Day 46: Tuesday, 7/5

Ah, Tuesday. The day I've been waiting for. I figured that after the holidays we'd finally receive some information and, honestly, was holding out hope that the package would be sitting at the Embassy waiting for their rubber stamp and for us to come pick it up. Well, I'll tell you right now, that didn't happen. But all is not lost... you just have to wait until a little later in the post.

We both woke up really late after the big party outside last night. Emi was coming over at 10:00 with Destiny and Bertha and we were all going to go down to Andrew's birthday party being held at the picnic area by the pool – the festivities were supposed to start about noon. Melodie (sorry, it's an “ie” not a “y”) and John had invited us late last week and we were really looking forward to seeing how the Marshallese celebrate birthdays... we weren't disappointed!

We had some coffee in the room and Jeff ran down to get some Marshallese donuts from the Enra. They're more like donut holes and they were pretty good. I could only eat two of them as they were a little heavy. I received a call from Melodie to let us know that she and Andrew were both feeling awful... they were taking Andrew to see Dr. Pinano for some kid-appropriate antibiotics and Melodie asked if she could tap into our Azithromycin we'd brought along. They'd be by after visiting the clinic. Finally around 11:30 we received a call saying they were done – Andrew has a double ear infection... yay... and they're flying out tomorrow night!

We were still waiting for Emi to arrive when Melodie came to the room to drop off some of their things. She grabbed some drugs and headed down to the beach to help with whatever they needed her help with. Meanwhile Emi arrived with Destiny, Bertha, Steve, Esther and Esther's friend in tow. I guess it's just not a big deal here to bring a handful more than those who were actually invited. Can you imagine how that would be handled back in the Midwest! No one bats an eye here so we just roll with it.

We received a call from Melodie around 12:30 saying food was going to be ready around 5 or 6... so we went down to the Enra and treated the gang to lunch instead. When we were finished, it was around 3:00 and seeing no reason for everyone to scatter and then regroup for the party, we told them it was okay if they wanted to come hang out in our room. Oh, Stacy, you'll appreciate this... the movie channel just came back! Maybe this means we'll actually get out of here sooner rather than later :)

We told Steven that we would need to make some phone calls and possibly jump in the car to run a couple errands. They seemed fine with just chillin' (literally – they like the A/C cold) and watching a movie... even napping... while Jeff and I moved into the bedroom area to Skype the Embassy in Manila. It was about 4:15 when we first called and they told us if no one answers the phone in that department that we should try back after 1:00... Manila is 4 hours earlier than the RMI. Dang-it.

At that point we tried to call the Embassy here. It was about 4:20 and we did reach a receptionist. I asked Jeff to call as I didn't trust myself not to break into tears or become verbally abusive... I know my weaknesses. He asked to speak to Daisy (our designated contact who is very helpful or not at all helpful depending on who you ask – we've never spoken to her before) and was told that Daisy was not in to work yet today. Being almost 4:30 that seemed weird but maybe she meant she wasn't in at all today. Jeff then asked to speak to someone who would know the status of our visa and was told that Andrew had left for the day. She then transferred him to someone else who was supposed to know the information. A man picked up the line and explained that Andrew had already left so he could attend the 4^th of July celebration for Embassy folks being held at the MIR. Now I understand how they were free to attend the RRE party yesterday. Jeff, being a little snarky, made sure to mention that he thought the Embassy was open until 4:30... hey, it's a lot nicer than I would have been which is why I asked him to call instead of me.

So, with our local Embassy no longer an option, we waited until about 5:20 (1:20 Manila time) and called the Embassy there. After multiple disconnections and ringing for minutes at a time, Jeff did a great job of getting through to the right area and then talking the woman into looking up our information despite our not having a case number. If we had one, no one shared it with us. I think we're assigned a case number when the Embassy in Manila receives our petition or when the case is adjudicated. How then would we get one, you ask? Yeah, so did we. Apparently this tiny logistical problem hasn't occurred to anyone else.

We finally found out that the packet was indeed sent on Friday, July 1 and she gave us the tracking number. She also informed us that she sent the tracking number to Daisy at the Embassy here. Since it was on Friday and the Embassy was closed Friday through Monday, we haven't received the information yet. Turns out that one of the new rules put in place is that the Embassy here will no longer share the tracking number with the adopting families. Not sure that's any big loss as every family I know of has gotten the number from Manila anyway.

We thanked the woman profusely – the first Embassy person to actually go out of her way to help us – and ended the call. We immediately jumped to the DHL page to track our package. As of this morning (Tuesday, July 5) it was in Guam. Now this is where it's impossible to predict as packages have been known to sit there anywhere from hours to a couple weeks before being sent to Majuro. The Simmons' package was in Guam on a Friday, nothing happened on that Saturday, then it was received in Majuro sorting on Sunday and delivered to the Embassy on Monday. Since we are off by a couple days, we have no way to predict how ours will move. It'll depend on the flights coming and going and, of course, how helpful the Embassy here wants to be. I don't have high hopes for getting out of here tomorrow on our originally scheduled flight... better hopes for Friday but still far from a sure thing.

When we know more, we'll let you know. Keep the fingers crossed... seriously, I know it's hard to perform your everyday tasks but if you uncross them, any delay will be your fault :)

So, finally having even a little information feels pretty good. It's not ideal but is better than not knowing. Off to the party we went. And what a party! They'd planned for about 100 people to attend – I was skeptical and don't know really how many people were there but it was a lot! Andrew and another girl were the guests of honor and once things got going, it was action packed. A man stood up to say a few words and then said he was going to sing a few songs in honor of the birthday families. They pulled out this electronic keyboard and the man plus about 10 others went up front to sing. It got a little rowdy by the third song when some very energetic women decided it would be fun to whip bags of potato chips and candies at each other and others in the singing group. Since everyone watching was laughing like crazy, I assume this is a regular thing done... just seemed a bit, uh, aggressive to me. I was sitting near the front trying to get Grace to sleep so I kept my eyes open for flying items and ended up making it through the assault. It really was all in good fun and settled down as quickly as it ramped up. We have some of the program on video but since Jeff was running the camera, I'm not sure what was captured and what wasn't. I'll post after I've taken a look at it tomorrow.

Food was ready and instead of having people go through buffet style, the woman (who'd been cooking since about 11 am) served everyone in those flip-top, to-go containers you get at restaurants. Genius! We each received 2 full containers because they couldn't fit all the offerings into one. Again, I was holding Grace and didn't get to eat much but that's okay as I gave my containers to Emi to take home with her. She left with a half dozen to-go boxes so everyone will eat well tonight.

Then it was on to the gift giving portion. The same group of people singing started forming a line to pass by the birthday kids and more joined in as the line progressed... Andrew sat on his dad's lap while the little girl just sat by herself accepting gifts. For Andrew, they mostly gave handicrafts – everything from necklaces and baskets to a huge mat that had “Happy Birthday Andrew” woven into it. Mom and dad also received multiple gifts... neck ties, head dresses, earrings... on and on. Even Jeff and I were honored with gifts – I received a pair of earrings and a necklace while Jeff received a neck tie. The birthday girl almost exclusively received dollars. She's only 3 years old but seemed completely comfortable with all of the hoopla sitting there patiently receiving dollars, squeezes and kissed.

At every turn we were welcomed and treated like honored guests and I imagine most there had no idea who we were. Maybe Emi had spread the word or maybe they simply assumed what we were doing there... either way, every single person from old to young, men to women would wave, nod or smile at us... and especially at Grace.