Home!

We have made it home!!! Phew! What a journey! It was so wonderful to get home and introduce Usha to her new family...brothers and grandparents and many wonderful friends. She continues to do really well. She is happy go-lucky and just taking it all in stride.
We were on airplanes for about 30 hours and she handled it so well!!! (mom and dad didnt do nearly as well as her...ha).
She loves our house and is exploring every corner and drawer to see what she can find. Today she jumped on a trampoline for the first time and simply loved it. She is a bit scared of our golden retreiver but she is starting to figure out that she's a friend and not a giant wolf.
Now it's time to try and recover from the jet lag....

Delhi

We have arrived in Delhi. We thought we had a driver all arranged but when we arrived in Delhi at midnight on Sunday/Monday night we could not locate him...oh the stress! So, we got a pre-paid taxi and hoped that the driver understood when we said "Hyatt". It was a little scary to drive through the streets of Delhi in the middle of the night hoping we were going to the right place...sure enough, we were! We checked into the Hyatt and slept a couple of hours. We got up on Monday morning and headed to the Embassy. We called a driver that our agency recommended and he was great. He knew exactly where to go and dropped us off right in front of the gate we needed. We managed to figure out the Embassy although, I found it a bit confusing. Still, we made it and they sent us to the Dr. Luckily, again our driver knew exactly where to go and we made it through the medical visit with no problem. We were told to return the next day so we headed back to the hotel to swim and wait til tuesday to return.

On tuesday, we gathered up our paperwork and headed back to the Embassy with our same driver. Again, it was a little confusing but we figured it out and I'm happy to say we left with Visa in hand!!! Yipppeeee!!!

As we were leaving there was a man selling coconuts. Usha really wanted one but we told her no as we were headed back to the hotel to get some lunch. She got very angry at us and refused to look at us or talk to us...we got back to the hotel and she stayed upset with us. We realized that we had to hold our ground and let her know who the mom and dad are...ha. In the room she turned her back on us and refused to acknowledge us for a couple of hours. Finally, she walked over, smiled and hugged us. At dinner we talked and joked about it and she really seemed to realize that mom and dad love her no matter but also won't be bullied. It was an important moment.
Later we went to the pool and had a blast swimming at the Hyatt. She is doing great in the water! Also, there was a baby at the pool who she loved playing with. She really loves babies and is great with them. We noticed in the pictures we saw of her at SMSS that she was often holding a baby...and she really is so good with them.
She has such a strong personality and is a real prankster...she loves to joke with us and mimic us. When we do something silly she laughs and jokes right back with us. America's Funniest Videos is on here and she roars with laughter while watching it. We really are thrilled with her strong, fun personality.
Tomorrow we will spend the day at the pool and then tomorrow evening it is off to the airport for our flights home!!! More later....

Day 4

Today was the final goodbye at SMSS. We had to return to get the Vaccination record translated. It was good to go back one more time. The kids were still happy to see us but they've seen us so much that it was a bit more calm this time. We waited for the person we were to meet with in what seemed to be the "group" room. The girls were all sitting in front of a tv watching a movie. I felt like we got to observe them in a more normal setting because, as I said, they were used to us by now and didn't pay us quite so much attention. We sat and watched the movie with them and throughout, at any given time, any particular girl would come up and want to touch us, hold our hand, smile at us, play with my hair, etc. But then they would go sit down to watch the movie and another would come up.
The girls also had alot of the little ones in the room with them. They would pass the babies around and coo and play with them...I got to hold several of them too which was so fun!!! It struck me how much love and attention the small ones get from the older girls...so good for their development.

Finally, our meeting took place and we got the docs tranlated. Usha had sat and watched the movie for awhile and sometimes getting up to play with someone. But, when we went into the office she went with us and didn't leave. Finally, they told her that this was her last visit and it was time to go. She went to each caregiver, kissed her hand and touched their foot (this must be some form of respect) and had a moment with each. She was wiping tears but never fully cried. I have no idea how I held it together (I cry at commercials...just ask my boys they know I'll cry at anything...you should have seen me at Marley and Me). So, even though I was tearing up I somehow stayed strong for her. She then hugged the directors and spoke with them for a few minutes and then we walked to the car. We were all waving to the kids and adults, smiling and saying goodbye over and over. We wanted them to see how happy we all were and leave on a positive note. In the car there were no tears but she looked deep in thought. We hugged and kissed her and taught her how to play "thumb war"...you know, "one, two,three,four I declare a thumb war". She loved it and was soon laughing again.
Back at the hotel she wanted to swim and by the time we were done swimming she was back to her playful, carefree self.
I am amazed at how well she has done. She is happy, loving, affectionate. She hugs and kisses us over and over. She REALLY loves daddy...I mean she doesn't want him out of her sight and she copies him constantly. She sits like he does and says what he does. He had jeans on so she wanted her jeans on...mind you I don't know if she's ever worn jeans before but she only wants to wear her "western" clothes now. She seems to be done with dresses.
We have had to scold her a couple of times and she didn't like it. But again, she recovered quickly and bounced right back. She's figuring out she needs to listen to us and she especially obeys daddy. His word is gold to her.
So, now we leave for Delhi on Sunday evening. I really hope I have all the forms and paperwork needed for the Embassy. I have a huge stack so hopefully I do. I'm nervous about it but I think we'll be okay....More later....

