happy to see us and they loved having their picture taken. I will try to post pictures tomorrow when I have more patience waiting on them to download.

We had to move rooms last night. We were up until midnight moving all of our stuff. We brought nine pieces of luggage if that gives you any idea on how much stuff we had to move. There is a picture in our room and as we were leaving for dinner I saw something in it. I went over to it and saw what I thought were maggots all in the picture. Ron went and looked and they were termites. So we packed up and moved rooms.

Not much else to write about. I have tried to email some of you but for some reason my emails are getting stuck in my draft folder. Please don't think I am ignoring you guys.

I am outside at the hotel restaurant posting and a little girl came up to me and told me she was hungry. I am ordering her some food and waiting on it with her. Her name is Meggie.

Bye for now,
Kim

Why did the pigs cross the road...

There are pigs, chickens and dogs running around on the island. On our way back from Laura Beach, we almost ran over a baby pig that was crossing the road. He was really cute. We also had to stop the car while a mother and her piglets crossed the road. Luckily Ron got a picture of them. I wish I could take them all home.

We went to a restaurant the other day that we hadn't been to. I ordered noodles and when they brought it out it had squid all over it. Yuck! I had no idea I had ordered that. Also, when we were leaving the people that work there started eating our leftovers. We had been told this was a normal thing to happen. There was a fly flying around our table in the restaurant and the waitress stood there for a few minutes with a fly swater trying to kill it. One of the waitresses also held Landon the entire time so that we could eat. Needless to say, it was a very interesting dining experience.

Landon has grown so much since we have been here. He is quite the chunky boy. His cough is almost completely gone and we are so thankful. Everyone is healthy!!!!

We still don't know if we are coming home on Wednesday yet. Ron tried to call the Embassy in Manila yesterday and got a recording to call back later. We are so frustrated with the lack of information we are getting regarding our documents.

I also want to say happy birthday to my dad and my Aunt Charlene. It stinks that my dad is in the hospital on his birthday. Aunt Charlene, I hope you have a fantastic day tomorrow!

That is all for now.
Kim

p.s. Legal Notice: This was a post from Saturday (Friday in the States) that we couldn't post until Sunday (Saturday in the States) due to problems with the blog....

Pictures from Laura Beach

Pictures

No luck...

Looks like we are not leaving tomorrow as planned. Supposedly our documents were coming in last night but they didn't. We are told that they will most likely come Friday night. We are still trying to get a tracking number so that we can track the documents ourself. We are changing our flight to leave on Wednesday and pray that we don't have to change it again. We are calling our travel agent so he can make the change and hopefully we will not have to pay the change fee. Sometimes they make you and sometimes they don't. Since we are adopting, the might be more inclined not to charge us.

We went to dinner with our friends last night and learned this morning that they have strep throat. YIKES! Can you imagine both parents having strep and trying to take care of three kids... I sure hope our family does not get sick anymore. I feel for them.

To kill some time, we are going to drive about an hour and go to Laura Beach and let Sydny swim. She is thrilled! She is a little fish.

Just a side note, my dad had surgery this morning and I talked to my mom briefly and she said he is doing fine. Please keep him in your prayers as he recovers. He will be in the hospital for 5 to 7 days.

Adios for now,
Kim

Pictures from the party

Wednesday

We called the Embassy again this morning and they still had no news for us. We have not changed our flight yet and we are hoping the Embassy will have info this afternoon. We did go to the Continental offices this morning to see if the flight on Wednesday is still open in case we can't make the one Friday and it is. Our biggest fear is that the flights were going to fill up next week (there are only three a week)and we would have to stay longer than necessary. We are so excited about getting to come home and we are still holding out a little bit of hope for Friday.

On Sunday Sydny went swimming in the pool with her friends here and had a good time. We went to the birthday party Sunday night and played games and ate lots of good food. It was the first time since we have been here that I wasn't thinking about being here if that makes sense. We didn't see Kiomi Sunday or Monday but she came over yesterday with her friend and they hung out a little bit.

Ron and I are all well now and Sydny is doing lots better. She still runs a fever every now and then and I am not sure why. I think if we lived here we would be sick all of the time. Our lawyer brought a doctor friend of his by our hotel room on Monday to check Landon out. She said his lungs sound good and that he looks very healthy. She did put him on some more medication to help with the cough. It seems to be a little better but until that darn cough is gone or until we find out what is causing it, I will not be happy.

Sydny has been very sweet to Landon. She likes to touch him gently as she says. Dee Dee is still hanging out with us and now CoCo hangs out with us too on occasion. I guess when you have just your parents hanging out with you most of the time, you have to make up friends to play with. She has such an imagination.

That is all for now. Hopefull next time I post I will have info on when we will be leaving the Island!

Kim