Days 43, 44 & 45: Saturday, Sunday & Monday, 7/2-4

Another 3-day post... sorry about that! I'm sure everyone reading is, like us, only waiting for one thing so I'll get that out of the way first. As we expected, we don't know anything more about our visa or when we're returning home. The Embassy here was closed from Friday through Monday so even if something was delivered last week or during the weekend, there would have been no information shared and certainly no paperwork signed and given to us so we busied ourselves with other things to pass the time. Everything considered, it was a nice weekend... here's the short story (and I mean short for a 3-day post):

On Saturday we tried the Flame Tree for breakfast. Fairly clean and okay food. Pancakes are better at the Enra and the eggs could have been more cooked (the Marshallese must like them very, very soft) but the bacon was good. It's nice and breezy up on the deck outside but Grace didn't care for it so she crabbed out and I ended up walking her around inside for a bit. We were cautioned to not go there at night when it transitions into a full-on bar as there will be a lot of guys asking for money or for you to buy them a beer (just an FYI).

We ran a few errands – NTA for internet cards (even they only had $5 cards left), EZ Price Mart for more diapers (yup, out again but the Huggies size 1-2 were in stock) and Payless (yup, out of bottle liners also... another box of 50 please). I'm a little afraid to count how many diapers and bottles we've gone through while here but plan to summarize it after we get home for the future families just to give you an idea.

The afternoon was another round of laundry. One of the housekeeping guys was doing towels in the laundry room I use – it's the only one with a working dryer that dries clothes in one cycle. He let me jump in which was very nice of him and I got our two loads done pretty quickly. The dryer didn't even cost me anything as it sometimes gets stuck in the “on” mode... Woopie! It's the little things that make me happy these days :)

We went down for an early dinner at the Enra and had a nice visit with bubu. Went up to the room and watched another  disk of the Big Bang Theory and Jeff made and ice cream run about half way through. The ice cream at the Enra is pretty good - give it a try!

Sunday... we decided to join the Kramers again on their boat out to Enemanot on Sunday and Melody, John and Andrew were also planning to come. Sunday morning we received a call from Melody saying that their birth family wanted to them to all go to Laura beach instead. We still went to meet them for breakfast at the Tide Table and by the end, we were all going out to Enemanot together. Easier said that done! Our car couldn't fit everyone so some piled in and then John and the birth dad were following us in a cab. They ended up many minutes behind us with all the taxi stops but finally made it before the boat left.

There were so many people on the island that it was a little crowded... and loud... did I mention how loud it is here? It's not like the mechanical, machinery loud of living in the city at home... it's people loud. Talking, yelling, moving about, stomping, and the incessant flip-flop of the aptly named flip-flops. I'll never hear flip-flops again and not think of the RMI!

They were having a celebration to finish off Fisherman's Day (which turned into a 4 day weekend all on its own) and there was tons of food (curiously, not much fish) and games of tug-o-war. Jeff was recruited for one of the matches and even though he was almost waste deep in sand, his side one. To add a twist to your next tug-o-war game, try holding it right at the shoreline where the surf will wash over you and mire you in the wet sand... it's pretty funny for those watching but harder than hell if you're one playing!

I was definitely ready to head home after our day on the island. Since Jeff was hanging with the boys all day and the boys tend to hang out in the water where 3-month olds probably shouldn't be, Grace and I stayed on shore and switched between the standard taking-care-of-baby things... feed, nap, change, feed, nap change... An early bedtime was in order for the both of us after a very busy day.

Monday rolls around and, happy early 4^th of July. Never did I expect to be here on the 4^th and while we did have a day full of plans, I was a little sad not to be spending one of my favorite holidays in the good ol' U.S. of A.

We headed down to breakfast and ran into Uncle Sam... haha! Not sure where he got the nickname but he does go by it. I rarely use it but chose to on this day because it's the 4^th. We chatted a bit and he was talking about renting a car so he could get out of the hotel for a while. We invited him to come with us to the 4^th of July BBQ down at the Tide Table later that day and he thought that would be a great idea.

We had a visit with Emi and the boys from 11 am to 3 pm... we'd asked bubu the night before to make sure that they knew we had to leave at 3:00 today. We didn't want to chance it that they would understand that just Jeff, Grace and I were going to the BBQ and not the whole group. We would have brought Emi and the girls but the girls were staying home anyway. We planned to order some pizza and do some handicrafts... there was a lot of trouble getting the pizzas though. Jeff had to keep going down to the restaurant to check on the progress and I think they ended up remaking one or both pizzas at least once, maybe twice. Emi and I worked on some bracelets – she finished one in the same time it took me to get about ¼ of the way around mine. They turned out about the same – it's an easy wrap so I got it down pretty fast. I ended up with both of them around my arm and then Charlie asked if I like his – I said yes, and it also ended up a gift to me. It matches perfectly with the two Emi and I made and I've been wearing them proudly ever since. At 3:00 I had to put an end to our party and usher them out. We got on our way about 3:20. Pretty good for island time.

