A Day of Frustration, Rest & Joy - September 24

Christi, Cathey, Girija and Rajeev went to take Girija to the doctor to get looked over. It's part of the adoption process. It's hard to tell how the locals feel about a white woman with an Indian child. They have been staring since we left the orphanage. While she was in the waiting room everyone in there was staring her down.

From there they went to the American Embassy to do paperwork. Turns out a form from the U.S. government wasn't sent over and Christi has been scrambling to see if she can get it faxed over. Unfortunately it's not an easy process to get someone on the phone. We are hoping it doesn't cause us to stay longer than planned. Christi's cousin & her husband works in Washington DC & they have been working like crazy to get the appropriate people involved to help us out. They have been a blessing. The orphanage also didn't sign a document. Their home office is in New Delhi and Rajeev was able to take care of that part.

I stayed in the hotel, updated the blog & rested. The spices have been hard on my stomach & it's catching up with me. We were suppose to head to Agra this afternoon but with the missing orphanage document Rajeev had to take care of we decided to drive there tomorrow morning.

We had a great afternoon with Girija. She is feeling more comfortable around us and her personality is starting to come out. She knows how to turn on the charm. When she smiles her entire face crinkles up. It makes you melt. We took her down to the lobby to walk around. She smiles and waves to everyone that walks by.

She made friends with the security guard at the hotel.



And played on the bed with her new toys.



She loves warm milk.



And always gives us a huge grin when she finishes drinking it.



Tomorrow morning we are driving to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and have dinner with Rajeev and his wife at their home. It's going to be a fun day.

Our Trip to Nagpur To Pick Up Girija - September 23

After a restless sleep we got up early to catch a flight to Nagpur which is in the center of India.

We dodged the usual cattle on the way to the airport.



This is a shot of our coordinator Rejeev. He is an amazing man. There is no way we could have done the trip without him. He told us he has handled close to 600 adoptions. He has a deep passion for what he does & it shows.



We landed in Nagpur around noon and our driver picked us up. We navigated through the streets of what was as close to a third world country as I have ever experienced. I thought the driving conditions in Italy were bad. This city made it look civilized. Rajeev compared the traffic to water. Each person finds their spot as they work their way down the street. Lanes do not exist & when they do have them they don't pay any attention to them. We weaved in and out of cars, trucks, motorcycles, cattle & thousands of pedestrians. It was a real eye opener for me. I was thinking that I would see poverty like I've never seen, but didn't realize I was going to be immersed in it.

We drove for about 30 minutes & rushed out of the car, down an alley that was surrounded by buildings that looked like they were in a war zone, up three flights of stairs that smelled of urine before reaching the steel gate at the front of the orphanage. It all felt like a secret government black ops mission.

This is a shot of the top view of the alley leading to the orphanage.



They put us in the director's office while they got all of the kids ready. Girija was getting upset from all of the focus on her. She was told we were coming & was getting nervous about it.



Then we were directed to the back of the orphanage where all of the kids were waiting for us. They put most of the kids on a rug so that Girija wouldn't feel so anxious.



This is the first shot I took of Girija. She maintained that stare for some time while she tried to figure out what's going on. The caregiver to the left is the one that from what I could tell had the closest connection with Girija & called her mom.



A shot of Girija trying to figure us out.



We played it cool and gave all of the kids equal attention so Girija would feel comfortable. We handed out suckers to break the ice. Then we would slowly give Girija some things to make her feel comfortable around us. She would take each item and stuff it under her legs to keep them protected from all of the other kids. One of the caregivers told us she was the boss of the orphanage & was almost always happy.



She finally warmed up to Christi and let her hold her.



She soon fell asleep from exhaustion. I can only imagine how stressful the entire event was for her.







The other kids in the orphanage were so cute. There were several that we wanted to take with us. This little girl is six and all of us connected with her. She has such a fun personality. Fortunately she is waiting for a family from Italy. Lucky girl!









They took us in the office to ask the caregivers any questions about Girija and to have lunch.



Girija woke back up and we got the pleasure of watching her interact with one of the caregivers. It has to be hard on the caregivers since they have raised Girija from an infant and have grown close to her.



I was able to get some fun shots through the side window of the caregiver giving Girija some affection.



Girija trying to figure Christi out.













She is absolutely beautiful.





We posed for a few pictures with Girija's favorite caregiver.



And they said their final goodbyes.





The view from the balcony of the orphanage. Our driver is waiting in the white car to the right.



We left as fast as we entered. Girija was screaming the entire way down to the car. Many of the caregivers came out to the balcony to wave goodbye.



Girija stopped crying and gave an angry wave back.



Then we hit the busy streets again for the airport.



At the airport we played patty cake and got her to laugh for the first time.



We boarded the plane back to New Delhi to start our new life together.



And flew off into the sunset.

New Delhi, India - September 22

On Wednesday we got up and met Rajeev for breakfast on the top floor of the hotel. I have been a little nervous about the food since I don't eat much Indian food. I had an Indian meal on the plane which made my stomach upset so I went with the American breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. Rajeev ordered us a side of what tasted similar to a casserole in the shape of a pancake. It turned out to be better than my eggs so I'll be sure to order that tomorrow.

We went back to our room to clean up and so we could drive to some of the shops in New Delhi. The view from our hotel is very entertaining. As the city was coming to life there were dozens of kids making their way to school along with cars and pedestrians making their way to work. Mixed in with that is your occasional ox or wild dog. To my surprise they were all over the city walking up and down the streets.

This is a shot I took from our hotel window. It was raining and under one of the buildings was a man walking his daughter to school along with a wild ox. Not something you see in Dallas every day.

Dallas to New Delhi - September 20-21

Christi has been working on adopting a child for over four years. Soon after we started dating she signed with a new agency and got matched with a little girl from India. Her name is Girija and she is two and a half years old. The adoption finally went through and we got the call to head to India. Over the next 10 days I will share our journey.

On Monday, September 20th we started our trip to New Delhi, India. We took off at 3:25 pm from DFW and landed in Amsterdam nine hours later.

After a three hour layover it was another nine hour plane ride to New Delhi. Our coordinator, Rajeev, & his driver, Papu, picked us up at the airport at 1:00 Wednesday morning. Rajeev will stay with us the entire trip and help us with the necessary paperwork. Rajeev set up our hotel reservations at the Hotel Saptagiri which is close to the airport and the American Embassy. This is a hotel that he typically uses for families since it is centrally located and kid friendly. We drove through pothole filled dirt roads into this area that was crammed full of shanty businesses and homes all piled on top of each other. Right in the middle of it was our hotel. Fortunately the inside looked much better than it's surroundings. We checked in, visited with Rajeev for a short period and then went to sleep.

A Day in the Life 365 - Day 71

A day in the Life 365 - Day 70

A day in the Life 365 - Day 68