Home Sweet Home

We are home and settled in.  Oh microwave, toaster, hot showers, clean water, how I missed you!  Our little peanut is settling in quite well.  She loves EVERYTHING.  Big smiles all day long.  She is sleeping 8 hours in a row at night in her crib and waking up so happy. 

I forgot to update that she was seen by the pediatric audiologist that flew in from Hawaii while we were in Majuro.  Bottomline, she most likely has reversible hearing loss.  Her nerves and brain work fine, but her middle ears don't contract to sound.  Most likely cause of this is fluid in the middle ear.  Apparently very common in Marshallese babies.  They reflux their liquid food (breast milk or formula) into their eustachian tubes because of their unique anatomy.  We were told to start feeding her at 45 degree angle or higher to help prevent this.  As she gets older, her tubes will get larger and longer and this fluid should drain on its own. 

We changed how we fed her and now we think she can hear sometimes.  Not soft sounds, but loud sounds seem to startle her.  Yeah!  We are having her rechecked here by specialists at home, but it looks like she will be just fine and will grow up with normal hearing afterall.  Phew!  We would have loved her regardless, but we are so happy for her.

That will be all from us.  We hope that you find our blog useful for your pathway towards an international Marshallese adoption.

Yokwe!

Hawaii

Our little baby girl is officially a U.S. citizen!  The flight from Majuro to Honolulu went smoothly.  She slept the entire time.  The immigration portion in Hawaii took a little while, which was frustrating at 3am!  My husband, mom, myself, and two other daughters all passed right through, of course.  We handed over our packet for our baby girl and they said to have a seat and that it would be "awhile".  They couldn't narrow down the timing any better for us.   Thankfully, not all of us had to stay so my mom and husband took our older two girls to the hotel while I waited.  There is NO bathroom in the wait area so I recommend you taking your time getting off the plane and use the one in the plane!

A little over 30 minutes later, the same immigration guy came over, picked up our packet.  Opened everything up.  Glanced at the paperwork for about 2 minutes then stamped her passport and said that we were free to go.  Really?  30 minutes of sitting for something that only took him 2 minutes.  Grrr!  But, we were officially on U.S. soil and she was officially a U.S. citizen!

Now hanging out in Hawaii enjoying the little things like hot showers, water you can drink right from the tap, good IPA beers, and a swimming pool!  We finish our final leg of the journey tomorrow.

Hard to believe that I started this blog over a year ago and now here we are, with our beautiful little girl.  So many ups and downs, plans and pathways derailed, but in the end, it all led us here.  Here is a photo of our little island baby:

Last Day in Majuro

We got our visa last week, but since our original flights home were in just a few days, financially it didn't make sense to pay the change ticket fee for everybody to fly out early.  My mom also flew in last week to help us out and travel home with us.  It has been fun showing her around Majuro and it's really lovely that she got to meet the birth family as well.

Three other families flew in last week as well, to adopt.  All of them also brought kids from home.  We have gotten together several times.  So much fun sharing this experience with others who are going through it too.

Last night we had a Yokwe Dinner.  Our Marshallese family sang songs and gave us little gifts.  There were a few tears shed, but mostly smiles and laughter.  It was a beautiful time.

Now time to pack!  Amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in such a short period of time!

Still in Majuro

Well, I wasn't going to post anymore, but given that our visa has been delayed again and again and again, it looks like we will not be leaving sooner than anybody else might be.  Nothing is really being expedited.  Apparently, Manila generally takes 5-7 days to process the visa paperwork.  Our paperwork was delivered to Manila on Wednesday.  Opened on Thursday and assigned to an agent which was then going to be process "in the order in which it was received."  As in, it is not being expedited, despite assurances from Manila that they would.  Now it is a holiday weekend.  Everybody had Friday off.  So, we are still waiting.

We are hoping to get our child seen by the hearing specialists from Hawaii when they come this week.  She has not been seen by a doctor since we discovered that she had hearing loss, as there is nobody here that can do that.  So sad for her, but also so very sad for all the other children here with inadequate medical care!  Just breaks my heart.

While we wait, we are trying to stay busy.  We now have a list of suggested activities for other families heading out here:

--day trip to Eneko Island (arranged through RRE.  They leave daily at 10am.  $30/adult; kids free)
--rent a car to visit Laura Beach ($70/day for the rental)
--walk through the ocean to neighboring islands on the atoll from Rita at low tide
--picnic and swim at Stone House beach (where the now closed Stone House Restaurant is)
--swimming at Long Island Hotel Beach (where the now closed Long Island Hotel and Restaurant is)
--swimming at Delap Beach Park
--Alele library (next to the courthouse.  Air-conditioned.  Children's reading room.)
--Alele museum (small but interesting.  Underneath the library)
--Canoe House (actually a skills program for youngsters that teaches wood working skills, including canoe making)
--Scuba diving (arranged through the dive shop at MIR.  $150/person for 1-2 people, $50 for each additional person.  Includes all equipment)
--Clam Farm
--Copra Factory
--Rubar Beach (BBQ and snack shack on site with covered picnic tables; good tidepools but not swimming)

As for restauarants, here is our recommendations:

Best Atmosphere: Chit Chat Room at the Marshall Islands Hotel
Best Pizza: Marshall Islands Resort.  Go during lunch.  Their lunch menu is way more extensive and reasonable compared to their dinner menu
Best Chinese: Enno's Restaurant (on right hand side, towards Rita from RRE)
Best American: Tide Table at RRE

The internet at the apartment works MUCH better now.  Somebody from NTA came out and did something.  Now we get a decent signal.  Set up your NTA wireless for $35/month.  Well worth the $5 charge to do so.  Unlimited wireless all over the island, and even covers Eneko Island!   To set it up, you need to bring your device, $40 cash, and a photo ID.  They set it up within one hour, Monday-Friday.