Another update from Nicole:

I am here and safe in India at the Anthony’s house. The plane was late and my phone still isn’t working. I will let you know when I have a chip in my phone. Nancy has 3 standard dachshunds, birds, fish and a hamster. Haha- sounds like me.

Just got this update from Nicole:

I am in London on an internet service. 20 minutes is 1 pound. My phone is about dead and there is no signal in the airport. I just got done drinking a mocha latte from some Brittish coffee shop. I am just killing time until my Bangalore flight. There are tons of shops and restaurants in this airport. There are sushi bars and caviar bars. I got an almond croissant with almond paste. Yummy.

Nothing much is going on. My legs killed me on the last flight so I hope it’s not too bad on the next one. I had an empty seat next to me on the last two flights. Bonnie’s family has been praying that nobody bad would sit by me and so far I have had two flights with an empty seat next to me. What are the odds of that? I think I should not be so lucky this next flight because I heard it was overbooked and I had to go to a special place to get an assigned seat.

I am looking for souvenirs, but since I am in the airport it is all just made in China stuff with the word London on it and a pen is like $5 bucks. There are teas and walker’s cookies and so on, but we can get those at Target these days. So, I may pass on anything from here.

When I got off in London I went through customs and security and then into the Underground, which is a bit scary. It’s under the airport and that is where you retrieve your baggage. It wasn’t very safe. I had to be careful not to fall into the “Gap” which is a gap between the ground and the trains. There are warnings everywhere and even t-shirts you can buy that says Beware of the Gap! I had to take 2 trains to get to anywhere above ground, populated, and safe. Here I am safe- it’s above ground, light and populated. I just had to pretend I knew what I was doing. Haha. I don’t know how I am thinking clearly enough to find my way around, but somehow I am. I have not gotten lost and even though my body is sore, my head does not hurt.

In London they call the bathrooms “Female Toilet” and “Male Toilet” and the toilets do not flush- they “wave.” Haha. They had a gumball machine in the bathroom with little round “chewable toothbrushes.” Pretty funny stuff.

I am working on packing and an update on Shreya just came through the email. She gets a medical check up and social worker visit once every 3 months and we get the results of those when they are done. The only concern I have, and have had previously as well, is that Shreya has stranger anxiety. Her social, motor, and physical delays are the same as Thomas. Everything else is what I’ve dealt with already with Thomas. The stranger anxiety worries me.

All the reports say how much she loves her foster sisters and foster mother and I can’t help but feel sad taking her from them. She is going to be a child in mourning and I’ll be unable to explain to her anything at all. I keep imagining taking Thomas from our family and into a strange family. We left Jim at home with Thomas because of separation anxiety. Now, we are going to take another child from her family permanently. We know she will have a permanent family with us and that she had no future in India, but she will only know that she lost her loved ones.

My other worry is that my friends warned me that when they got their daughter from China, she “hated” her new mother. It was no offense to her personally, the little girl just didn’t like women and preferred her new dad to her new mom. It took a lot of working hard to gain the trust of that child. I am sure it was heartbreaking for that mother to be constantly rejected. I hope at the very least, Shreya’s experience with her foster mother and sisters will be in my favor and that she will not have a predisposition to dislike women.

On a brighter note, this is one of the only photos we have gotten where Shreya is smiling, or laughing actually! Shreya’s report talked about how much she loves to dance to music. Those that know Thomas, knows he rocks out to any music- even 5 seconds on a commercial. Also, it said when her sisters are doing their school work, she loves to sit and scribble too. This is Thomas’ new favorite activity as well and his favorite toy is a Magnadoodle he got for Christmas. I am bringing 7 Magnadoodles to leave with children at VCT along with soft some dolls!

It’s a stretch for me to go into this unknown country to bring home a child I do not know and face any number of circumstances, some possibly dangerous, while I am in India. The “what if’s” can drive me crazy in minutes! I don’t know how anyone can do this without faith because I won’t be relying on my own strength. My own strength keeps failing me. I know God knows my worries and He knows the heart and needs of this child. I seem to only be able to rest these past days when I remind myself of that.

This is the last update from VCT we will get. I am glad I got this happy picture right before I leave!

Many of you know we are in the process of getting ready for a new addition to the family. “Shreya” will be coming very soon. I am finally going to India to pick her up in just a few days! Jim will be home to hold down the fort. About one year of tremendous work and time has gone into the process of being able to bring her home. We knew it would be difficult, but we had no idea of the magnitude of the amount of paperwork that we would have to fill out.

On the farm, we are continuing to find homes for many of our animals to simplify life as much as we can for her arrival and for this new phase of life for our family. It’s been a couple of months of major re-thinking, re-visiting our plans for this farm, and now, re-shuffling our lives to make room for our new baby. The process of these changes have proven to be more difficult than anything, but we hope the adjustment will benefit everyone in the family and help Shreya to settle in quickly.

Feb. 2nd will be the first day I get to see Shreya in person and will get legal guardianship over her. Then, she and I start the process to get her visa to bring her home to the US. Hopefully, Feb 7th I will return home to the family with her. The trip to India is daunting, exciting, challenging, fearful, happy and sad all at the same time. We will gain a daughter. She will lose her country and her foster mother and sisters whom she loves.

Updates about our journey will be posted as we can starting Jan 29th. They will just be text entries. When I return, I am sure I will have many pictures and stories to share and will post them as I have the opportunity.

Please pray for travel safety, for Jim and the kids while I am gone, and for the government processes to go smoothly. Most all, pray that this little girl will feel at peace with me and know that she is safe and loved as we travel India and finally make our way back to Kansas.

Our Most Recent Photo’s- October and July 2008

Here she is in April and January 2008