City Wedding Indian Style

The Drake Hotel, Chicago.
Best friends. 
Culture.  Food.  Music. 
Stress relief.
Need I say more?

The happy couple -- Bipin and Parvathy. 

(I've known Parv for 29 years -- since I met her older sister, Archana, in 3rd grade.)

I was honored to be part of their wedding procession.

The ceremony.

Cocktail hour.

Archana & Suhas' restless Kiran.

 

Kiran's sleepy li'l sis', Kalyani.

The reception.

 

Four best friends. 

I met Andrea (black dress) when we were 3 or 4; Arch (black sari) in 3rd grade;

and Kara (green outfit)in 6th grade.

Nineteen years after our high school graduation we appreciate each other even more  .  .  .  and sure enjoyed watching "our" little sister celebrate her wedding day.   Stepping out of my middle class digs for an indulgent weekend was nice, relishing Indian culture was perfectly wonderful, and good ol' fashioned friend therapy -- marvelous.  

After returning my borrowed sari, Chad and I drove downstate to home  .  .  .  generic milk, dog-hair covered floors, lessons to plan  .  .  .  kids to get home  .  .  .

  

Done for the Season

The summer was full of jobs to complete (or at least nearly) the addition we put on the house over the past 2 years.  We're down to just a little trim, lots of woodfill on said trim, and a few spots of touch-up paint.  And some structural components for landscaping -- next summer. 

A serious need to scrap the old, nasty tub/shower in the upstairs bathroom, however, reared its head, and thankfully was satisfied by Chad's parents (thank you, again!).  But then, of course, we had to do a new floor because the old floor didn't match up with the new tub install, and you don't put new floor around an old beast of a sink/vanity, so you replace the sink and the mirror and the light, and then the cabinet above the toilet is fine, except it doesn't match and needs to be painted  .  .  .  (I need to stop watching HGTV)  .  .  .  and we nearly gutted the room and have a brand new one.  And right after we were already clearly burnt-out on home improvement for the season.  Thanks to my in-laws, some savvy shopping on my part, and our knack for repurposing, "creative" design, and do-it-yourself attitude (except the tub/shower install for which hubby assisted dad-in-law), we got 'er done and on a tiny, tiny budget. 

Calgon!

New School Clothes

Yoda-lovin' mellow man can't exactly say he likes the getting up at 6:30am bit or having to accomplish an evening checklist of homework, packing his lunch, and such, but he did luck out by ending up with the same beloved teacher he had in third grade.  Mrs. Upperman is da bomb!  And if ya get a new Star Wars t-shirt, back-to-school can't be all bad.  Monday and Thursday night soccer training is enjoyable for this fifth grader, as he's got great coaches with loads of expertise and plenty of healthy perspective on kids' sports.  Sleeping in on Saturdays is still the favorite activity, and night-time back rubs allow for this introvert to go into endless talking mode -- interesting thoughts go through the minds of these quiet ones.

Miss Bay was soooo way ready for school to get going, even if her hyper-alertness leaves her exhausted by the end of each day.  Another fabulous teacher, Ms. Stout, is at the helm of Bay's second grade class, and our little blondie is already enjoying her teacher's stories, in-depth art lessons, and ample dose of social studies.  Matching the components of her outfits has happened more frequently for Baylor this year already; in first grade she, shall we say, had strong opinions about what to wear which had nothing to do with coordinating colors, styles, prints, or seasons.  If it was clean and within dresscode, I learned simply to say, "Thanks for getting dressed."

Chad and my classes have all gotten off to great starts -- nice schedules and overall really fabulous students. 

Status

Most obviously, this entry is not legit, because -- no picture.  : )  Maybe you'll read it anyway.  I have reflected over these past few days while working on home improvement tasks, and it dawned on me that I could be a bit more clear and give at least a few specifics about the current status of the kids' cases. 