We went down to meet Uncle Sam and found him waiting for us on the other side of the lobby. He'd gone downstairs to get a hair cut and a mustache trim... unfortunately, the guy didn't do the mustache right so he just shaved it off. I thought he looked pretty good without it! The whole ordeal took 3 hours or so and I think there was a manicure in there too. Funny for a retired Marine :)

There weren't many people there at first but it filled up over time. We'd been told that there's also a party at the Embassy but you have to “be somebody” to get an invite. And no mistaking that, you DO need an invite to attend. So, they organized a BBQ at the RRE for all the non-somebody Americans on the island. You can imagine my surprise when some of the Embassy folks showed up to our BBQ. Andrew and his family arrived and a little later, I realized that the Ambassador was also there. After everyone had eaten, she stood up and made some remarks and then the Embassy folks started peeling off, I imagine, to attend the party at the Embassy.

So the last information I'd heard from our agency was that all Embassy personnel were prohibited from having contact with the adopting families outside of business hours. I, taking this very literally, informed Andrew of that when he stopped over to our table to say hello. I really wouldn't have said anything had he not specifically brought up our visa... HE did it, NOT ME... After asking how I was “holding up” he then, seriously, had the nerve to ask if I'd heard anything yet... a tracking number or anything? I almost wanted to slap him but instead told him I'd been told we aren't supposed to be speaking outside of business hours. He shook his head and said “Well, we're just trying to find a balance. I wish you all the best and hope you get home soon.” He's lucky I was holding a sleeping Grace at the time or I might have jumped over the table and gone for his throat. Who does he think we're waiting for the information from? My hands have been tied by our agency, the Embassies and our lawyer under threat of ruining the adoption process for all the families who will come after us... who would I ask?

You can believe that we'll be taking this up with whoever will listen when we return to the states but for now, we would just like some information on our status and to be allowed to go home.

Anyway, we returned to the MIR and Uncle Sam went up to his room. The other family had decided to come with us to the Marshalls Billfish Club's celebration and awards dinner. It was happening right outside of our hotel room by the pool and we figured free food, good company, some entertainment and the fact that there was no way to have a quiet evening with all the racket. Join the party or be kept up by it :)

Our friend Larry (from Do It Best) was the MC and handled the program well. After some initial remarks he invited all the women and children to visit the buffet for some food. I'd actually expected a lot of fish but there was very little in the buffet. Regardless, it was good food. After we ate, Miss Billfish and Miss Urok were introduced and then all the boats in the tournament were acknowledged. Then the teams that placed were asked to come up and collect their trophies. One of the big (traveling) trophies had been misplaced prior to the competition so they had someone carve another to replace it. To give you a taste of the Marshallese sense of humor, the gave the artist a photo of Bill (the GM of the MIR) and the resulting statue looked a little like a Buddha... I hope it was taken in the spirit it was meant!

Grace was starting to hit her wall and, frankly, so was I. I took her up to the room and didn't plan to return to the party. The other family was also contending with tired and crabby kids so the birth dad came to pick everyone up in their car. Jeff stayed a little bit and then joined us in the room. Of course, the party didn't stop – lots of music to be played yet. Not sure when they finally shut things down – a couple hours later at least – but even the hard downpour didn't dampen the fun.

We are really hoping for news tomorrow (our Tuesday) but it'll have to come from one of the Embassies as the US will still be on Monday/holiday time. My encounter with Andrew doesn't make me hopeful that the Embassy here knows anything. Maybe Maddy can call her buddy at the DHL for some information but what they can provide is severely limited without a tracking number. I do have contact information from one of the other families (thanks T!) and if we don't know anything by this afternoon, I'll be making use of it. For those of you who don't read the comments posted, my friend who was here over Christmas and New Years did confirm that they returned home in 4 ½ weeks... and they also mentioned that there was a Philippine holiday in there as well. If that doesn't prove there's something either really broken with the process or that someone is delaying things on purpose, I don't know what would.

An observation: You know how you can log into your Google accounts like gmail, calendar and blogger and stay logged in? And how it leaves you logged in for 2 full weeks? Well, I've had to re-log in 3 times now... depressing.