Philly Logistics a Little Rough This Time

This will not be a long post, but wanted to fill you in on our first day in Philadelphia, and specific prayer requests for the next several days:

Sunday:

• We arrived safely yesterday after mostly uneventful flights. Lilly snoozed during the second leg of the trip, and was pleasant during the entire trip.  We got word just before our connecting flight departed that the Ronald McDonald House was full for the night, and that the staff there would attempt to secure a room for us at the Omni Hotel in downtown Philadelphia at special rates for us.  I would find out once we hit the ground in Philadelphia whether that worked out.  

•  Once we landed, I had a voicemail confirming that we could stay at the Omni.  Although it is technically located on the same street as the RMcDH, it is located in the heart of Philadelphia's historic district (2 blocks from the Liberty Bell), roughly 4 miles from the RMcDH, and 3 miles from CHOP.  There was a possibility that a room would open up at the RMcDH for Monday night, so we could only stay at the Omni for one night at that rate.  If no room opened up at RMcDH, we would have to re-book at the Omni to get the same rate again. 

• So, we made the most of our lovely location last night, heading out to see some sites and find some dinner.  The historical sites were all closed since it was Sunday evening, but we were able to see the Liberty Bell through the glass, and I splurged on a "budget" (20-minute) horse-drawn carriage ride around the historic district for Lilly and me.  Lilly was mainly interested in the horse and the "poop bag" attached on his harness, but the guide gave some great history for me and it was a really pleasant ride.  Until the end.  When we arrived at our disembarking location, the guide led Lilly to pet the other horses in the row.  The final horse proceeded to attempt to eat LIlly's hair ribbon, and when I quickly jerked her away he turned his slimy mouth onto my shirt, nipping it and leaving behind a nasty brown streak of saliva all over my shirt and dripping onto my pants.  Yuck.  The driver of that horse looked dumbfounded, but made no attempt to help or apologize.  I left feeling angry, but thankful that our hotel was just around the corner.  We quickly changed clothes and headed back out in search of Chinatown, which I had noticed on the map was not far away. 

• We picked a good restaurant--you could tell because it looked like a dive on the outside but was filled with Chinese people enjoying dinner.  Lilly was so excited to have some jiaozi and noodles. She easily ate 3 times more than me, and I wondered if she would ever stop!  The waitresses were all taken with her and gave me the Chinese menu (but I was happy they gave me the English menu too since I never was very good at deciphering Chinese menus and this one used traditional Chinese characters rather than simplified).  The food was delicious.  Forget Philly cheesesteaks!  Philly Chinatown was way better.
• Back to the Omni for our complementary "Milk and Cookies" that they provide for their younger guests.  Then bath and to bed.  

Monday:

• So, not having a car here (but having a large suitcase, a stroller, a back pack, a small backpack for Lilly's toys, and a car seat that I brought so she could get safely in a cab from the airport to our lodging) and no longer having a room after check out this morning meant that we had to leave our luggage in the Omni before heading out on foot for CHOP.  It was a little misty this morning, but not raining outright, so it was a pleasant morning for a little hike to Lilly's pre op consults.  I was thankful for the chance to stretch my legs.  45 minutes later, we arrived, a little early for our appointments.  Thankfully we had a little time to kill, because I received word en route that the RMcDH once again did not have room, and the Omni also did not have any rooms unless I wanted to pay $300 for the night.  Plan C was the Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey, a little bit farther away but only $15 a night with dinner.  Call made; room secured. 
• Pre op consults with Dr. Campbell went well--she has grown as inch since February, and everything looked great on her x-rays.  Anesthesia cleared her for surgery tomorrow, and she survived (with much wailing and gnashing of teeth) the blood draw for lab work.  
• Weather was great for a long walk back to the Omni to collect our luggage, grab a cab, and head to the other RMcDH.  Along the way (as Lilly snoozed in the stroller), I ducked into the downtown Macy's to snap some photos of the beautiful lobby and pipe organ I had heard about. 
• Our cab ride from the Omni to the RMcDH was NOT the highlight of my day.  The driver pretended he knew where we were headed when I gave him the address, but it was quickly apparent to me that he had no clue.  I knew we were going WAY out of the way.  Finally he admitted he was lost and began asking pedestrians about McDonald's.  His English was not great, and people had no clue why he wanted to know where McDonald's was.  I tried to show him on my GPS phone where we needed to go but he waved it away.  He did eventually stop the meter, but only after he had racked up a $30 fare (for what should have been only about a 5-mile ride).  We had to call the House for directions.  When we finally made it, he claimed that I could not pay with my credit card because he had stopped the meter.  The RMcDH folks were wonderful, and spotted me the cash.  I called in a complaint on him.  And I felt humiliated that my first impression here was not so good.  
• Dinner, however, was yummy, and the house has great play areas, computer area (hence this blog update), laundry facilities (taking care of that horse drool as I type), and a shuttle back to CHOP tomorrow for admission and surgery (no more crazy cab drivers for me, thank you.  The 3-mile walk, however, will be missed...)
• We are bracing for a long fast tomorrow, since Lilly can have nothing to eat after bedtime tonight, and nothing but clear liquids until 9:30am tomorrow.  We show at CHOP at 11:30 for an afternoon surgery.  Surgery itself should be a breeze, but Dr. Campbell has a long and more complicated surgery before hers, so I am praying that one goes smoothly and LIlly's case is not pushed to Wednesday.  