ORR (the Office of Refugee Resettlement) under the jurisdiction of HHS (Health and Human Services) has legal authority over the children and oversees (indirectly) their care.  ORR has in their possession the multitudes of documents about our family and they are the office/agency who is responsible for approving sponsors to care for children who enter the US unaccompanied by legal guardians.  If we are approved, we would be able to bring the children home and then go through the legal channels within our home state of Illinois to process an adoption, and then jump through some hula hoops (or was it over hurdles?) with the federal government to apply for citizenship for the kids (although brand new legislation should be a big help).  All of this takes more time, additional papers, fees, patience, prayers, and such.

Buuuuuuut, before any of that can even be considered possible, HHS/ORR must conclude their collaboration with DHS (Department of Homeland Security) -- specifically CIS (Citizenship & Immigration Services), and DOS (Department of State; aka State Department).

[And, have I mentioned the sick, sick humor employed by the language gods -- clearly at my expense?  I've tended, my whole grown-up life, toward great dislike for acronyms. ]


Presently, the State Department is consulting with the Haitian government and has also made mention of planning to verify that the birth parents understand fully and completely the long-term ramifications of relinquishing their parental rights and choosing for their children the route of international adoption.

We (Chad and I) couldn't agree more that these things should absolutely, positively be done.  It has always been a deeply held belief for us that birth families should be preserved whenever possible and adoption should be a route to a healthy future only for those kids who have no other option for family care. 

Our prayer -- the prayer we ask you to lift up alongside us -- is that all persons in positions of care and authority regarding these children shall act with a sense of urgency and with the well-being of the children as their singular focus. 

Time matters to the children.  Every day that passes is another spin of the globe for them without family.  They can not heal deeply and can not grow to potential while institutionalized  .  .  .  They are fast approaching the 7-month mark of re-institutionalization following evacuation after surviving the earthquake, and all of this after having already waited for parents from within BRESMA orphanage for three years.  They watched 42 of their orphanage friends go home to forever families from the hospital in Pittsburgh.

Second prayer request -- that the children may somehow know that a family still awaits them -- the Mama and Papa they met in Pittsburgh way back in January.  If they could know this in their hearts .   .  .  have hope, kiddos!


For your attention span, your love, your prayers -- Meci.

It's Daily

For those of you who check in here thinking, "I wonder how their adoption is going?" I have to apologize that I've not put most of the play-by-play on this site.  Rest assured we work daily to bring home those beautiful children; in fact, it's easily become my full-time unpaid job with a healthy offering of overtime.  It's just that when you accomplish making some connections and this particular fellow is willing to make phone calls on your behalf and that lady over yonder will meet with so-and-so for your cause, the fellows and ladies just sorta don't like it all being advertised.  I'm no poker player, but I think there's something about not showing your hand of cards 'round the room in the middle of the game.  Or somethin' like that.  Anyway, I will share with you, loving people who check in on us, here, that we have lobbied politicians and bureaucrats, networked with adoption professionals and adoptive parents, and Googled a bizarre array tidbits -- anything and everything that might remotely assist in a solution.   We have tacked to our wall the flow charts of government agencies and concept maps of strategic connections to anyone with influence.  We have the "Getting the Kids" (a.k.a. flying out the door things to do and calls to make from the mini-van) list.  We have "What needs taken care of in our classrooms" list.  The "After Kids are Home" list (legal items, health professional items, helping them get in contact with their best friends from BRESMA items...).  I don't have a list of the lists, although maybe this post qualifies?

And the longest list of all -- the "Thank You" list.  Anything that has created even a step of progress is due to the help, skills, connections and/or support of our families, friends, colleagues, neighbors, students, acquaintenances, my hairdresser, the copy guy at Staples  .  .  .  Incredible collective effort!      

And by the way, CHAD insisted on taking this picture.  He said "It's what you looked like this whole summer."  I include it here only because blog entries seem, well, more legit if there's a visual aid.  It's certainly not because I make t-shirts look good.  Hmm.  Surprise-surprise -- it's a Maroa-Forsyth basketball shirt.