Sorry not connected but will try to do better

Internet is not so good and their have been multiple power outages.  Luckily we are at RRE and they have a generator.  Here is what has been going on for past couple of days.

November 6,2010(9pm)


The weather was really ugly today. It rained really hard last night per Wayne since of course I sleep soundly. It was cloudy all day today and raining off and on. We just had a power outage here in RRE but it only lasted for 5minutes. They have a back up generator which must have blown out for some reason. The island has been out of power since 7pm tonight. We were at our lawyer’s office going over our paperwork for court on Monday at 11am when the power went out so we were talking to him in the dark. We had a meeting with him for 2 hours to go over our paperwork for court and the process thereafter.

Today we woke up early as usual since we end up going to bed at 7pm usually and wake up at 5am RMI time. Television has limited channels but I get to watch Filipino channels (hooray). We are staying in a room with a balcony overlooking the bungalows which is fine by us. It does get boring as wayne and even MV think so. They want to be out of these 4 walls during the day but not a whole lot to do but walk around the Formosa, EZ mart, etc.

We were able to spend 5 hours just the 3 of us today. MV was a little more fussy today but I think she is getting more teeth now since she seems to be drooling a lot more and putting her hand in her mouth. We put a bottle in the fridge and just gave it to her and she seemed to calm down some more. I think the cold nipple of the bottle helped her feel better. Wish me luck with a teething toddler. I brought some baby orajel and hope this will help her as well. Luckily, she loves to eat and will try a bunch of food. We gave her cooked carrots at lunch and she enjoyed it along with rice. We have been giving her formula we brought and she has taken to it really well. Jelka has been breastfeeding her and is trying to stop since we have been here. She loves looking at the saltwater fish tank outside of the Tide Table restaurant. She likes to walk with assistance of course, wayne even noticed callous on her little feet which her daddy will take care of as soon as we get home. (lol)



November 7, 2010 (10pm)

Today it rained a lot so we did not get to go to Eneko Island due to the weather. So we spent time with MV alone again. We were able to spend from noon to 6pm with her and she did great. She is really coming out of her shell. She loves to walk with assistance and has walked out our hotel room down the hall around the main lobby and back to the room. She is just so proud of herself when she does this. Unfortunately sometimes we have a cranky toddler since she is teething more due to more drool and putting her fingers in her mouth. So we have orajel ready and put her bottle nipples in the fridge. She does not seem to mind it and it seems to help her. She loves music and loves to dance. Luckily she likes riding in the Ergo baby carrier we brought along.

We went walking down to a dock behind our hotel when it was not drizzling. It was interesting ot see all the boats in the water off the coast of Majuro. One gentleman was here with his sailboat crew of 5 who just goes from island to island and spends some vacation time. He will fly into a port and meet up with his sailboat/crew and vacation for a week or 2 then go back and work and do it all over again when he has time. I would love that life. We found the local filipino restaurant and it was pretty good for a small island area. We are going to have MV celebration dinner there tomorrow.
November 8, 2010 (4pm)


MV is officially a Chin today. We were granted the right to be her parents at noon today by the judge. The court was a little nerve racking since I have never had to get on the stand in front of a judge and I hope I never will. The judge was very nice and everything was very official and it took about 1 hr to get through court. Jelka went to the stand first with MV on her lap. I was so anxious during this period but all went well. Then I went to the stand and then Wayne went to the stand. Then the judge made his statement that we are MV’s parents now. After this, we waited to get MV adoption decree. Then we took Jelka and her cousin, Valerie to lunch at Wo Hai Shen. After lunch Jelka and Valerie went home and Maddy took the Chin family to get MV birth certificates old and new. We only got 5 copies each since the printer was not working that well today. I will get more before I leave to go back to the USA. Then we went to get her a Marshallese passport at the RMI government office. It only took us 30mins to get her Marshallese passport and cost us $85 which is much better versus the USA expedited passport of a couple hundred dollars. We are waiting to go to MV’s celebration dinner at La Bogie (a filipino restaurant) where about 15 people will be going.

MV is adjusting well to us. She cries a little bit in the beginning but then she is fine with some comforting. Unfortunately, she is teething. Right now she has 4 teeth but I know more are coming since she always wants to touch her teeth and is drooling a lot. So we have one cranky teething toddler at times. Good luck to me. She also has a runny nose I believe from teething. I only brought 3 containers of formula and I did not bring enough if we are staying here 4 weeks. I will have to figure a way to stretch out the formula. I think once I feed her oatmeal for breakfast and other things that we will be okay, I hope (lol).