Thanks in advance for your prayers for:

• Good rest tonight;
• Supernatural ability to entertain Lilly and pass the time while we both go without food in the morning (I fast when she does--not fair to eat in front of her);
• Dr. Campbell's first case tomorrow--building a ribcage from a clavicle for a little girl who has no ribs on her right side.  Yowzers.  
• Dr. Campbell to have wisdom as he determines the best way to lengthen Lilly's rods, safety under anesthesia, and a smooth recover.
• Logistics of leaving luggage at the House while I spend the night in the hospital with Lilly tomorrow night, then retrieving items on Wednesday when Tom's sister, "Aunt Judi" kindly comes to whisk us up to Grammy's house.
• Logistics of Tom coming on Friday and our house-hunting this weekend, that Lilly would be ok and adequately pain-free for us to leave her with her cousins so we can be quicker in our house hunting efforts.
• logistics of Jared and Anna with good friends at home.  

All for now. . I guess it wasn't so short after all...thanks for hanging in there with all these words and no photos!

Finally...A Look Ahead.

The past few weeks have been purely packed.  Not one spare moment in any given day to slow down or even hardly to breathe.  I am only able to sit at the compter right now to type this post because I woke up unable to sleep tonight...my mind swirling with the many plates currently spinning in the air.  Thankfully, God has graciously prompted me to protect my early morning quiet times with Him to keep me grounded and give me strength and wisdom as I tackle each day's To-Do list.  Were it not for that, I might be needing some strong medication about now! 

Let's see...how to even begin to tell you what's happening here.  Just like my to-do lists, I think I need to tackle this blog post issue-by-issue:

Lilly's Next Surgery
Lilly and I head to Philadelphia again this weekend for her first VEPTR expansion surgery next Tuesday.  I hate to say it, but with everything else going on (that you will soon read about), this has seemed like a minor blip on the horizon.  Now that it's almost time to go, however, I am thinking ahead to the hospital stay and the surgery itself.  This one is a MUCH more minor procedure than her big surgery in February.  Tom will stay back with the older two kids as they complete their FINAL week of school.  Lilly will have a pre op consult with Dr. Campbell on Monday, then on Tuesday he will go in to lengthen the 3 rods she now has in her back so as to keep up with her growth.  I am eager to see how much she has grown since her last surgery and how much this surgery will add to her height.  The expansion surgeries typically involve a quick one-night hospital stay, much less pain, and a much quicker recovery. 

The House Hunt
We are hopeful that her recovery will indeed be quick and fairly painless so Lilly can hang out in NJ with Grammy and Pop Pop and her aunts and uncles and cousins while Tom and I do some house hunting.  Tom is going to fly up to meet us later in the week following surgery so that we can then head south to Northern VA for some house hunting in preparation for our PCS this summer to the DC area.  We have a realtor sending us listings in the Vienna/Falls Church area, and we have been busy looking at floor plans and photos, plotting them on a map, comparing area schools, looking into swim teams, etc.  We are hoping to find something suitable and affordable during our quick house hunting whirlwind weekend.  We are excited to see our good friends the Tomatz's who moved to DC from FL last summer...Heather has been helping me look into the various neighborhoods we are considering. 

The House Rental
Meanwhile, after much thought, discusssion, and prayer, we have decided to hang onto our Florida home and rent it out.  So we have been busy reseaerching FL landlord-tenant law, preparing the house for "showing," and screening potential tenants.  God has blessed us with a family that we know from Lilly's preschool who are interested in renting our home, possibly for as long as 4 years.  I am now working on drawing up the lease and getting things finalized. 

