*****We're two days behind*****

Day 3 in RMI. Today was a “busy” day, relatively speaking. We all woke up at 7:00am and slowly got dressed and ready for our day. Maddy called at 8am and informed us that she’d pick us up in half an hour to go get Emi’s passport pictures and go to her Dr. Appt. We stopped at the Tourist Trap (which did not have an English-Marshallese dictionary by the way) and got 8 picture for $12. We then went to the clinic and got Emi’s latest health report. She now weighs 13lbs and is 26” long. The Dr. said she was a very health and happy baby. She slept through most of her exam! She’s so cute =) So, the clinic was supposed to open at 9am and we got there promptly at 8:50am and waited outside. At 9:15am Maddy called the Dr., who lives on the same lot, to tell him to open up. He came out about 5 minutes later and opened up the clinic. Other patients came in and were seen first. He then did Emita’s exam and filled out her papers. Then Shawn finally got the guts to ask the Dr. to check out his cough…..AND GUESS WHO HAS PNEUMONIA?? LOL- poor Shawn. $20 later Shawn walked out with his prescription and a head shake from both Rosita and me =)

Maddy dropped us back off (including Rosita and Emi) at about 10am. She said Gordon, our lawyer, wanted to meet with us go over the court procedures and that she’d call us as soon as she knew what time our appointment was. At 5pm we decided to stop sitting by the phone and we went to the store. We took a taxi to Pay Less store, which is a large supermarket type store. There we bought some distilled water in gallons for $1.50. Then we treated Rosita and ourselves to some ice cream! It was the best deal so far, $1.25 for a cup of ice cream. Also, if you really want Corona, they have it for $36.00 a 12 Pak! Heineken is only $13! After the store, we asked Rosita if she wanted to go home or come back to the hotel, since she lives near the store, she told us “taxi” and motioned back to the hotel, so we all came back! And here we are again for our second night as 4 =)

Rosita is starting to open up and feels more comfortable with us. Maddy called us tonight to give us her number and check in on us. We told her that Rosita was going to stay the night again and all she said was “Oh my!” But Shawn told her that it was fine and definitely an “interesting” experience. I wonder if she’ll say something to her tomorrow? Anyway it’s been a good day and we should be meeting with Gordon tomorrow.

****We'll update you all later about what we didn't post the past couple of day****

Tips for future families:

The Dr. did not use any of the forms LSS sent with us. He filled out his own forms. I do not yet know if this will come back to bite us in the bum. I suggest you still bring the medical form just in case. Maybe later down the line, LSS families will no longer need to bring them along if other families have the same experience. The Dr. is going on vacation for 6 weeks starting Friday 12/18 and Maddy said ALL adoptions will cease until he gets back, since he is the only US certified adoption doctor.

The ice cream at Pay Less is a great deal $1.50 a cup. Also the gallon water at Pay Less is so far the cheapest we’ve seen. $1.50 gallon

Emi is not latching well to the some of the nipples we brought. So bring multiple types and flows of nipples to find out which one works best for your child.

The taxis are $.50 per person depending on distance and are not scary, but like in Mexico, we learned you have to ask how much the fare is BEFORE you get in. If you’re going to the airport or outside of DUD it could be up to $2.00 but definitely not more. There seem to be no buses so taxis are your only mode of transportation other than your own two feet or renting a car.

Gordon and Maddy have warned that TB is on the island and if you’re in a taxi with someone who is coughing GET OUT!

What an experience we’ve had so far =)

What an experience we’ve had so far =)

We have spent the whole day with Emi and Rosita. Rosita had said they would stop by at 10am so we woke up at 8am, ate breakfast (a bowl of noodles), and cleaned up the hotel room. At 9:30 exactly, the phone rang! We went down to the lobby to pick them up and we’ve basically spent the rest of the day here in the room. We left for about an hour to go eat at the hotel restaurant and then we came right back. It is now 8:30pm and they’re still here =)

Rosita has been sleeping most of the day and we are happy to let her rest. I actually think she’s going to spend the night. Again, I remind you that she speaks NO English and we speak NO Marshallese, so it has been a very quiet day but I’m learning so much about Emi and her signals by how Rosita plays and interacts with her.

It’s been very difficult with the communication barrier. We had planned to go to church today, then to the Tourist Trap (souvenir shop) and pick up a Marshallese-English dictionary but we never knew when they were planning on leaving so we never went! Even two word sentences with hand signals conjured up nothing but a smile. And it goes both ways! She’s tried telling me things but I have NO clue what she means. So far I’ve picked up that “meme” or “mene” or “nene”, it means milk or eat. She says it then feeds Emi or points to the bottle. I’ve repeated it in the form of a question and say “milk?” but she just smiles. I’ve said “Milk, meme? Aet (yes) Jaab (no)?” but again just a smile…. Either way I know she means it’s time for Emi to eat.

So we spent the whole day watching movies =) We’ve watched UP, The Aviator, Bangkok Dangerous, and now we’re watching Ali. Thank God we get a movie channel. It doesn’t have a name but they show movies all day long. In between, we’ve watched the Discovery channel, Spongebob, Tom and Jerry, the news, and countless other snippets of whatever happened to be on the 30 channels or so we get.

On bug news, Bob has not moved and I hope he never does! We have now discovered tiny itsy bitsy ants in the bathroom. They seem to be harmless yet annoying. We’re not sure what we’re going to do about them yet. We were planning on spraying down the room today with bug spray (just in case) but couldn’t because Rosita and Emi are here.

