Cruisin'

Our cruise was amazing, I'm still missing it every day. We had a very relaxing vacation, the ship was fabulous, and the ports were beautiful. We stayed in a balcony cabin for the first time and I loved it even more than I thought I would. The food was great (and plentiful!), entertainment was fun, and as always, I can't wait to plan my next cruise.

on our balcony before the second formal night

Our first stop was Labadee, Haiti. This is Royal Caribbean's private 'island.' We made a lazy day of it and lounged on the beach. We hiked around a bit in the afternoon, and enjoyed the scenery.

life is good

Our next port was Montego Bay, Jamaica. We had planned to go to the beach here as well. However, we didn't use enough sunscreen in Haiti so our backs got a little fried, and we wanted to stay out of the sun today (Sorry, Mom. I reapplied, honest!). It was still a fun day- with most of the ship's 2400 passengers ashore, we had the place to ourselves. Literally, we were the only people in the gym that afternoon!

Next stop- Cartagena, Colombia. We took a city tour at this port. We visited the old walled city, a church, naval museum, and a fort. It was amazing- the architecture and colors were beautiful. The people were very friendly. It was very moving to be in the country where our child will be from, I cannot even express it.

historic house in the walled city

the church of San Pedro Claver, human rights pioneer

street in the walled city

another colorful street scene

Portal de los Dulces (food market for sweets)

yummy fruit cart

The Clock Tower, the main gate to enter the walled city

The Dungeons (Las Bóvedas) were originally military barracks but now house souvenir shops

Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas- the largest Spanish fort in the New World

The next event was the partial transit through the Panama Canal. I'm sure Pete could describe it with more enthusiasm than I can- engineering marvel, yadda yadda yadda. But here goes, with a little help from http://www.pancanal.com/:


The Panama Canal is approximately 50 miles long between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This waterway was cut through one of narrowest saddles of the isthmus that joins North and South America. The Canal uses a system of locks -compartments with entrance and exit gates. The locks function as water lifts: they raise ships from sea level (the Pacific or the Atlantic) to the level of Gatun Lake (85 feet above sea level); ships then sail the channel through the Continental Divide.

Each set of locks bears the name of the town where it was built: Gatun (on the Atlantic side), and Pedro Miguel and Miraflores (on the Pacific side). The lock chambers are 110 feet wide by 1000 feet long, and you'd better believe the Jewel of the Seas took up most of that space.


The water used to raise and lower vessels in each set of locks comes from Gatun Lake by gravity; it comes into the locks through a system of main culverts that extend under the lock chambers from the sidewalls and the center wall.

Ships from all parts of the world transit daily through the Panama Canal. Some 14,000 vessels use the Canal every year.

After we went through the Gatun Locks, we "anchored" at Gatun Lake. I used quotes because we learned at a Captain's talk that they did not actually drop anchor, they use GPS to control the azipods and thrusters to keep the ship in one spot. Technology is crazy. Anyway, we took a tender boat ashore and went on a loooooong bus ride to an indigenous Embera Indian village. It was fun, but had I known it would take us two hours each way I might have chosen another activity!

making our entrance to the canal locks

the gates have opened to move into the next chamber

water level differences from one chamber to the next

our canoe ride to the indian village

Our final port was Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. I would love to visit again someday. The tour guide told us the entire country is the size of WV (Mountaineers represent!). It is very diverse in it's plant and animal species, and they obviously treasure this biodiversity. We took a boat ride through the Tortuguero canals in the Tortuguero National Park to view wildlife. Unfortunately, it was the middle of the day and the animals were smart enough to hide in the shade somewhere. We did get to see some monkeys, sloths, birds, and lizards, so I'm not complaining.

sloth

howler monkey

What about the sea days in between, you ask? Well, we had a pretty nice routine going. Wake up. Eat. Lay by the pool. Eat. Move to the indoor adult pool for some quiet reading time and cocktail. Eat snack. Go to gym. Hang out on balcony for sunset. Shower. Eat. Watch show or hang out in lounge. Sleep and repeat!

