A Good Day

We woke up around 6 this morning and packed up for Chiang Mai. We left some of our luggage at the hotel as we will be back on Monday. Seth woke up crying and cried until we left the room.

Seth's first plane ride went smoothly. He played for a little bit and then fell asleep for the rest of the flight.

A couple from West Memphis Arkansas live here in Chiang Mai. They are a relative of some friends at church. We emailed them before we came and they have been gracious hosts already. Connie picked us up from the airport and had flowers for us. We went to pick up her husband, Richard, and then went to lunch. We had ACTUAL AUTHENTIC Mexican food. I was in heaven. They took us to our hotel room which they arranged. This evening they picked us up and we went to their house to visit their children. They foster 7 kids from ages 2 to 4. Most of the kids will be adopted out to other countries. They have a well oiled routine. The kids are on a schedule and even have learning time. It blessed my heart to see the kids. They are bi-lingual. We brought some things from home and they kids loved it. Connie also teaches Thai girls to be nanny's in the US. I will share pics later. They have a 7 year old adopted daughter. The same age as Kara. I hope they become pen pals. After our visit they took us to dinner. We were at a mall and shopped a little afterwards. I bought Seth and Kara some shoes. Seth did wonderful tonight and opened up a ton. Today was definatly a better day for him.

Tomorrow we are going to the night safari (during the day). We are also going to Connie and Richard's kids school to watch a movie. I have felt more at home today than I have the whole trip. Chiang Mai is super nice. We have only explored a little bit. Can't wait to see more tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for praying for us.

Love to all!!!!
Tracy

He's Officially An American

Well, it will be official when he steps on American soil. We met up with the other families this morning at breakfast and walked to the US Embassy. We met Mo there. There was a line of probably 200 Thai's waiting to get in. We went to the front of the line and were escorted right inside. Needless to say the Thai's were probably not saying kind things. Something about we are American citizens and have preference. The whole process probably took less than an hour. We were even able to get Seth's visa. Joel told the lady helping us that he would kiss her if she wasn't behind the glass. We said an emotional good-bye to Mo. She got a little teary eyed kissing the babies for the last time. All of the staff at the Sahathai are really special.

We went back to the hotel and dropped our paper work off. Leah and Brian headed to Hua Hin and we went with Chad and Hirally to the Grand Palace. Oh my, what an experience. Bangkok is so huge that it just overwhelms me with the size. The social class is so different too. We took the sky train to the water way and rode a boat to the palace. The palace is beautiful. I thought that we would get some history and see some neat things about Thailand. Well, everything and I mean everything is completely in twined w/ Buddhism. I used my second Asian toilet today. It is not pretty.
We were not able to go into the palace itself b/c the Thai people are mourning The King's oldest sister who died earlier this year. Only Thai's can go in. Joel told the guard that Seth was Thai. He laughed and played with Seth. All Thai offical people must wear black for 100 days. The princess is lying in state for 100 days. As we passed by part of the palace we could hear people chanting. Maybe the monks? Oh, by the way, Joel rented pants at the Palace. Luckily, they weren't that bad. They kind of remind me of scrubs.

Afterwards we went to Siam Paragon and ate at at great Portugese place. Seth has done so much better this afternoon. It was rough again this morning as he woke up crying. It wasn't until we put him on a plastic mat thingie that they had at the palace to rest on. It was kind of like the one he had at Mrs. Ting's house. He actually got down and played a little. He ate a great dinner and really played with us. He smiled and cooed. He let us love on him. Of course, he still hates the room and cried when we went in. Bath time was still rough tonight. I laid down with him and he cried big crocodile tears crying out for his "mae" or momma. It really broke my heart b/c I know that he was grieving her. Hopefully, tomorrow will be even better than today.

Kara and Will, I miss you so so much. I have heard good reports about you two. Kara, please be good at school and make me proud. Will, I hope you have a good "green light" day at school today. We love you very, very, much. It won't be long now until Mommy and Daddy are home with Seth. You are both very brave.

Tomorrow we fly out for Chiang Mai for the weekend. I think they said there is an internet cafe across from our hotel. I will try to blog tomorrow night. I love doing this b/c it makes me feel in touch with home. Home is sweet iced tea and a turkey sandwich. Nothing here tastes like home.

The outside of the King's palace. He doesn't live there anymore.

This is the boat we rode on. Let's just say it wouldn't stand up to US safety standards.


Another section of the King's Palace.



Seth has started imitating us. This was on the sky train.

On of our first and seldom smiles.

At the entrance of the Palace. Notice Joel's rented pants. :)

Thai Board Day

Seth went right to sleep last night. We try to wear him out!! :-)

Here we are with the Thai adoption board.