Tomorrow we’re supposed to go to the Embassy clinic and get Emi’s passports pictures taken. We have no clue what time or where. Tomorrow will be it’s own adventure!

Tips for Future Families:

-Establish with Maddy what time all the appointments are. We did not and now we have no clue what’s happening since we also don’t have her number or the CAA office number.

-Restaurants run on “island time”. They will eventually check in on you or bring you the check, just not when you expect it =)

-Buy the dictionary! Or try to find out before you get here the level of English the BM speaks. I think it would definitely help to be prepared on how much interaction there will honestly be.

Yokwe from Majuro

Where do I begin!! What a day!

Well first off, we are in Majuro and it is beautiful! We arrived safely at about 10am (4pm MN?) and came to our hotel the MIR (Marshall Islands Resort) So far we are pleasantly surprised at what a decent place it is. The reviews had killed this place but they offered us a good rate and Shawn talked to the manager and we have a nice room with a view of the lagoon and 2 queen beds. They moved in a larger fridge, a coffee maker, and a microwave for us. So far no bugs (in the room)- I have not yet seen a palmetto bug or any roaches. I have seen a good size spider which we have named Bob. He lives on the palm tree right outside our balcony and he better stay there! I check on him every few hours to make sure he’s still there and hopefully dead. Shawn says he’s not and probably just full.

THEN WE MET HER!!!!!! And she is so adorable! At 1:50pm our hotel phone rang and it was Maddy (the social worker for RMI) saying that they were here and heading to our room. I starting pacing and hyperventilating as Shawn paced and tried hugging and kissing me to calm me down. Then we heard a knock at the door. Shawn opened and the first person I saw was Emita. Rosita (BirthMom) was holding her and we invited them in to sit. She handed Emi to Shawn and sat down. I wanted to grab her and hug her and hold her – both Emi and Rosita- but it was so awkward. Rosita doesn’t speak a word of English and the few Marshallese words I know are not enough to ask or answer questions. So we gave her a coffee table book about the Twin Cities that she flipped threw as we held Emi. She had questions about the weather in MN and we asked about siblings. Emita sat and cooed and smiled and was just such a happy baby! She was wearing a pumpkin orange outfit, green socks (with little dinosaurs) a pink headband and her hair in a little spout on the top of her head! ADORABLE! She has huge almond eyes with long lashes and big chubby cheeks. We think she’s about 12lbs but not over 15. When she walked in I actually thought that wasn’t her because she was so small. We are so in love! It was so hard to hand her back. We gave Rosita taxi money so she can visit us tomorrow. She said she’d be here at 10am. I can’t wait.

After Emita and Rosita left, Shawn and I went to explore! We went walking down the road (the only road) to all the little shops along the way. We stopped to eat at The Flame Tree and it wasn’t bad either. Shawn had Tuna and I had a noodle dish. The prices were reasonable and the food was good. We’re planning on eating there again. Then we bought some of our supplies. We bought a box of microwavable noodles, water, bowls, dish soap, and the newspaper. We’re here for a month and we can’t eat out for every meal. We’ll probably buy more snacky-type foods since it’s so hot here you lose your appetite and don’t want full meals. Oh and Shawn wanted me to mention that our case of bottled water cost $9.10.

So here’s the deal on the poverty…. If people spoke Spanish, I’d be right at home. It makes me sad that Americans who travel here are shocked by what they see. Travel into Latin America, NOT Cancun or a beach in Costa Rica, but actual towns and you’ll see the same thing. Dogs roaming the streets, cinder block and tin roofed housed, kids wandering around, trash on the side of the road, cars rusting out in someone’s yard… It is very sad and my heart breaks for them.

Tips for Future families:

MIR- pretty decent (so far)

Flame Tree- not to American health code standards but food is good and cheap and we’re not sick yet =) ((fingers crossed))

I’m surprised at how much Majuro is like a little Asia. All the food is Japanese or Chinese and they put soy sauce on the tables.

It’s hot but not crazy hot. It’s humid but the breeze helps.

Many things are not priced in the Supermarkets. So far we’ve stuck to the priced items. Except for the water- That was a nice surprise at the cash register!

Ahola from Hawaii!

Well we are at the Honolulu airport waiting to board our plane to Majuro!
Yesterday:
We left our home at 5:30am arrived in Denver at 9:50am (10:50MN) then had what seemed to be the longest flight on the planet to Honolulu! We arrived here at 4:30pm (8:30MN) by the time we got to the hotel, relaxed and ate it was 6:30pm(10:30pm), so we went to bed!

Ok we're boarding!!!!

Of to Majuro!

Packed and Ready

Tomorrow is my last day at work before I go on parental leave and it's really starting to sink in that life will completely change in a few days. This past weekend we went on a date and enjoyed our last weekend alone. It's been 10 years of just the 2 of us and we know it will be a big adjustment but we are so excited and can't wait to get there! The fact that it's 10 degrees outside right now doesn't hurt either =)

We finished packing and I think we've packed everything we possible can! We have 3 50lb bags plus my backpack (full of Emi's clothes) and Shawn's backpack (full of cameras, batteries, laptop, cords and every thing that goes with those things). I don't know how we're going to navigate the airports with all the luggage AND a baby strapped to me on the way back. My mom made me a baby sling-thing that I think will really come in handy. We also have a baby bjorn thing.

Ok well off I go to teach myself Marshallese! Yokwe- kommol tata- jaab-aet (hello, thank you, yes, no)