Getting the house ready...wish I could always keep it so clean!

And, last, but absolutely NOT least...

The Adoption
Our paperchase is coming along really quickly.  It is amazing what having a photo of your child does to your motivation level and sense of urgency in completing dossier compilation (not to mention the previous experience of having done it once and knowing better how to acquire all the necessary components to the dossier...).  Our agency has been awesome, fully on board with our goal of getting our dossier to China before our big move this summer, so that the move will not complicate the approval process too much.  As far as it depends on me, the paperwork is moving at lightning speed, and all but 2 of the required dossier documents are already in various stages of the notarization-certification-authentication process.  Most of them are already submitted for authentication at the Chinese consulate in Houston.  Our social worker is coming later today (hopefulyl after I get some sleep!) for our home study, which is the last puzzle piece needed to apply for our immigration approval for Isabel.  Once we have our immigration approval from the USCIS, our dossier can go to China.  Just yesterday I put Isabel's first care package into the mail--some candy to share, a little doll, a little puppy, some hair barrettes and bows, and a little photo album of our family--immediate and extended--with labels in Chinese.  The arrival of this care package will be the first notification to the orphange and to Isabel that she has a family waiting for her.  Her birthday is coming, so I plan to send another care package soon with a birthday-party-in-a-box complete with disposable camera so the caregivers can snap some photos of her enjoying birthday treats with her little friends. 

First care package to Isabel

Our agency is hopeful that we may be able to travel sometime later this fall to meet and bring Isabel home.  Oh, how I hope so!  Just enough time to get ourselves settled in our new location, get the kids settled in their new schools, and investigate what options there are in that area for Isabel's educational needs when she arrives.  Then, hopefully and Lord willing, we can bring her home before the holidays and begin the new adventure of bonding and attachment.

And, because I'm insane and obsessed, a few things percolating in my mind
Because running and exercise in general are part of my overall mental health, I am also looking ahead at upcoming race opportunities...maybe the Marine Corps Marathon in October, maybe the Philadelphia marathon in November.  Each of these races has a charity group that I would love to run for--Love Without Boundaries and the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House.  We'll see how the timing of our China trip shapes up and whether fitting one of these into my calendar might work.  Then there is also the Nation's Triathlon in Washington, DC on September 11th, which sounds amazing to me, but my wise man (resisting the urge to shake his head and roll his eyes at his hopeless wife) has already said "not this year..."  He's right...maybe 2012 for that one!

Catching Up on Recent Events, Part III--Purely Photos

Struggling with a little bit of insomnia tonight, I am saving my words for another post to outline what lies on the horizon for us.  Before I can do that, my OCD compels me to first at least post photos from the past few weeks (Easter, Mother's Day, end-of-year concerts, graduations, etc...) so you can visually fill in the gap between my last written post and my next:

Some of the wonderful folks in our weekly LIFE group.

Jared's End-of-year symphonic and jazz band concert.  What a handsome guy!

First care package goes into the mail for Isabel.

Mother's Day at Henderson Beach State Park:

Amy and dear friend Cindy.

Anna's First Piano Recital:

Anna and her lovely piano teacher, Lisa Olson

Lilly's Preschool Graduation Ceremony--made me teary!

Lilly with two of her fabulous teachers, Ms. Testa and Ms. Pollard.

Fun at home and with friends:

Lilly and her friend Libby take Tad for a walk after playing dress up!

Feeding the turtles outside Jared's trombone teacher's house.

Easter 2011

The egg hunt!

Lilly and Miss Kathleen have a laugh!

The Easter Bunny came to Happyland Preschool.

The annual cul-de-sac egg hunt.  Jared was a little sheepish to be taking part, until he realized we had done the older kids' egg hunt as a scavenger hunt challenge.  It was fun to plan and watch!

Found one!

Me too!

The Crestone Cove moms.

Kathleen has planned and hosted this hunt for several years...she is amazing!

Resurrection Sunday morning.

Heather and Trey with Amy.  We had dear friends come for brunch on Easter Sunday.

Catching up on Recent Events, Part II: The Boston Marathon

Author's Note:  As I type this post, I am listening to Fox News re-hash the news of Osama Bin Laden's death.  It seems surreal and somehow not right to be proceeding to write this post...but I'm going to do it anyway!  Momentous events in the world...and here are momentous accounts of my own little slice of the world!

