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!

court order

We have now received the written court order and the children's home has applied for Usha's passport. This now means we can set tentative travel dates!!! We sent our dates to the agency who is making sure they will work for everyone in India. If everything is okayed it will be a "go" and we can book our trip!!!