Our Bags Are Packed, We're Ready to Go

We've almost finished packing.


Lana is excited about sharing her room with her new sister. We added an extra bed about a year ago (thanks Aunt Carol.) After a closet clean out last weekend and some embroidered pillow shams, the room is ready for two girls.

I made a book for Lana about her new sister. It explains the adoption process from Lana's perspective. Quint had a low tech version to help him get ready for Luba. Thanks to digital photography and Shutterfly, Lana's book looks better and was a lot easier to produce. She's been spending a lot of time reading it lately and chosing other adoption books for bedtime reading, I think the books are helping her internalize what's happening.

I picked Lana up from a play date on Friday and her friend's mom told me that Lana had been telling them all about her new sister. I was impressed at the accuracy of her information. She said her sister is in India and her dad and I will go there to bring her home soon. She explained that she was blind and told how she will hold her hand and show her around when she gets here. Then on Saturday I found out that Lana told another friend we were going to be in India for 360 days. We plan to be gone about 10 days, I hope she doesn't know something that I don't. I guess I should have been more specific about the timeline in her book.

Chris and I are planning to travel over to India together but Chris will probably come home early to be with Quint and Lana. I've been trying to anticipate how I will be able to manage Laxmi Priya and our luggage on the way home. Luggage has been a real challenge on my last two adoption trips and I want to learn from my mistakes. We're packing light and Chris is going to bring most of the luggage home with him.

With Laxmi Priya's vision challenge and the crowded conditions in India, I decided to buy some type of child wearing apparatus to help me carry her. After obsessive research (I wonder if that's a clinical disorder?) I decided on an Ergo carrier because it's supposed to work for a child up to 45 pounds. Fortunately, Lana agreed to help me do a test run. Since she weighs in at 42 pounds, it was a true test of the maximum load capacity of the Ergo and my fitness level (or lack thereof, as I found out.) It worked great, but I've decided I need to begin a daily training regimen to get me ready. Lana and I will now be seen together walking the streets of Norfolk. She was a bit concerned about her friends seeing her in a "baby carrier" but once she tried it, she thought it was fun.

I've always thought that running Cross Country in high school was my best preparation for life. Training for adoption travel is a perfect example. I need to prepare my body for the physical challenge of toting around a three and a half year old, but I can't anticipate what other obstacles with pop up on my path.


Chris has his own way of getting ready. He builds things. Right now he's working on a sign to announce Laxmi Priya's arrival. He's also been working on repairing the window sills in our dining room. Before Luba's arrival, he accidentally cut off three of his fingers (most got sewn back on). Although I appreciated his industrious nature he makes me nervous when he uses a power saw so close to travel time. This time, he did make a deadline for himself. I'm happy to say that today is the official last day of building for Chris until after the adoption travel is complete.

As I'm typing this, I just remembered that when I was in Kyrgyzstan with Lana finishing up our paperwork, he was at home with Luba and Quint building a porch for our shed. I better make sure he doesn't have any big plans for the backyard when he gets home.


And this is how Quint is preparing for the arrival of his new little sister, he's sleeping in. He's sure with two little girls at home he will never get a good nights rest again. He's probably got it right.