So, picking up where I left off with my past post, on the morning of the race, I awakened around 6am, ate half of a bagel, drank some black coffee, and had a bite or two of cantaloupe.  I had been uncertain exactly what I would eat for breakfast, since the race was such a later start time than i am accustomed to.  Normally the races start early in the morning and I really don't eat much at all before running.  But I knew that with a 10:40am start time, and a good 4 hours or so of running ahead, I would need some good fuel.  I was encouraged to eat simple carbs with low fiber and low fat for my pre-race meal, and that seemed to sit pretty well.  I chatted with Milo, the somewhat eccentric owner of the Bed and Breakfast where I was staying, as I ate, trying to have normal conversation and not let on just how much I was beginning to feel nervous.

My friend Tim came to pick me up at the B&B around 7:45am, and had a plan to drive me to a drop-off location about a mile or two from the start line at Hopkinton.  That is how he had gotten to the start in previous years, and he knew many locals chose to do this rather than take the early morning shuttles from Boston Commons.  He said there would be many runners doing this and it would be easy for me to find my way to athlete's village.  I trusted him, and opted for the extra sleep to avoid the long shuttle lines and many more hours in the cold before the race.

We passed several school busses transporting runners on our way, which assured me our timeline was sound for getting to the start.

He dropped me at an exit ramp where we saw a few other runners hopping out of cars, and off I went with a "thank you!" and wave to Tim.  On my own now, carrying a green plastic gear bag, breathing deeply the chilly morning air, relishing the sunshine, and feeling twinges of nervousness mixed with excitement at the day ahead, I began my warm-up walk to the athlete's village.

There were not hoards of runners walking as I was, but I did see a few so I knew I was headed in the right direction.  It was good to stretch my legs a bit and warm up.  As I  walked along, one of the policement directing traffic called to me "would you like the bus to pick you up?"  Thinking it might be nice to avoid a 2-mile walk before the  26.2 mile run, I said "sure!" and he hailed one of the passing school busses (I later learned they almost never allow runners to hop on elsewhere!) who stopped to let me board.  The bus dropped us about half a mile from athlete's village, with plenty of time to walk there and get situated, use the port-a-potties, and check my little green plastic "baggage" bag at one of the school busses designated to transport runners' gear to the finish line.

With 27,000 runners, the athlete's village was understandably quite a zoo.  Set up on the hillside campus of a local school, the place was crawling with athletes all stretching, eating, drinking, waiting in line for port-a-potties, and excitedly awaiting the announcements over the blaring loudspeakers for their time to head to the start corrals.  I had plenty of time to get myself stretched, get all of my gear into my plastic bag and checked into the appropriate bus (each bus was assigned a range of bib numbers, and each window of the bus received a smaller subset of those numbers, so it would be easier to find athlete's assigned bag at the finish).

They had divded us into 3 starting waves, based on entry time.  Within each wave there were 8 corrals, again based on entry time.  I was assigned to wave 3, corral 1, which was the latest starting time--10:40.  Despite the cold breeze, I stripped down to my running skort, a sleeveless top, and a long-sleeved jacket (which I had planned to toss once I was warm enough).  Two pairs of sweat pants tossed into the large bags designated for donated clothing, I headed with my wave to the start area at our designated time.

As wave 2 began to run, the wave 3 runners got into place in our appropriate corrals. The awesome benefit of being in the first corral of wave 3 was that I was literally lined up almost right on the start line.  Even though each runner's bib will activate his or her personal time clock as they cross the start time (so the time it takes to get from your corral to the start line doesn't count in your net race time), it was so nice not to have to start the race in the midst of a crowd and have to shuffle along at a slower pace until folks spread out enough to hit our strides.  Instead, those of us in the front of wave 3 felt like we were the "elite" runners at the start, and had nothing but open road--and fresh spectators lining both sides of the route--at the start.  Awesome feeling.

Finally, we were counting down the seconds until the gun signalled our start and we took off.  The first stretch of the race was actually downhill, and it was easy to get into a much faster than usual pace at the start.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous--chilly but clear and sunny--and the crowd support was amazing.  Spectators lined both sides of the road as we made our way from Hopkington, through various small towns that line "Main Street" on our way towards the city of Boston.  Click on the link to see the course:

Boston Marathon Course Map

I think I ran with a smile on my face for pretty much the whole run!  It was exhilarating to be there, running in THE marathon of marathons, with no pressure, really, to perform.  My goal was simply to enjoy the day, to run my best, and to take it all in.  All of which I managed to do.  With the first part of the course largely slightly downhill, it was easy to hit an early fast pace, and I actually clocked my best ever half-marathon time at the halfway point.  I had read warnings not to let those early downhills drain you of your reserves for the later steeper climbs, but I really didn't take much caution...just let my legs go and enjoyed a faster pace than usual for the first part of the run.