Pin Pals

Last weekend Pete and I got together with some of our adoption friends (Katie, Sean, Bethany, Mike, Doron, and Peter) for a night of fun. We went bowling for a couple of hours and then out for appetizers and drinks afterwards. It was nice to see everyone again and we had a blast! We enjoyed catching up with everyone, as well as commiserating about the adoption process. We especially loved the cupcakes Doron brought from her vegan bakery. Yummy! Here is a picture of the gang-

We leave for Miami this evening for our cruise tomorrow afternoon. I am super-excited, but still need to finish packing! I can't wait to tell you all about the vacation, we've been looking forward to it for a long time. We are doing a ten day cruise to the Panama Canal, with stops in Costa Rica, Jamaica, Haiti, and COLOMBIA!

We're approved!

We received word today that FANA has officially approved our dossier! Yay! This is the final hurdle before we receive a referral. We are very excited and relieved to be able to check this step off our list. Now we go back to waiting. Patiently waiting.

In other good news, our friends Katie and Sean were also approved today! The Colombia crew has a bowling date scheduled for Friday night, and now we will have much to celebrate!

Mañana

We received an email late yesterday afternoon from the International Program Coordinator at our adoption agency. She said that our dossier is "going to Committee" tomorrow! That means that the committee at the orphanage will be reviewing all of our documents. They could approve us or ask for more information on some aspect of our life. Technically they could also reject us, but let's not focus on that!
We probably will not hear anything until Thursday at the earliest (and it could be much later). We will keep you posted...

Happy Birthday Gayle

Last night we attended a "Waiting Parents Meetings" at the adoption agency. Every few months they invite a guest speaker to come in and speak on a topic relevant to adoption. It's a nice opportunity to learn something new, plus it's an excuse to catch up with our friends. Last night we heard a pediatrician speak about medical issues related to international adoption.

After the presentation, we broke out into sessions by country. This is what we look forward to most as it is sometimes our only update for months. However, last night's news was not the best. We learned that some of the "rules" have changed in Colombia. While we are hopeful that this will not effect us, there are some families that were impacted in a negative way. Our hearts go out to them right now.

On a happier note, it was my birthday yesterday. 31! We celebrated by going out for Thai food before the meeting with our friends Bethany, Mike, and Katie.

Strollers and car seats and carriers! Oh, my!

Yesterday Pete and I braved the wild world of baby stores for our first real shopping adventure. When I mention that I am thinking of buying something for the baby, many people ask, "Have you heard something?" The answer is no, but let me explain.

With an adoption, there is obviously a lot of waiting. In the early "paperwork" stage, there are many milestones to check off. This chunking of time and crossing-off of lists helps to pass the weeks and months along. Do you ever wonder what it looks like to get all of those things in order? Here's a picture of Gayle in all her organizational glory filling out homestudy and dossier documents back in May 2008:

So my point is, once the paperwork has been submitted, your fingers have been printed, and your home and psyche have been evaluated, there really is not a whole lot to do but wait.

We've decided that one of the fun things to help pass the time is to shop! If we buy something for the baby every month or so, we figure that will give us something to look forward to. Plus it will help spread out the costs, which is probably a good thing.

So that brings us to purchase numero uno... a stroller! We weren't really planning on buying a stroller when we went out yesterday, but we found a really nice one on clearance (2008 model) and we had a coupon- the perfect storm for a major purchase! Here's a picture of Gayle trying it out (I'm a natural, right?):

Distractions

When you are waiting for a referral, one of the most important things is the ability to distract yourself. Fortunately, Pete and I are easily distractable! While our jobs do a good job of keeping our minds occupied from 8-5, we have found other things to keep us busy during the rest of the time. Here are some of our favorites:

1. Home improvements- We have been doing some prepping and painting lately (most recently the future nursery)!
2. Wii- Our new favorite game... Rock Band! In case you are wondering, Pete's specialty is the guitar, while Gayle rocks out on drums and vocals.
3. Learning Español- We have started using Rosetta Stone to learn Spanish, and Gayle is taking a Spanish for Educators class through her school district.
4. Hanging out with friends- Last night we went to dinner with one of the waiting families we have met through our adoption agency. We had a blast! We know that the friendships we are making throughout this process are valuable and the connection we share (and our kids will share) is very special.

Pete getting the high spots