Meanwhile, back at the ranch
(The first of a couple of bonus posts. There's not a lot to do in a hotel room while people sleep. I guess I fill my time by writing.)
One of the most difficult things about adoption travel is that usually not everyone in the family gets to go. This means that to bring home your new child (or children) you have to say good-bye to your other children for weeks at a time. It kind of stinks. A lot.
This trip, we have children spread out hither and thither, making it that much more difficult to check-in with and keep track of them all. TM is with my brother and sister-in-law in Iowa at their farm. M. is at her apartment and opening up another show, thus requiring her to spend endless hours on public transportation gathering props. B. and A. are holding down the fort at home. H., D., K., G., and L. are staying at our very, very good friends' house. My inner sheep dog is not happy.
We do talk to them all fairly frequently via Facetime or Skype, but the time change and internet access makes this challenging at times. For the most part, everyone is doing alright. I think B. and A. have had the most excitement. At one point we received a message from A. which essentially informed us that the cat was giving the dog seizures.
Great.
This isn't exactly the type of news one wants to get when you are half a world away. So, B. and A. dragged Gretel to the vet so she could have yet more blood work done. And once again, the vet isn't entirely sure what is going on with her. The best guess at the moment is that her episodes (or whatever they are) are not seizures, but that she is fainting. Is that better or worse? I don't know, either. We've been having on-going email conversations with the vet for the past couple of days. We do know that neither animal is entirely happy with so few people to interact with.
B. and A. also got to argue with hospital staff one afternoon. That would be a people hospital and not an animal hospital. A. has been having some trouble with her knee and hip since last summer and I had scheduled an MRI for her while we were gone. (This despite the fact that I've told everyone that two surgeries on M.'s knee used up the family quota and that no more knee issues were allowed. No one ever listens to me.) Now, it's hard to attend your daughter's MRI if you are an ocean away, so I didn't go along. This did not make the staff happy. Long story short, after 45 minutes A. finally convinced the staff that no, she had never, ever stepped on a pin when she was younger and that there was no metal in her body. MRI done.
TM has been helping with farm chores in extremely cold weather. I think he's enjoying farm life, especially since my brother and his family recently brought home a new little rescued donkey. TM has pronounced him pretty cute. I also think life is a lot quieter there with just two cousins than it usually is at home.
The other littles are hanging in there. I think G. and L. particularly, are having a difficult time, which does break my heart. Bless my friends for coping with their distress. I know that K. and H. have also had some sad days. We'll all need to just loll about at home together for a while and share lots of hugs and stories. It's nice to be able to talk to them and see them over the internet, but what I really want to do is reach out and hug them. If my children weren't half a world away, I could happily continue to be a travelling nomad, staying in one place long enough to learn the language, and then move on. If I could just bring them all with me...
So, that is the state of things at home. Keep my little ones in your prayers as we finish up this last week. I cannot wait to give them all huge hugs and kisses at the airport. One more week.
One of the most difficult things about adoption travel is that usually not everyone in the family gets to go. This means that to bring home your new child (or children) you have to say good-bye to your other children for weeks at a time. It kind of stinks. A lot.
This trip, we have children spread out hither and thither, making it that much more difficult to check-in with and keep track of them all. TM is with my brother and sister-in-law in Iowa at their farm. M. is at her apartment and opening up another show, thus requiring her to spend endless hours on public transportation gathering props. B. and A. are holding down the fort at home. H., D., K., G., and L. are staying at our very, very good friends' house. My inner sheep dog is not happy.
We do talk to them all fairly frequently via Facetime or Skype, but the time change and internet access makes this challenging at times. For the most part, everyone is doing alright. I think B. and A. have had the most excitement. At one point we received a message from A. which essentially informed us that the cat was giving the dog seizures.
Great.
This isn't exactly the type of news one wants to get when you are half a world away. So, B. and A. dragged Gretel to the vet so she could have yet more blood work done. And once again, the vet isn't entirely sure what is going on with her. The best guess at the moment is that her episodes (or whatever they are) are not seizures, but that she is fainting. Is that better or worse? I don't know, either. We've been having on-going email conversations with the vet for the past couple of days. We do know that neither animal is entirely happy with so few people to interact with.
B. and A. also got to argue with hospital staff one afternoon. That would be a people hospital and not an animal hospital. A. has been having some trouble with her knee and hip since last summer and I had scheduled an MRI for her while we were gone. (This despite the fact that I've told everyone that two surgeries on M.'s knee used up the family quota and that no more knee issues were allowed. No one ever listens to me.) Now, it's hard to attend your daughter's MRI if you are an ocean away, so I didn't go along. This did not make the staff happy. Long story short, after 45 minutes A. finally convinced the staff that no, she had never, ever stepped on a pin when she was younger and that there was no metal in her body. MRI done.
TM has been helping with farm chores in extremely cold weather. I think he's enjoying farm life, especially since my brother and his family recently brought home a new little rescued donkey. TM has pronounced him pretty cute. I also think life is a lot quieter there with just two cousins than it usually is at home.
The other littles are hanging in there. I think G. and L. particularly, are having a difficult time, which does break my heart. Bless my friends for coping with their distress. I know that K. and H. have also had some sad days. We'll all need to just loll about at home together for a while and share lots of hugs and stories. It's nice to be able to talk to them and see them over the internet, but what I really want to do is reach out and hug them. If my children weren't half a world away, I could happily continue to be a travelling nomad, staying in one place long enough to learn the language, and then move on. If I could just bring them all with me...
So, that is the state of things at home. Keep my little ones in your prayers as we finish up this last week. I cannot wait to give them all huge hugs and kisses at the airport. One more week.
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