As the miles ticked by, I enjoyed reading the signs and posters the spectators had crafted to support friends and loved ones, and had fun listening to the crowds cheer specifically for people who had taken the time to write their names on their bibs or their t-shirts.  I had meant to wear my name for this reason, but had forgotten the sticker I had made.  Oh well.  I actually found that I was sort of glad NOT to have my name on my shirt, as I watched a woman named "Kerrie" feel the need to wave and acknowledge each and every cheer offered for her. I think I might have found it distracting.  I was glad, however, when--around mile 14 or so--I started hearing cheers of "Go AMY!" as I ran by.  I was taken by surprise at first...and even more surprised as the cheers continued from both sides of the road.  Wondering how these people knew my name, I turned my head slightly to realize that a woman who was approaching me from behind was sporting the name "Amy" on her jersey.  I smiled and told her it felt good to have some folks cheering for me by name! 

Anytime I was tempted to focus on the inevitable aches and twinges of cramps that can start to sneak up later in the race, I would remind myself that the finish line was not the main goal--enjoying the WHOLE experience was the goal.  That always helped, and as I hit the hills starting around mile 18 (culminating in Heart Break Hill around mile 21), I was feeling fine.  The hills--for which I had mentally braced myself--were really not all that bad.  A series of climbs, with plateaus in between, the hills did slow me down a little, but I really kept my pace fairly well and felt fine as I climbed.  In fact, as I crested the final hill, I wondered "could that have been "Heartbreak Hill?" because I wasn't sure.  I overheard someone else behind me ponder the same question aloud, and when someone else said "Yep!  All downhill from here!' I thought "Wow!  That wasn't so bad!" 

One of the coveted landmarks of the race is a gigantic CITCO sign, which marks the "one mile to go!" point.  It is visible for quite a distance before you actually pass it, so it sort of taunted me...knowing that at some point we would only have a mile left, but it kept popping into and out of view behind buildings...until finally I was passing it!

One of the highlights, for me, was passing a platoon of active duty army guys in their full BDUs, wearing packs and combat boots, and carrying the flag, who had run the marathon in formation.  I passed them just as we were rounding our last corner before the final stretch to the finish line.  When I passed them, they were standing still.  Shortly after I passed them, they began to run for their finish.  As they passed, the crowd support was amazing.  That helped to carry me the final few hundred meters! 

Finally, I was on Boyleston St, with the blue finish line in full view.  3:50:39--another Boston Qualifying time (just barely!) and within 30 seconds of my best time from Tallahassee last February.  What a great feeling to be done!

After we crossed the line, I felt like we were cattle being corralled as they guided us through the stations to get our mylar blankets, give us water bottles and gatorade, snack bags, and on to the baggage busses.  It was really crowded at that point, and hard to walk...not good for leg muscles and feet that were beginning to cramp up and spasm!  All I wanted to do was to stretch, but there was no room and nowhere to go.  So we shuffled together until finally the corral gates were opened and I could sit down and stretch. 

Tom was getting e-mail and text message updates on my progress as I ran, which was cool.  Here is the breakdown of my splits for the entire run:

 5K:  24:01
10K:  48:51
15K:  1:14:35
20K:  1:41:53
1/2:    1:47:36
25K:  2:08:49
30K:  2:37:59
35K:  3:08:19
40K:  3:37:38
Finish:  3:50:39

My rankings were: 

Overall: 13,608th out of 23,879
Gender:  4404 out of 10073
Age Group: 845 out of 1807

So, overall, not too shabby!  Not my absolute best run, but considering all that has happened in our lives so far in 2011, I'll take it!

Here are a few of my favorite signs and t-shirts of the day:

• "Run Faster! The British are Coming!"
• "Pain is just a fancy French word for bread!"
• On a t-shirt worn by a white-haired guy who PASSED me: "Fastest Geezer!" (the crowds loved that one)
• One little boy shouted (in his Bostonian accent) as he handed out twizzlers (rather than the typical orange slices or gatorade) "Hey runners! Here--eat something you'll remembah!"
• As we passed through the campus of Wellesley, a college for women, the famed Wellesley Scream Tunnel of cheering was intense.  I was marveling at all the posters these young girls had made that said "Kiss me, I'm _____" and many things filled in the blank (I'm Irish, I'm Italian, I'm a runner, etc).  What surprised me even more was watching one older guy, smiling as he ran, who actually took many of them up on the offer and kissed his way down the row of screaming girls.  Took his mind off the pain of the run, I'm sure!    Read about it here. 

