let's try this again! ... pt 1

if our adventure to our daughter was full of first time parent angst and fragile doses of bonding, our experience bringing our boys home could not have been more different with it's fond familiarity and down right fun!

but .... let's back up just a bit.

to say we had been to hell and back again with our second traverse of the beaurocratic, systematic destruction of our trust in the "powers that be" was an understatement.  our department strove to rewrite the book between what they said and what they did in more ways that i care to elicit.  and yet, guess what?  we have our boys and have no regrets.

we were literally on the other side of the country when we were called by our dept. .... the first words out of my mouth were "what's gone wrong now?" ... and a gentle laugh and then .... "well, actuallly .... can we ask you a few questions?"  my heart leapt in my throat at this point.  could it be really happening?  FINALLY?  the simple answer .... yes .... God had given us two, gorgeous sons, also from Rehoboth Children's Home.

this trip was to be so very different.  we planned it as a bit more of a holiday ... a chance to see a few more sights and sounds of the Philippines along with picking up our boys.  and too, my best mate and life-time "should be" sister  came along .... all the way from Canada to the Philippines!  she was coming along not just to share the experience, but to also give Lea some focus time to allow us to be with the boys and begin that bonding time with them.  as an adult adoptee and a social worker to boot, she was all too aware of the path we were navigating and was happy to play this role.  something for which we will always be grateful.

lea enjoying her childhood
at Disney HK

after a brief sojourn in Hong Kong to see Disney Hong Kong (a last hurrah for the three of us) .... we arrived late on a Friday night in Manila.  my mate from Canada had already arrived.  and what else do you do when you are in Manila?  go out to dinner at Pizza Hut!  egad!  i was a bit disappointed in myself (i love cross cultural stuff and filipino food is at the top of the list!) .... but we were all tired, a taxi that didn't show at the airport, having to find a new one and a ride to the hotel that was longer than our plane trip from HK to Manila .... so i gave myself some grace.  Lea was having fun with Ninang (tagalog for Godmother) ... and it was good to be together.

normally, when you are going out to meet your child, a caseworker from ICAB joins you to make introductions with the orphanage / foster agency, etc.  but because we had been to the home before, once we had travel authority, ICAB was happy for us to make our own arrangements.  woohoo!  in this circumstance, the home contacted us and said, "when do you want us to pick you up???"  saturday morning please!  <g>

bright and early saturday morning we began our trek up through the hills to the little town of sampaloc .... where Rehoboth Children's Home is.  you feel like you are going into another world .... getting out of the lung jarring pollution and sensory overload of Manila traffic (trust me .... if you haven't experienced it, you can't appreciate it!).  fresh air!  ahhhhhh ....

entering the home for the first time in three years was amazing.  everything was the same .... but we were different.  going through the green gates it was the same sanctuary and haven that we remembered.  where kids were loved and nurtured until their parents would come for them.  but we were different ... more settled as parents, and certainly more prepared to engage with "whatever" might befall us.  we were ushered up to the guest apartment .... Lea relishing the memories and fun and us with baited breathe as we waited for our boys.

what would this be like? 

how would they take to us? 

would we have another repeat of what happened with Lea?

????????

our boys being brought up to the guest house .....

hello boys!