Mo is our social worker. She is absolutely the best. We have enjoyed her sweet spirit.

Nap time with Daddy.

Seth slept all night. He sat up some time in the night and I drew him close to me. After that he fell right back to sleep. We actually had to wake him. All 3 families met Mo and Pat in the lobby at 8:30. We headed over to the building where we me with the Thai adoption board. There were many families waiting also. They were from all over the world. It was so neat to see all of the families that were adopting like us. The board was very friendly. There were 4 ladies on the board and they were all professionals. The one that talked the most was a doctor. She had lived in Kansas City for a few years. They loved Seth and said that he was a very handsome "Thai Boy". They asked why we wanted to adopt. Joel told about his mission trip and how he fell in love with the Thai people. She asked what he liked about them. She also asked about his job and if he owned his own company. Seth had his little elephant lovie and covered his eye so he wouldn't have to look at them. They thought that was funny. In the end they said that we were a "PERFECT FAMILY FOR HIM". I couldn't agree more.

Afterwards we came back to the hotel and changed clothes. Seth took a nap with Joel and I went and got a foot massage. There is a great one across the street. After he woke up he and Joel went swimming. Pics were on Joel's camera so I will try to post those later.

We went to MBK tonight to eat dinner. It is like a huge mall. I gave Seth some juice and forgot that you should water it down for babies. He puked all over the furniture section at MBK. I felt terrible for him. It has been so long since we have had a baby that I am a little rusty. Seth really grieved today. He cried most of the day. Pat said that sometimes it is b/c it is reality for them that they are not going back home. It breaks my heart for him b/c we can't always comfort him. He still loves the Ergo most of the time and quiets down when I put him in it. Seth has not stepped on toe on the floor. Either Joel or I have to hold him all of time. He cries if you set him down for even a minute. The bath is torture for him. His foster mom washed him in a little plastic tub with cold water. He is pitiful. He won't play or act interested in anything. He also only eats soupy foods with rice and chicken. I am having an adjustment trying to feed him. I hope that he has a better day tomorrow. I forgot to mention, he started getting sick on Sunday and they took him to the doctor. He is on medication. It has been extremely difficult trying to learn him and figure out if he is hungary, tired, sick, or just grieving. I hope that we figure it out somewhat before we fly home on Tuesday.

Tomorrow we go to the US Embassy to get our baby's visas. After that we are going to try and see the palace. Friday morning we fly to Chiang Mai for the weekend.

I am missing Kara and Will terribly. This is so bitter sweet for me. I love being with Seth but I miss my kids so so much. I can't wait to be at home as a family of 5.

Prayers Answered!

"Gotcha Day" with Brian, Leah, and Olivia and Hirally, Chad, Diego, and Khirrissa.
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This is the social worker that was assigned to Seth's foster family. She was great help and even bought Seth lunch today. She is so wonderful.



We received word today that the US Embassy here has our cable. Thank you, thank you everyone for praying!!! We go tomorrow (Wed.) to our board meeting.

Seth did great today. He did cry a lot but was easily soothed and has started reaching for Joel and I. He doesn't seem to be particular about which one of us holds him. We were out a lot today and he loved the Ergo. We wore him out tonight and he went right to sleep. Let's just hope he cuts out the night feedings by himself! :-)

A Night at Siam Niramit

Last night at 5:30

Day Two

All 3 families met in the lobby at 10:30 and waited for the babies to arrive. Seth came in and I just can't get over how cute he is. He had on a little Christmas shirt and shorts and green camo shoes and socks. Gotta love it. He only cried a little bit when we first met him. He does OK for a little bit and it's like he thinks about it and cries. Today was a lot better and we could easily soothe him. We got into the van and headed to Central Shopping. It is the biggest department store that I have ever been in. It smelled like home. Nothing here smells like home. Kara, they even had a Build-A-Bear in this store. We ate at their restaurant first. You know that there will always be rice on the menu. I am adjusting to the food. After lunch we headed over to the home products. We bought Mrs. Ting and her family an oscolating fan. That is what they asked for. We also bought them a water boiler. It is like an instant water heater. They boil their water before they drink it. Thinking back, they didn't have a kitchen. It still blows my mind. After shopping the van dropped Mo (our social worker) off to the Homeland Security. As you see from the previous post things didn't go well. We walked back and then took the sky train to our hotel. I only had a minute to say good-bye to Seth. Joel had taken him up to the room. Seth is still not comfortable yet to be let down. Hopefully, today will be better. We meet him in the lobby at 11:00 - FOREVER OURS!!!

This is the fan and water boiler we bought Mrs. Ting.


Joel holding Seth right before he left to go home for the last time.


We were cheek to cheek!!