All in all, it was a great run. I managed to make my way back to my B&B on the T, stopping in at a sports store to buy a pair of Vibram 5-finger shoes on my way (with an Boston marathon participant's discount!), got a quick shower, then headed out to enjoy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with my old college roommate from Hopkins, Anne Marie Largay Poulin and her family. What a great way to cap off a great day. I thoroughly enjoyed my evening catching up with Anne Marie, meeting her husband Brent and their cute kids, Maggie and Sam.

The next morning, stiff and sore (didn't sleep well because my muscles were so filled with lactic acid), I made my way to the airport on the T, and was happy to be homeward bound!

Here is the view of Boston as I was crossing the river from Cambridge into Boston:

Catching Up on Recent Events, Part I: The Boston Marathon

OK, now that I've manged to give you the low down on our biggest news story, (which, if you missed it, you can read below or click here), let me turn to other recent events and fill you in.



So, by the way, I ran the Boston Marathon last Monday, April 18th.  I qualified for it last year running the Tallahassee Marathon in 3:49:59, barely squeaking in under the qualifying standard for my age group.  The Boston Marathon is held on Patriot's Day each year, and in Boston (and in the world of running) it is a BIG DEAL.  I have never felt like such a celebrity in all my life, honestly.  It was exhilirating.  Not to mention, it was a fabulous weekend for me to get away alone, to catch up with old friends, run unexpectedly into another old friend, and get to know some acquaintances a lot better. 

I flew up on Saturday, and spent the first night with friends Tim and Sarah Leary, and their cutie-patootie little man, Zeke.  We have been supporting Tim and Sarah for a number of years in their campus ministries to students both here and overseas--but had never really interacted on a personal level--and it was really cool to have some time in their home to get to know them better and hear about their lives just a little bit.  An added bonus was that Tim had run the Boston Marathon several times as a "bandit"(someone who did not qualify for the race but hopped into the back of the pack to run the 26.2 miles "for fun" anyway)!  So it was great to pick Tim's brain about the course, race strategies, pre-race fueling, and the best way to get to the start without having to rise at ungodly hours and stand in the cold for lengthy time periods.  It was also great on Sunday morning to worship with Tim and Sarah at Park Street Church on Palm Sunday. While taking in the beauty of this old church in the heart of Boston, it was exciting for me to spot in the choir one of my former economics professors from my graduate school days at Hopkins SAIS in DC~Judy Dean. We got to connect after the service, and it was great to catch up a bit.

Park Street Church, Boston

Beautiful old sanctuary

During the service, I spotted in the choir loft a woman who looked exactly like one of my former economics professors in graduate school at Hopkins SAIS, Judy Dean.  As she sang with the choir, I was more and more convinced that, either Judy has an identical twin sister, or she is now living and worshiping in Boston.  Tim, who had gone down to the microphone to offer the closing prayer for the service kindly invited her upstairs to meet "someone who thinks she knows you from Hopkins."  Lo and behold, it was indeed Judy Dean.  Judy is the faculty member that helped a fellow grad student and me to inaugurate a graduate student investigative Bible study in her home 20 years ago.  How exciting for me to see her, and to hear that the fellowship taht we started so many years ago is still going strong today!   

After saying farewell to Judy (and promising to connect on facebook, which we have since done!), I set out into Boston to take in some sights and make my way to the race expo to pick up my race packet and my bib.  It was a gorgeous, clear, warm day--perfect for walking and stretching my legs after traveling the previous day.  I walked through Boston Commons and was excited to see the very pond and swan boats written about in the children's classic Make Way for Ducklings.  I snapped a shot and quickly texted it to Tom to show the girls.

Some other fun sights from my meanderings before the expo:

The history of the Boston Commons, and Paul Revere's ride

Signs of the marathon were all over town...much excitement in the air, and athletes
everywhere sporting Boston Marathon jackets from previous years' races.

Finally, I made my way past the finish line on Boylston Street and on the the expo a few blocks farther.  How exciting to see the very spot I would finish my (hopefully) slightly less than 4 hours of running the next day! 

