So Much To Tell

OK.  We haven't posted since last week and so much has happened.  This will be a brief outline of events so you get an idea.

Friday, May 7th
We went back to the TRC and played with the boys until about 11am.  At that point, we said good-bye to the TRC staff and other children and went for lunch.  Our Visa medical appointment was at 1pm and pre-scheduled for us by the TRC staff.  We did have to wait an hour or two for document processing even though the check-ups themselves were very short.  Ray passed his eye exams very well.  They mentioned he is under-weight but we already knew that.  Back at the hotel via Sky Train we all crashed at 6pm and didn't wake up until the next morning.

Saturday, May 8th
We went shopping this morning at Tesco-Lotus and Carrfour.  We bought some basic groceries and tons of bottled water.  Also, we got Ray a small Spider Man remote control car to play with in the hotel room...he loves it!  Ray picked out a watch for Daddy that flashes in different colors.  Daddy needed it since his watch stopped working the day before we got on the plane.  At noon, the Lutheran pastor who is a missionary here in Chiang Mai came to visit us in the hotel.  He wanted to meet Ray and explain to him in Thai who God is and what it means to be a Christian.  Pastor Rob and his wife Nora were very good with him and we enjoyed their company throughout the afternoon.

Sunday, May 9th
No words can describe how wonderful my Mother's Day was!  Ray (and Bryan) gave me a Mom necklace this morning and it brought tears to my eyes.  Ray is now a Child of God, having been baptized in our room and then introduced to church.  He sat pretty well for his first church service and I had tears in me when he and Bryan sat in the front for the children's moment.  We then had lunch with pastor and his wife and said our good-byes.  Back at the hotel, Ray and I were in the pool for 4 hours.  He is such a fish...maybe the next Michael Phelps!

Monday, May 10th
I checked an item off my bucket list today by visiting the Grand Palace in Bangkok.  Ever since I portrayed Anna in "The King & I" it only seemed natural to want to visit but it was so much more exciting to be there with my little Thai prince and fabulous hubby!  Although, I have to say it was the hottest I have ever been...perhaps 2-3pm in the afternoon on a clear day in the hot season of Thailand is not the greatest day to be touring.  But, we did have the advantage of very small crowds so we could take great photos without others in them.  The rest of the day we lounged and swam some more.  Heat exhaustion is really wiping us out!

Tuesday, May 11th
We took a trip outside of the city to visit an Elephant Village and Crocodile Farm.  We went with the other family so the boys could enjoy it together (and so Bryan could get his group discount).  Ray and I got to ride on one of the elephants and then we had a family photo standing by a smaller one.  The elephant even gave me a hug!  In the evening we went with the pastor's former exchange student to eat some traditional Thai food.  What he thought was mild was very spicy to us but it was very good!

Wednesday, May 12th
We went for the Child Adoption Board meeting at the Thai Government building.  We were #4 in line and the Sutton's were #6 so we didn't have to wait too long for the interview.  We had to get to the TRC by 9am and they took us to the CAB meeting in their van.  We sat in front of "the board" which consisted of three ladies.  They asked questions such as why we chose Thailand, and why we chose an older child, what our jobs were, our plan for his education, etc.  Ray was in the meeting as well and the TRC has certainly done an outstanding job of explaining to him what is happening because he had huge smiles when they asked if he was happy with his family and if he wanted to go to the U.S. The meeting ended with their words, "He is yours!"  Afterwords we stopped at the BMK Mall to eat lunch and find Ray this Ben 10 watch that he wanted.  Once back at the hotel his first words were "Daddy Swim, Mommy Swim!" over and over again.  I think he's growing gills!  Just like Mommy was at his age.

Thursday, May 13th
We were at the US Embassy at 7:30am with a room full of mostly Thai people.  Besides the Sutton family that has been staying with us, we met two other American couples, one from Tennessee who was also adopting an 8 year old boy and another couple from Michigan adopting an 18 month old girl.  They had only email contact with us before we traveled here.  The interview questions were much more thorough than the CAB meeting, probably just to verify that we knew everything about Ray's history and that we are financially stable and prepared for a child.  We had Ray's Visa approved after about 2.5 hours of waiting and we we were told to return at 3pm to pick it up.

Between appointments, we went to celebrate with the Sutton family at The Dubliner Irish Pub near our hotel and I was in my glory because I had Shepherd's Pie!  And, of course, Ray wanted to swim a little while before heading back to the Embassy.

Now for the "interesting" part of our day.  When we took a cab the second time to pick up the Visas and we couldn't believe that the cab driver was playing Christian music and when we asked if he was a believer he said "Alleluia!"  When we got to the Embassy at 3pm they had closed early due to the protests and we were not allowed in.  He also mentioned that the Embassy would be closed on Friday due to the police forcing the protesters out of the area...it may get violent.  At this time we were a little disappointed and maybe a bit nervous but we knew we're not scheduled to leave until Tuesday so we could have possibly gone back Monday.  We continued to push to be let in and the Thai guard would not budge and kept saying there was an emergency closing of the Embassy.  About a minute later an American Embassy worker was walking back into the building and he stepped in to our argument and told us he would take care of it and get us our children's Visas.  Two minutes later we were in the building and in 15 minutes we had our paperwork. It truly was a miracle that God sent us this gentleman at the exact moment to let us all in.  When we got Ray's Visa, you could tell the ink was still wet, hot off the printing press!  Even the worker that handed us the Visas looked nervous as he was very anxious to get the heck out of there!  Well, as Paul Harvey would say, now you know "the rest of the story."  We eventually caught a cab in a traffic jam and went back to our hotel and breathed a sigh of relief.

We went swimming, ordered pizza in and enjoyed a nice meal with the Sutton's before hitting the hay for the night.

TODAY - Friday, May 14th
We're just laying low today and staying in the area of our hotel where it's safe from protesters and gun fire.  We were supposed to go to the TRC this afternoon for a farewell party for the Ray, Aaron, and the children BUT because of the military blockade being right in front of the orphanage, we decided not to go.  It's too bad for the children but we want to be safe.  Khun Vo called to tell us that even she did not go into work today.  She'll be stopping by our hotel this afternoon to say her own farewells to the boys.  We have not yet changed our plane tickets but we might look into it if the cost is not too much and we can get seating together.  Either way, we know God is watching over us and we'll soon be home.

- Ann