Joel and Seth at lunch

Mommy and Seth at the department store. His first time in the Ergo. I think he likes it.


Here we are at lunch

VISA Prayers

Before I blog about our meeting with Seth yesterday and I am writing to ask for your prayers. Yesterday I called the US Embassy as well as visiting the Homeland Security office here in Bangkok. Neither place has received Seth's cable from Maryland's Visa Processing Center. They "cabled" it on Feb 11th. I called our local congressman's office last night and she said that is not very long and that the approval might still be in transit. I am about to lose my mind!!!!!!! We are going to call again this afternoon and hopefully they will have it. Please, please, please pray for us and that the approval will arrive here. I am afraid that if it doesn't then we will be delayed. My kids and family are having a hard time with us being gone. Not to mention that I am struggling too. I know that I serve a God that answers prayers. He has been with us every step of this journey and will not forget us now. Thank you for your prayers. I a in tears in the lobby after reading everyone's sweet comments. It is so encouraging.

We met this morning in the lobby of the hotel. We went into a meeting room and watched a movie and went over our schedule for the week. The social workers and staff are wonderful. I truly cannot say enough nice things about them. At 10:45 the babies came. There are 2 other couples here with us. When Seth was carried in I recognized the outfit he had on. I sent it for his 1st birthday. He is so much smaller than I had envisioned. He cried a lot. His paperwork said that he is not good with strangers. He has serious stranger anxiety. He cried off and on while we were in hte meeting room. After an hour we went to the hotel restaurant for lunch. Seth stopped crying and even ate a good amount of soup. His soup was ordered for him and the other two babies. It was a rice, cabbage , tofu and chicken mixture. He does drink from a cup. Let me just tell you that the boy LOVES his bottle. We will not be taking him off of it any time soon. He had it with him almost all day. After lunch we went up to our room with our social worker. Seth was supposed to be introduced to our room and its surroundings. He was either crying or sleeping in our room. At this point he wanted me to hold him . Basically just for survival. At 2:00 we went downstairs and met the other families. Leah and Brian rode in the Sahathai van with us to Bang Sai. It took a little over an hour to get there. Time passed by fast as we were taking in all of the sights. Our van pulled off onto a dirt road. It stopped at a house and I thought that was the foster families house. Oh no, we had to walk around a little dirt path to get to Seth's house. I say that very loosely. They told us that in the monsoon season you have to take a boat to get there. His house was , well, nothing that I have ever seen. I will tell you that he has been loved immeasurably. The family is rich in love. We got to see Seth in his comfortable surroundings. He is happy and playful. Mrs. Ting takes excellent care of him and has to keep a constant eye on him. She even gave him a bath while we were there. He gets between 2 to 3 baths a day. They say he loves it. After about 2 hours the Sahathai van came and picked us up. We left Seth with them. It was sad leaving him but we know that we will have him full time in 2 days. Mrs. Ting said that she is so sad about him leaving and has had a bad appetite thinking about it.

Kara and Will, they asked lots of questions about you and said that Seth will have a great time living with you. We can't wait for you to meet him! We love you!

Gotta go, Joel is ready to leave the lobby!

Finally in Bangkok

Funny how God has a way of letting you know He is in control. We arrived at the airport Thursday morning to find out that our flight had been canceled. After about an hour at the ticket counter we learned that our fastest route would be via Los Angeles. We flew to Chicago then on to LAX. We arrived at 11:00 and our flight out to BKK did not leave until 9:30 p.m. We spent most of the day touring Hollywood. The Oscars were Sat. night and we got to actually walk on the red carpet (covered in plastic).
The best part of this crazy change in plans was that we were able to fly Thai Air. It was scrumptious. Although we flew 18 hours total we could not have asked for anything nicer. There were only 50 passengers on the flight. Everyone was able to stretch out in a middle section.
The flight attendants were beautiful and changed clothes 3 times! We ate 3 wonderful meals on china and glass wear. I loved it. Thanks for all of the prayers everyone. Dawn, I received your message right before I was going to get our the last flight. God did hear my prayer, knew my heart, and blessed me with a wonderful flight.
It is Sat. afternoon now and we meet Seth in the morning at 10:30! Yipee! I will post pictures.

Kara and Will, Mommy and Daddy love you and are so proud of you. We miss you very much.

Our Travel Plans

Well, our flight leaves in the morning at 6:00 a.m. That means we have to get to the airport at around 4:15. I am so not a morning person. I don't know if there is air outside before 7:00. I also have to have my sleep. I am telling myself over and over this morning not to be grumpy with Joel during our trip. Here's our itenary. And yes, we will be taking our laptop and posting during our travels. Hopefully, Kara and her class will be able to see too.