She is such a happy baby in general. I hope the next few weeks of adjusting together will go smoothly. I just have to get a routine going. It is all new to me and being in a foreign country is hard. Maddy told me that Jelka is happy that at least one of her children will be going to college and maybe even become a doctor, lawyer, etc. whatever she wants to be. The language barrier is tough so I think I will write a letter to her and have maddy or someone at CAA translate it for me to her.
November 8, 2010 (9pm)


First night with Baby girl and she has been asleep since 7pm. It has been a long day for her. We adopted her at 11am today. She is officially a Chin. Then we went to lunch with Jelka and her cousin, Valerie. At 1pm Maddy picked wayne, Makayla and I up and we went to get copies of MV’s birth certificates. Then we went to get her Marshallese passport. Then back to hotel and off to dinner at La Bodgie at 5pm. It was raining so Maddy picked us up at our hotel and brought us to the restaurant. Maddy said it doesn’t usually rain like this but it is usually windy this time of year but the Marshallese believe rain to be lucky. So woohoo, it has been raining a whole lot over here so MV is our lucky charm. There were 15 of us there at a small filipino restaurant. Jelka brought her 4 yr old son, 22 yr old daughter and 4 nieces to our dinner along with Maddy, Gordon, 3 CAA people. We had Pancit, sinigang baboy, a whole sweet and sour fish, lumpia shanghai, and chicken adobo. It went really well and Jelka was able to take a lot of food home for her other family who did not come. We gave presents to Jelka, Maddy, Donna, ??????, and Gordon. Then we tooka cab back to our hotel and put her to sleep.

We pushed the queen bed against the wall and her and I are sleeping together. Hopefully she will sleep for a while. It has been a long day for her. Now we begin our lives together. She is somewhat happy. But I noticed some mourning for her tonight but hopefully it will get better and easier every day. We will just be patient with her and her with us. I have to get a routine going so it will be easier for us.



November 9, 2010 (1pm)

We had a good morning. MV woke up every 4 hours hungry last night at 11pm, 3am, then 7am. We woke up at 7am alittle cranky but after a drink of formula she was smiling up at me. She had some chicken adobo and rice. Then I took a shower and had her take a shower with me so I could wash her hair. She still hates baths. UGH! So I may just move to sponge baths every night and then a full bath every other night or a couple days. Then we decided to get some fresh air and take a walk to EZ mart. MV fell asleep in her Ergo carrier with wayne carrying her. It was too hot so we decided to go back to hotel. MV finally woke up when we got to the hotel. She walked around a little bit with her daddy. Then I met with Gordon in the computer room to go over our US Embassy paperwork. Our appointment with them is at 3pm today. They will make a copy of our packet and then send it off to Manila. I hope we can get it back sooner then 4 weeks.

Wayne is doing a good job with her and she is adjusting to him as well. He can even get her to sleep without my help. I won’t help him and I let him figure it out himself and he has done great. He has not done the diaper changes yet but he will. It is his first exposure to a toddler so I will let him pass until we get home to USA.

We met an older filipina lady who lives here in the hotel. She came here in the 1970’s and worked for the owners of the hotel. So now she is living here in the hotel. She spoke to wayne earlier this week and said that all the other hotels are not safe and so that is why she lives here. She stopped by and spoke with wayne and I while MV was snacking on cheerios. I bet I will learn more about her as the weeks go by. She pointed out the owner’s son’s wife who was eating at Tide Table and also the owner’s son was there.

Thoughts of the day: This island has extreme poverty. Jelka makes $1.50 an hour at the fish plant where it is first come first gets work for the day. The fish plant is run by japanese and sometimes there ships are in port or not. So work is not consistent for her. I think that is why families all live together in the same household to share expenses. Minimum wage is $2.00 per hour but the fish plant owners get away with it by declaring they are trainees learning about how to work first. People sleep on dirt or tile floors without blankets or a mat to sleep on. Children play in the streets as something fun to do.

November 9 (8pm)

Well MV is officially a US citizen today according to the US Embassy in Majuro, RMI. Hooray! We got her immigration paperwork done at the US Embassy today and it is being sent by DHL to Manila tomorrow. Pray that it will not take as long as previous families to get there and back to us. We are hopeful baring any USA and Philippine holidays that it will get processed and sent back soon.

We then went to dinner with another adoptive couple from Minnesota. They arrived 1 week before we arrived. It was nice to get to know them and swap adoption stories. We are in our room and baby MV is asleep. She has a little cough but nothing else seems to be bothering her. She is doing well. She is eating a lot but has not done #2 yet. I am hopeful for tomorrow but she is farting a lot and burping so I think we are still okay.