Future Bulldog!!!

Some photos from SMSS

Day 3

Usha continues to do so well with us. We are very pleasantly surprised at how easily she is adjusting. We went back to the orphanage today for her farewell lunch. She was excited to see her friends and had a good time but once again she left very easily with no tears. We go back for the last time tomorrow. Today would have been the last day but we realized that we don't have her vaccination form translated into English. So, tomorrow we will take the form back and have it translated.
Usha LOVES the pool. She swam this morning and when we got back she wanted to swim again! She is very daring and puts her face under water and splashes around. There were some other children swimming today and she studied them carefully and tried to copy them. I think she will pick it up quickly. She is also picking up english quickly. She mimics us when we talk to her. I've picked up a few words in Oriya too.
We head to Delhi on Sunday evening. More then....

Day 2

Day 2 with Usha has gone well. She is really doing great. She slept very well last night. At bedtime she said, "goodnight mommy" and slept til morning. We had breakfast here at the hotel and then went to the orphanage to take the gifts that had finally arrived with our luggage. I wondered how she would handle this but there was no need to worry. At first, she was excited to see everyone. She had taken her backpack that we gave her and the kids wanted to see it. She had packed the hard candy that we brought and we went into the office and she told the girls to get in line. She then passed out 2 pieces to each one of them. Her sharing was very sweet.
We had to wait in the office for several hours for the person we were to meet and although Usha went off to play a little she mostly stayed with us. They asked her if she wanted to eat lunch there with the others and she said no, she would eat with mommy and daddy!
When it was time to leave there was no sadness. She said goodbye to everyone and then got in the car to head back to the hotel. We were pleasantly surprised that she didn't struggle with saying goodbye again.
We will go back tomorrow for her farewell lunch. This will probably be our last day at the orphanage. I hope she handles it this well again. She told all the caretakers that she was very happy. Again, I say...so far, so good!

Usha is with us!

Today has been a long but good day. We woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. We then went on Skype and talked to our boys and Mam and Pap back at home...that was such a needed call for us. Our luggage had still not arrived so we dressed as nicely as we could and headed to the orphanage. As soon as we entered the gates, Usha was standing there waving to us. She ran up and gave daddy a big hug then gave mommy one too. She was obviously very excited and took us by the hands and led us around. We spent the next few hours visiting with the kids (they are so beautiful) and talking with the caregivers. At first Usha said she would wait to go back with us. We were fine with that and proceeded to go through paperwork. Then one of the caretakers said she would go with us today. They took her and dressed her in a special dress and she was very excited to show it to us. Suddenly, it dawned on her exactly what was about to happen and she broke down in tears. I just knelt down and hugged her tightly and let her process it in whatever way she needed to. But, then just as quickly as they started, the tears stopped and the smile was back. She was ready to go. We headed to the car with all the children telling her goodbye. She was telling them goodbye and I'm not sure if she understands that we will go back tomorrow for another visit. I hope this will not confuse her or set her back but they are expecting us so of course, we will go.
Back at the hotel we hung out in the room for awhile. All of the things we brought to entertain her with were in the luggage that still had not appeared! We put some PBSkids on the computer and she laid down to watch it and fell asleep. We were so tired too but decided we needed to work on our luggage. After several unsuccessful calls we knew what we had to do. We called our driver, woke up Usha and headed for the airport. SCORE! The luggage was there! It was so wonderful to get everything we needed. We headed back to the hotel happy campers. Usha seemed to enjoy the adventure and took it all in. We even got to teach her how to use a seatbelt!
Back at the hotel we did some washing up with lice shampoo and she put on her new pjs. She enjoyed the toys we found in the luggage too and even as I write this she is sitting in her jammies, looking fresh and clean after a hot bath, playing with her Polly Pockets. All in all, I would say, so far so good!

Arrived!

We have arrived in India! We flew into Bombay, spent a quick night there and then flew to Bhuba. and are now at the Trident Hotel. The process was pretty confusing but somehow we made it through. However, 3 of our 4 bags have not made it!! Bill's clothes are here but mine are not. So, I have no extra clothes, no makeup (the horror!) and most of our orphanage donations are not here. We are hoping Delta will deliver the bags tomorrow but I really don't know if that will happen. We have the important documents that we need with us so at least, there is no problem there. The driving is as crazy as everyone warned us and there is really no way to describe it. We have contacted SMSS and they are expecting us tomorrow to meet Usha! More later...

Almost ready to travel!!

Well, we are frantically getting everything ready as we will leave this sunday March 7, 2010!!!! It's finally here!
We are nervous about the travel part and excited about meeting Usha!! We have seen many pictures of her and think that she seems to be quite a character. We look forward to giving her the first of many hugs and kisses!