After perusing the expo with a fellow Niceville runner, Anne Gwinnup (the expo was CRAZY--so much running gear, running food, running drinks, running clothing, and official (and expensive!) Boston Marathon logo clothing), I headed back to the Leary's on the T (subway) for a little bit of down time.  Tim then took me to my Bed and Breakfast a few miles away in Cambridge where I would spend the next two night--pre-race and post-race.  Cute rowhouse, near the campus of Harvard, owned by a woman who is a former-lawyer-now-artist/equestrian.  My room was on the 3rd floor, which I knew would be painful the day after the race.

I should have taken more photos at the expo to capture the vast size and the pure madness of all the booths, all the athletes, and all the excitement.  THis is just the entrance where you pick up your race packet, official T-shirt, and Bib #.

After unloading all my expo gear, I headed back into Boston on the T to meet up with Anne at the race participants' pasta dinner at City Hall.  We loaded up on pasta, salad, bread, and brought home with us Greek yogurts and lots of drinks they made available to the athletes.  Back to the B&B with a full tummy, anxious to get my gear in order for the morning and get into bed a little bit early. 

And...stay tuned for the next post...the actual run!

Isabel Faith: The Back Story

Wow, so much can happen in just a few short weeks...there is much to fill everyone in on in our lives!  Although there are many places I could start, I know the main thing you all want to hear about is this sweet child:

Dang Huanya, age 4, Luoyang City Children's Welfare Institute, Henan Province.  Photo taken on 4/2/11.

 
Yes, that's our daughter...that's our newest mei mei.  Isabel Faith Cantilina.  She has already stolen each of our hearts, and mine is all a-flutter with the thrill of knowing that she will soon (but not soon enough) be in our family, in our lives, in our home forever.

Let's take another look:

She has a pocket full of cookies that you can see if you zoom in.  (I don't know why someone is parked on the playground)

Her Chinese name, Huanya 欢雅, means joyous and elegant, with the 雅 "ya" portion of her name being the same Chinese character used for the name of God, "Yahweh."  I thought that was way cool. 

I know our news may have taken some folks by surprise and may seem sudden, so let me back up and give you the details... 

I have been eager and ready to adopt again for about a year now, roughly a year after we brought Lilly home.  Tom, while not opposed to the idea of adding another child to our family, was not convinced that we were ready quite yet to pursue another adoption, given that we had big things ahead with Lilly and her first surgery.  (Wise man.  God has blessed me immensely in giving me Tom and his calm, analytical, and logical way of looking at life.  I would have myself in heaps of trouble without him!)

So, I made myself stop thinking about children waiting for families and stop looking at their precious photos online because I was only torturing myself.  Instead, for the next year, I enjoyed reading other folks' adoption blogs and rejoiced with each family I saw welcoming a new child into their lives, sometimes two children at a time.

Besides, there was plenty to think about and do in our everyday lives.  You all know that if you have been reading along lately...never a dull moment around here. 

But, believe it or not, the day of Lilly's big surgery in Phildadelphia, while Tom and I were in the waiting room for all those hours, with nothing to do but spend time together waiting, we got to talking.  And Tom is the one who brought it up.  And the gist of the conversation was that, as long as Lilly came through her surgery well, we would start "looking" at children.  Some caveats:  we DO want to eventually be empty-nesters, so we were not really wanting to bring home a baby, or even a toddler (unless God made it clear otherwise).  

Incredulously, as Tom went for a quick walk and potty break, what did I do?  I went over to the computers in the waiting room and started looking at the profiles of waiting children.  Yes, folks, I did.  I felt a little sheepish, since Lilly was concurrently "under the knife" so the speak.  I looked at sweet little faces online only for a few minutes before I realized that my heart was too tied up in waiting for Lilly to be thinking clearly and I went back to my sitting, reading, praying, and waiting for Dr. Campbell to finish up with Lilly.  And, as you well know, the following weeks were just a little crazy with caring for LIlly post-op, caring for my mom and her big pneumonia, and getting back into the swing of normal life.  But I had a little stirring of excitement in my heart knowing that there was a good possibility that we could someday be welcoming another child home.

So, about a month ago, at the end of March, as I was browsing through profiles of children on our adoption agency's (CCAI) website, I came across these photos and this description:



"Dang Huan Ya, female, born June 5, 2006, was discovered abandoned on December 9, 2009...

