getting ready for a trip

As most of you know I recently went to Spain for a wedding. It was the most incredible trip and we made so many life long memories. For donkeys years I was the spouse of an airline employee and I flew all the time and never had to worry about baggage restrictions and weight requirements or having to squeeze into an uncomfortable Economy seat for a transatlantic flight but those days are gone now and its a fair price to pay for peace and harmony. 

It was a big trip, the wedding was formal and the resort had a dress code, so there was NO skimping on the clothes, nor the shoes. Shoes are my one true love, well them and diamonds but I digress. With both Rose and I going and her not arriving until the day before the wedding I knew I had to take her wedding outfit and shoes with me as there would be no time for lost luggage to arrive. None of this was an issue, I packed 2 outifits a day for me plus a couple of extras, workout clothes, enough shoes to start a shop, my formal dress, so many hair products and on and on and then an ugly little voice in my head said, check if Iberia has a luggage allowance, and guess what, the bastards do! I could only take 60lbs but I was pretty sure I was ok and pulled out the trusty luggage scale......and broke it. My case was so heavy it broke the scale.I tried to convince myself it was an accident, or coincidence so we used our scales and lets just say that one groaned at the weight of the luggage. Urghh, what's a woman to do?

I had no choice but to downsize, dramatically. The hotel offered laundry service and I didn't have to exercise, even though I wanted to, sneakers are bulky. Once everything was perfectly pared down I felt as if I had nothing left  I was fine. Now it was time to start on the hand luggage. I don't travel with jewelry anymore, I just stick to one necklace and one pair of earrings and thats that but this was a different trip and I needed it. I had purchased for Lily last year a lot of travel based products for her travelling gap year and one of those things was a tiny travel jewellry box in green, her favourite colour I loved it and it was great quality but more importantly she loved it and says she uses it all the time and can't imagine not having it. So I ordered one for me, but in blue and immediately wondered where it had been my whole life. No tangled necklaces a place for earrings and rings, a tiny mirror and it zips firmly closed so unlike a wrap necklaces don’t slide and the edges and now I knew things were safe . It’s now a favourite gift to give. Hand luggage was packed and I even took a book. Lords knows the last time I kicked back on a flight and read. 

One day I might try to pack light….. oh never mind hell can freeze over before I try that. And coming back was tricky because we shopped, I mean we REALLY shopped, Roses's favourite English foods are widely available in Marbella which is just an extension of England now, there is even M&S.  

More coming soon on the trip and my dress.

Dawn ❤

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closed, for good

The journey to your adopted child is one filled with peaks and valleys, none as pronounced as when the adopton is a foreign adoption. We entered into the process of adopting from China knowing anything could happen but most likely it would be a smooth sail as their program was one of the highest regarded in the international adoption community and one of the longest standing. Their rules and regulations were set and the process was not marred by controversy.

Adoption number one was a long wait but it wasn't complicated and nothing out of the ordinary happened until the SARS outbreak, at that time everything came to a grinding halt and the uncertainity loomed like an extremely black cloud. We were in touch with other families from our agency during the travel ban inforced by the World Health Organization and that bought some relief. Things started to move again and quite quickly.  

With adoption number 2 we held off filing the papers as things were moving so quickly that from filing to travel was less than 3 months and we wanted more time to bond with child number 1. Once we filed things started slowing down. At the time we were LID the wait was 3 months and overnight it switched to 9 months and then it grew exponentially. By the time we were at the 2 year mark we switched to the waiting child/special needs list. Had we stayed on the original path we would have waited exactly 3 years. From that time onwards the matching became less and less and the time grew longer and longer. A few years ago I heard the wait was 9 years. 9 long years.

On August the 28th of this year the Chinese Government halted ALL adoptions effective immediately. No explanations beforehand, no warnings, they were done. We all knew this day would come, but not like this. Thirty families we already matched with their babies and waiting to travel but on that day it was over. A late stage miscarriage of justice. The powers that be are still fighting for them, I called my senators and begged them to get involved. Hoping that the children left behind find the love of parents, somehow. No child deserves to be an orphan.

Dawn ❤