Thank You!

As I complete the blog, I want to thank everyone for your prayers and encouragement.  Your love has been amazing.  I am excited to see Miranda grow and laugh and live life (and I know that my own life will grow because of her).

Today Miranda met her cousins and her great-grandmother.  She seemed a little overwhelmed at the beginning by all the attention, but joined in the fun as she became more comfortable.  She definitely liked the excitement and energy of her cousins :)  Family is a wonderful gift.

 

Jet Lag

Miranda woke up at 1:20am this morning and was wide awake!  She was happy and cheerful and ready to play.  We came downstairs and played with her new toys in the playroom.  She was having a great time, totally unaware that it was the middle of the night.  She then went back to sleep at 5:20am and slept for 2 hours.  We had a second breakfast around 7:30 this morning.  She was awake the rest of the morning and "helped" Mommy with the laundry.  She had a great time sitting in the laundry basket. She was actually a help with one load and moved all the clean clothes out of the dryer into the laundry basket.

I am quickly discovering that my house is not prepared for the curiosity of a 2 year old.  I am also learning that I can't put things down on the edge of the kitchen counters as Miranda can reach the countertop if she stretches (she gave me a scare when I turned around to see her holding a knife!  Mommy needs to be re-trained on where to put things in the kitchen).  Dad came and installed some drawer/door latches in my kitchen and Mom and I re-arranged a few kitchen cupboards.  Hopefully, I am quickly adjusting :)

Miranda was so tired tonight she could barely stay awake through dinner.  She went to bed a little after 6pm.  I need to go to bed myself since I know I will be having a very early morning...

Home Sweet Home

We are finally home!!

It was a long journey and I am so excited that Miranda is upstairs sleeping in her crib in her own home as I write this.

Miranda was not thrilled with the procedures that occur at the airport.  She wanted to run around whenever we needed to wait in line and she wanted me to carry her whenever we were lugging around our carry-on bags.  However, she loved (!) the escalators and moving sidewalks and we rode them numerous times :)

She did exceptionally well on the flight but it was a looooong flight.  She slept through the take-off and landing, so I guess her ears didn't bother her.  She also enjoyed watching "Horton Hears a Who" (without headphones) on the inflight movie system.  I started the movie for her at least four times.  We also kept her happy by feeding her lots of juice boxes (which also meant lots of diaper changes).  Thankfully, the flight wasn't full so we had plenty of space.  I will admit that it felt like the longest flight I have ever been on!

The immigration process into the US went very smoothly and quickly.  It was almost anticlimatic.  As we collected our luggage Miranda was running around in circles, she was so excited to be off the plane :)

Grandma and Aunt Amy picked us up at JFK and Miranda slept for most of the car ride home.  To add a little excitement to the trip we got a flat tire in Newark, DE.  Dad changed it to the spare but then the spare came off the rim.  We were almost home, but not quite.  Thankfully, Pam came to the rescue and picked us up.  Miranda was happy after her nap and was very content to sit and play in her car seat during the wait.

When we got home Miranda was very excited and explored the house.  She also liked her playroom and all the toys.  She bonded quickly with Aunt Amy and had a great time playing and laughing with her.  However, she was quite scared of the cat.  She was very startled when she saw Natty and backed away from her.  After several hours at home, she finally reached out to pet Natty (from the safety of sitting on my lap and with coaching and encouragement from Grandma).  Let's hope she quickly adjusts to her new pet! Miranda cried when Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Amy left.  By this evening she was exhausted from the travel and long day, but all in all she did quite well.

Finished!

YAY! All of Miranda's paperwork is completed and we are travelling home tomorrow night!

The visit to the US Consulate went smoothly and we only had to wait about 30 minutes while they printed the paperwork.  They made Dad wait outside the Consulate and said only the person actually collecting the visa could go in.  So, Miranda and I waited in the same long, narrow hallway that we were in on Monday.  While there I chatted with a lady we had seen at the Consulate on Monday (it’s amazing the bond you feel with a complete stranger when you are wading through government paperwork at the same time).