...Her little face grew rosier and her weight also increased. Her physique grew stronger. Currently, Huan Ya’s personality is cheerful, lively, and active. Every day, she is joyful. She can walk freely. She can speak fluently. She can say sentences of 3-5 words long. She is basically the same as a healthy child. When getting dressed, she chooses the clothing she likes. When she has new clothes, she will tell other people. When guests come to the house, she knows to move the seats to allow them to sit down. When they leave, she says good bye. She basically can take care of herself. She goes to the bathroom to defecate and urinate. She can take off and put on an article of clothing. She likes to watch television and listen to music. Moreover, she can follow the beat to wave her hands and feet to. She can go up and down the stairs on her own. When she sees a stranger, she can take the initiative to greet them. She is a very cute little lady."

I e-mailed her description and photo to Tom at work for him to take a look, and went about my day.  Later in the day, when we were on the phone discussing our usual afternoon logistical details ("how is your afternoon shaping up?  What time should I plan for dinner?  etc...) I hesitatantly asked "Did you get my e-mail?"  He chuckled and said "I wondered when you were going to bring that up."  Yes, he got the e-mail, and yes, he thought she looked like a perfectly wonderful little girl.  Yes, I should go ahead and request a look at her full file from CCAI.

So, before I embarked on my normal afternoon tasks--get kids from school, get kids to various activities, get dinner on the table, etc--I sent off a quick e-mail to Pam at CCAI requesting her file.  Pam said she'd add us to the list of families waiting to review it.  I figured we probably would not ever get a chance to see it because surely someone ahead of us would go ahead and submit paperwork to begin the process of adopting her. 

Less than a week later, however, Pam did e-mail her file, and Tom and I spent a few days reviewing it, discussing it, praying over it, asking followup questions about her.  There was much to ponder.

• She is just 10 weeks younger than Lilly, so she would be a virtual twin.  This could present some unique parenting challenges.
• She is quite a bit older than Lilly was when we brought her home.  And she was abandoned at a much older age--age 3.  This could also present some unique challenges and differences in her ability to bond quickly with us.
• While physically she is in good health, her "special need" is a diagnoses of "low intelligence" or "below average intelligence."  Her file shows her significantly delayed globally--gross motor, fine motor, verbal, emotional/social, intellectual. 

The first two issues didn't take long to think through.  The idea of these two sweet girls each having a sister nearly the same age, with the same heritage, growing up in the same forever family just fills me with joy.  Although I know the adjustment could be rocky, I suspect that Lilly will rise to the occasion and she and her sister will be good friends and playmates for one another. 

The third issue is, I suspect, the only reason Tom and I even had a chance to see her file.  I'm sure a diagnosis like this--and the unknowns it entails--makes many families hesitant.  (Again, I am blessed with a man with good sound knowledge and wisdom and i trust him completely).  Tom looked through her file, her developmental tests, her CT scan (brain looks normal), and watched her video, and he feels completely comfortable bringing her home.  We suspect that her delays are primarily environmental, rather than pathologic, in nature, and our hope is that a stable, warm, nurturing family environment--probably coupled with some early intervention education--will be just what she needs to catch up to age-appropriate developmental milestones. 

We talked to each of the kids separately about the prospect of having another sister, and they were each pretty excited.  Jared said "that would be cool!" and Anna said "Really?  Wow--ok!"  Lilly took a little longer to grasp what we were saying, but in the end she was fully on board declaring her excitement to share her toys, her room, and "give her cheerios" (she remembers Anna giving her cheerios when we first met herin China).  With regard to her possible intelligence issues, Anna put it best, when she asked about her special need, saying emphatically and matter-of-factly: "Oh, we can help her with that!!"

That is, indeed, our hope, and so we stepped out in faith and, on April 6th, we submitted our letter of intent to adopt Dang Huanya on  and we are stepping out in faith.  That being said, we have also had to decide that, even if Isabel is truly delayed and has no hope of ever truly catching up, we are ok with that too.  God will equip us with what we need for whatever circumstances we might face.

So, I am now in the throes of feverishly doing the paperwork as fast as humanly possible, all the while getting ready for our move this summer (more to come on that), getting ready for Lilly's next surgery (next month), and just doing normal life as my big kids' school year draws to an end in just over 3 weeks.

So, with many more things to tell you about in recent weeks (like, oh yeah, I ran the Boston Marathon (bib number 18883) last week!) I will sign off here for now, and leave you with this sweet video of Isabel, taken while they were administering a developmental test on her: