I guess the break in blogging kind of tells the story for me. Nothing to report. We finally Skyped with Katelyn on Dec 23rd. It was a nice visit and nice to see her little face. She had the photo album we sent last October and had a few questions. Nothing was said about the cameras we sent or the other gifts in the bag for her. I can't even say with confidence that she received all of it.
Truth be told, I'm just bummed about the whole thing. We can't get a reply back from our agency. We leave messages and ask about updates, the next Skype session, or whatever. We ask that they call us or text or email...basically anything to let us know they got the message. Perhaps tomorrow we'll hear from them. God is holding me together when it comes to Katelyn right now. Thankfully.
Our Skype with her went well. She got to meet many of our family members as we were in Oklahoma when we talked to her. I think she was happy to seem some other females around. We pointed out that she would have some cousins who liked Barbie and that seemed to brighten her right up :) She was a little overwhelmed at all of the cheerful hellos from so many people. We were sort of reprimanded for doing that without telling her first. But really, we hadn't spoken to her in 6 weeks and we had no idea we'd be in Oklahoma at the same time as the call. And we certainly wanted and loved being able to share a small bit of her with the family who are all so very excited about her. We nodded and smiled and promised not to let it happen again and that seemed to satisfy them. Definitely a case of don't ask permission first..just ask for forgiveness later.
At the end of the Skype call the social worker asked us how we plan to communicate with Katelyn. You have to be very careful when speaking to them, but my reply in my head was that we'd be working with her to teach her english, use gestures and flashcards, and that she will as a matter of course, learn to speak pretty quickly. But they seemed very interested in how WE are going to speak Mandarin to her. We didn't really have an answer. This prompted her to tell us that for future Skype calls, we would spend 30 minutes with her after Katelyn leaves and that she would give us Mandarin lessons. Keep in mind that when I tried to say her name Han-Ling (seriously, how hard can it be to mess that up) she laughed AT me and corrected me. I'm pretty sure I never did say it right. So yeah...Mandarin lessons after every Skype from now on? Fantastic! How do I get myself into these situations?
I know they mean well and are making such a generous offer out of concern for Katelyn and for us. It's not as if you can say "nah...I'm good" and turn them down. Oh how I wanted to! Wonder if she can just teach Andy? lol
Christmas was pretty much one of the worst ones we've ever had. To keep it in perspective, we're all fine now, we got home safely, and we are STILL incredibly blessed. But my niece Regan (whom we now refer to as Typhoid Mary) caught a stomach virus at preschool the week before we saw her. She had been free of the vomit monster and had no fever for almost 36 hours by the time we saw her. Who knew that 48 hours later a total of 16 people (family and friends who visited) would come down with the same virus. ON Christmas eve and day.
Yup, we opened presents in shifts, the big Christmas dinner was canceled, and no one wanted to come near the house with the plague. It was horrible. All four of us were part of those 16 people. We took over my sister's bedroom so that whoever (sometimes more than one of us) happened to be puking at the time would be near a bathroom and a parent. At one point Andy was helping Nathan and had to hurry him out of the restroom so he could get sick himself.
Nothing like laying in a bed that isn't yours, plastered up next to your 6 year old who is at least 200 degrees warmer than any other body I know, listening to your husband throw up, with the room spinning every time the bed moves, and smelling the Christmas ham cooking that a few vomit-free individuals were going to eat. No really... the worst. Christmas. ever.
At one point we even heard Regan (who was of course awesomely oblivious to what gift she gave us) was playing with her new Barbie castle. I heard her singing and making up songs...and she sang "diarrhea evvvvery where...diiiiiiiarrhea everyWHERE!" So horrible it's hilarious!
Anyway, it was definitely memorable and not like we had imagined at all. I was picturing Christmas here in Alabama..staying in our own home because Katelyn would have just arrived. It was not to be.
We spent New Years with the Sloans and other friends from our Connect Group. God has surrounded us with some pretty amazing people so it was a wonderful way to usher in the New Year. We played games, set off some fireworks, included all of the children, and just had a nice night.
I was in a big hurry to put up our Christmas stuff. That's unusual for me but I'm just bummed she isn't here. It's what I get for making plans. My human mind cannot help it, but it stinks when MY plans don't unfold the way I thought. I just keep praying and praying and praying. I don't know how someone who doesn't have God in their life can get through this process. I really don't.
Lastly, and a definite bright spot, there is one thing that we've changed in the past couple of days. Andy and I were talking and we have debated many times the merits of bringing the boys with us to Taiwan. This weekend we decided to quit being stupid. I looked up airfares and they've fallen since last month. It's not that much more when it's all said and done and so we're doing it. My 11 and (by then, 7 year old) will be WITH us on our trip. As soon as we made the decision, I had a weight lifted off of me. That's when I knew our decision was the right one. I want them to see Taiwan, be with us and make this whole experience something our WHOLE family is part of. It makes me SO happy. They boys are beyond thrilled.
We are now going tomorrow to expedite their passports. Assuming we will have 3-4 weeks from the phone call to actual travel..even if Taiwan calls tomorrow, their passports will be back. We should be all set. The delay really sucks but it means we've had more time to save more money and for airfare prices to fall...so the boys can go too. A definite positive during this unending wait!
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