Our Consulate appointment was in the afternoon so we went to the Gold Reef City Theme Park this morning and introduced Miranda to her first amusement park rides.  She was quite stoic in the beginning, but seemed to like the rides more the second time around.  Thankfully, she didn't cry on any of them, but she did fall asleep on the train that went around the entire park.  The park was rather empty and for most of the rides Miranda was the only child.  At least there were no lines!  Her favorite ride was a car that went around a track and she also liked the carousel.  We rode both of these multiple times :)

The Magic Backpack

Today, for the first time, I did not spend the day with Miranda.  I went to visit the Gore plant outside of Johannesburg and Miranda spent the day with Grandpa.  I was nervous about how this would go and did not want Miranda to cry when she realized I would not be with her.  Grandpa took Miranda to the Johannesburg Zoo and we decided that they would leave first.  Miranda saw that her backpack was packed and was all excited because she knew this meant she was going somewhere in the car.  When we told her it was time to put on her shoes she wanted to help put on my shoes.  I said again that she was going to the zoo with Grandpa, not Mommy, and she started to get upset.  Then we told her it was time to put on her backpack.  (She loves her pink backpack and always wants to wear it herself instead of having someone else carry it).  She was so excited to put on the backpack that she ran to get it, put it on, waved goodbye to me, and walked out the door with Grandpa with a big smile on her face.

Miranda had a great time at the zoo.  The story is that she was more fascinated by the riding lawn mower than any of the animals…but perhaps that is just a rumor.  She did like the howler monkeys and learn to imitate their “howl” (she demonstrated for me when they got back).   The trip to the zoo was a great success and Miranda never cried once because Mommy wasn’t there.

On the other hand, when Dad and Miranda left the guest house I felt a little lost and sad.  I think I was more upset about Miranda leaving than she was!  I enjoyed my visit to the Gore plant but it was a little odd to think about work after being completely consumed with the adoption for the last four weeks.  At lunch, several people asked about my adoption and Miranda.  Since Derrick had met Miranda on Sunday he even "bragged" about her coordination and ability to use silverware :)

We all returned to the guest house by early afternoon, so Miranda and I went swimming in the pool.  As always, Miranda had a great time in the water.  Some of the time I swung her around in the deeper water.  The rest of the time she poured water into and out of her sand bucket.  Her sand bucket toys include a ladle which she used to pour water in and out of the bucket.  Then she got the idea to pour water on my head!  She thought this was hilarious and laughed her big belly laugh and then did it again and again.  She also poured water on her own head but it seemed more fun to pour water on Mommy!

US Consulate

We had a 1:30pm appointment at the US Consulate to apply for Miranda’s visa.  We arrived around 1pm and had to wait 15 or 20 minutes outside before going through the security checkpoint.  Then we were directed to a waiting area in a long hallway and were told to wait until they called us.  We sat there and waited.... and waited.... and then waited some more.  Meanwhile, Miranda was getting rather antsy – there are only so many things to do with a 2 year old while sitting in a long, narrow hallway.  We also could overhear conversations at the counter concerning other applicants, including “Ma’am we won’t accept this document, you need to go to Zambia to get a new one issued”.   Ugh! Hearing that just raised my own anxiety level.  My experience concerning paperwork for the adoption has not been the smoothest and I was worried about what could be wrong with my documentation.  Finally, they called me to the counter and I submitted the documents. 

The next step was to pay the $400 fee.  I paid in cash and they rejected two of my $20 bills – one had a small tear and the other one wouldn’t scan.  They asked if I had any other $20 bills (I thought I was doing pretty well to have $400 in cash and didn’t know I would need replacement bills!).  I had one more $20 bill which they took in exchange for the one with the tear and they finally agreed to take the other one.  Whew! Can we make this process any more complicated?  Then we waited some more and finally, at 2:40pm, we had our interview that was scheduled for 1:30pm.  The interview went very smoothly and the man was positive regarding Miranda’s application. Next, they have to do a final review of the paperwork and Miranda’s medical report.  As long as that is fine, they will issue the visa on Wednesday so we can make our Thursday flight!

After that stressful event we went to the African Craft market in Johannesburg.  We walked into a long building filled with individual stalls that were jammed packed with crafts and souvenirs from all over Africa.  The salesmen were rather pushy and each one called out to us as we walked by and wanted us to come into their stall.  Every one assured us they would offer a “good price” for any item and tried to encourage me to buy something for Miranda.   Many of the South African crafts we had already seen but there were a few unique items (I really liked an ostrich skin wallet but it was not in my price range!)  I did barter for two carved pieces and am sure that they called someone else to come agree to the price as part of the "show".  I find bartering (especially in foreign currency) and aggressive salespeople to be a stressful environment so this was NOT a relaxing shopping experience!!   We walked through the downstairs and then went upstairs.  When we came back downstairs Dad said that I had missed a section of stalls so we turned to walk that way.  As soon as we turned to go deeper into the building Miranda started to cry because she realized we were not heading towards the exit. She must have a pretty good sense of direction since the stairs were in the middle of the building!!  I got the hint and decided to end our shopping adventure… 

Three Generations

Three Generation Photo :)