Our Journey For Cole: 10/08/07

Monday, October 8, 2007

Home At Last

Our dear friend Stoney met us at the airport with sign in hand. It takes a confident man to hold a sign with a big girly flower on it...have to thank our girlfriends for designing the sign, BTW.

Tee also brought a large box of Cheerios, new pj set, & a playpen. What a friend! I know y'all are jealous:)

Meanwhile, Cole snoozed the whole way home from the airport, and continued to sleep in his crib for at least another 2 hours. This gave us time to quickly unpack what we

needed, and get ready for our puppy dog (Bella) to be dropped off.

I wasn't quite sure how Bella & Cole would react to one another, but luckily they were both immediately smitten with each other!

Cole learned how to play "Fetch" within minutes, and plays with Bella every day now.

Sunday, Sept 30th - Departure Day!

I'm trying to play catch up for friends & family now that I have a few minutes!! Yes, the child sleeps...

Anyhow, we woke at about 3:30am on Sunday morning & got ready to head to the airport. Getting checked in was pretty easy, and we ended up with some time to kill before boarding our plane. We were in business class flying home, so there was a pretty nice lounge that we got to wait in, which offered free refreshments & snacks.

Cole did very well on the flight, with only minor crying/fussing here & there, and finally fell asleep about the last 6 hours of our 17 hour trip. We landed at JFK around 3:30pm on Monday afternoon, and had to take Cole's paperwork to a seperate line in customs. We waited about 10 minutes, got called up to the desk, handed our son's visa and that was that.

My good friend Danny lives in NY, and since we had a full nights layover he was

able to join us at our hotel for dinner. Shortly after we got done with dinner, and headed back up to our room Cole had warmed up to Danny. It was really nice for us to have someone else entertain our son for the first time in 2 weeks let me tell ya:)

Oh, and I forgot to mention how happy we were to be on US soil, even if we weren't all the way home, yet!

Danny gave Cole a stuffed Tigger & Pooh Bear, but I think Cole ended up a little more attached to Tigger.

Adoptive Mothers Poem

Being an adoptive mother is not for every woman. She must possess not only the natural mother instinct but an understanding and appreciation of the situation that brought a child into her arms making her a mother.

The adoptive family comes to be by choices made, choices made by the first parents and by the adoptive parents. This bond the adoptive mother has with her child grows over time, like the child did within his first mother's womb. Day by day, touch by touch, with each tear, kiss, and memory made they became a family. Adoptive mothers have that special knack to let love grow.

The adoptive mother knows that she is a mender of wounds, not just of the physical skinned knees with a band-aid and a kiss, but of the heart. She gives love, acceptance, and permission to ask and talk about the day he was born and of his first parents. Adoptive mothers are embracers, not only of the child with many hugs and kisses, but of the child's heritage and history.

She embraces the facts of her child's past with strength for herself and the child. She's not only a memory maker planning family vacations, activities, and birthday parties, but also a memorykeeper. She's a tier of shoelaces and of hearts. She weaves lives together into a tapestry of a new family, with many different brightly, colored threads showcasing their individualities and family origins. Together they create one unit attached to each other.

Adoptive mothers are experts at finding lost objects, but understand and validate the profound, deep loss left by adoption. She allows the tears to fall and grief to be felt, allowing the mourning of the mom not there. She is secure in knowing that she's not a replacement, but a finisher of a race for someone who, for whatever reason, could not run any longer.

This role is not for the weak of spirit, or the easily wounded. Loving a child not born to her but calling him her own, but this is what she does, it is her calling. She is a mother.

Quick Facts

Uzbekistan, in the ancient cradle between the Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya rivers, is the most historically fascinating of the Central Asian republics. Within it are some of the oldest towns in the world, some of the Silk Road's main centres and most of the region's architectural splendours. When To Go The best time to visit is in spring from May until the end of June, and in autumn from September until November. The weather is mild and in April the desert blooms briefly. In autumn it's harvest time, and the markets are full of fresh fruit. If you're interested in trekking the mountains, summer (July and August) is a better time to visit; at all other times the weather is unpredictable and there can be snow in the passes from Christmas to February. You may wish to remain in the mountains to stay cool, as the rest of the country will be sizzling at this time. But remember, whilst the mountains are pleasantly cool in summer, they are freezing in winter.

Monday, October 8, 2007

New Pics

Home At Last

Sunday, Sept 30th - Departure Day!