Memphis to Chicago - 6:00 a.m. to 7:45 (1hr 46min)
Chicago to Japan - 12:00 noon to 4:20 p.m (that's Japan time) (13hrs 19min)
Japan to Bangkok - 6:45P to 11:55P (7hrs 10min)

For you math challenged folks like myself that is over 27 hours travel time. That includes waiting in airports.

We arrive in Bangkok at midnight but it will be 11:00 Friday morning here. We sleep in Saturday and try to get adjusted.

Here's some dates to remember: (Memphis is 13 hours behind)
Sunday - Meet Seth in lobby and play, or meet his foster family
Monday - Meet Seth in lobby and shop/lunch or meet his foster family
Tuesday - Forever ours
Wednesday - Formal board meeting with Thai Adoption board
Thursday - Apply for Seth's visa at US Embassy
Friday - US Embassy closed on last Friday of month so we have to stay the weekend. We fly to Chiang Mai to sight see.
Sunday - Go to church with missionary relatives of friends at church
Monday - Fly back to Bangkok and pick up Seth's visa
Tuesday - Flight leaves at 6:30 a.m. for Mempho Town
Arrive Memphis - 5:17 p.m. on Tuesday March 4th to KISS my babies!!

A Tour of Seth's Room

This is a close up of the elephant mobile that we have hanging from Seth's ceiling fan. Debbie C. brought it back to him from her mission trip to Thailand in Nov. I am so happy with his room and love all of the Thai elephant touches. Thank you to everyone for your contribution. Jamie, thanks for helping me tie it all together.

Our Shower

We had a wonderful time last Saturday night. My mom and dad wanted to do something extra special for us. Around 85 of our friends and family joined us to celebrate Seth's arrival to our family. The mayor of our city graciously let us use a local house turned into a beautiful place for parties. He let us us his once a year spot. Our food was catered by a local man that is also a family friend. Everyone raved about the food. Our friend Tina designed and printed our invitations as our gift. God has truly had his hand in every aspect of Seth joining our family. We have had favor in so many areas.
Our dear friends Ben and Lisa MC'd the shower. They are so funny and everyone said they made the shower so much fun. Joel and I played the "Newlywed Game." I did better than Joel at guessing answers. Of course, Joel is easy to read as everything is football, football, and football. They also read famous people who were adopted. That was interesting. They finished by having people say the names of nursery rhymes.
It certainly was not your traditional shower. We loved it. Thanks Bebe and Roro.

MOPS is Tops!

At our MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) meeting Friday the girls surprised me with a diaper and wipes shower. I was so surprised. It really meant a lot to me. I have been the coordinator for my church's group for almost 5 years. I don't know where the time has gone. I love these ladies. They have become wonderful friends and sisters in Christ to me.
THANK YOU, GIRLS!!

Valentine's Day

What a great day!

Both Kara and Will sent Valentine's to school today. In turn they brought home lots of sweet cards and goodies. As room mother I sent snacks to Kara's class. It always makes Kara proud and I love doing it for her.

Jamie came over this morning and we got Seth's room all set. It looks really cute. I will post pictures later. Jamie has been a life send!

Will's furniture was delivered today. It looks great. He loved coming home today from school and seeing his new bed. His dresser has 9 drawers so we had lots of room for his things. He also has a night stand that we can use for storage too. This will grow with him and I can see him as a teenager using this furniture. We bought it at Ashley's Furniture. They will give us the furniture for free if The University of Memphis wins the NCAA basketball tournament. Go Tigers!!

Tonight we had steaks for dinner and went swimming at our local gym. Before bed the kids ate cookies and milk. An end to a perfect day.

The Aftermath

Following are pictures taken during the tornado the other night. The first five pictures are of a warehouse about 8 miles from my house. Our dear friends, Alan and Carrie, parent's (Carrie's mom and dad) live across the street from this warehouse. They were fine just shook up. Trees were down in their yard. A large tree was across their driveway so they were not able to leave. Alan and Carrie's daughter, Evie, who is Kara's age, was staying with them at the time. Joel and Alan went to get Evie and the police would not let them down that part of the street. The police went to the M's house and picked up Evie and drove her to Joel and Alan. She thought it was pretty cool riding in the back of a police car. She also told her grandparents that God was in the house with them and that's why they were saved. Out of the mouth of babes.













This is our local hospital. We live about 6 miles from the hospital. The area around here suffered a lot of damage. No injuries though.



This is the Walgreens that is close to the warehouse that was damaged.

Tornado

A tornado came through our city tonight. As far as we have heard no one has been injured. There has been a lot of damage though. We are all blessed. A mall in Memphis was damaged and a entire wall came down in the Sears store. I will say that tornados are an insurance man's nightmare! Although, that's what insurance is for.