ADOPTION

As a kid growing up there was always one kid in the neighborhood who was adopted. He was "different" in some strange way that we didn't understand but we all wished we were him. It was so cool to think that his parents had "chosen" him. None of us really had a clue what adoption was all about but it just seemed like the greatest thing.
I have now come to realize that I still did not have a clue as to what adoption was all about. We have a beautiful niece and nephew back in New York who adopted 2 little boys from Korea, at two separate times! That is HUGE now that I am seeing just what the whole adoption process involves. To have gone through this once is one thing but twice is an act of sainthood. God bless you A&T, you are truly special people and I know your two boys are the luckiest little guys in the world.

Most of you know we are here in England to help Kyle, Bridget and Abby get to the final stage of adopting 10 year old Roman from an orphanage in the Ukraine. I looked at our 2 month journey to England as an adventure and a rare opportunity to spend some quality time with 5 year old Abby. Little did I think of the roller coaster of emotions that is involved. When we first got here things were going along as "normal", Abby in school, Kyle going to work, Bridget keeping us all under control and organized. Ger and I got to go on holiday to Stonehenge and do some touring of Windsor. THEN the envelope arrived and K&B were set to go to the Ukraine to get the adoption wagon rolling. The flights were set to fly to Kiev, a court date was set to see the judge in Kiev and the travel dates to Donets'ka were set.(This is the largest town near the orphanage that K&B could fly into. It was then a 2 hour drive from there to the orphanage.) There would be translator/facilitators waiting at each town to walk K&B through customs, into their "hotels" and to the courts. It sounded easy. IT WASN'T ! The trip to Kiev went smoothly and the city was a pleasant surprise. Modern and clean city and accommodations. Translator was right there to meet them and get them settled and tell them there was a problem with the court date. It had been postponed 2 days which would delay their arrival in Donet'sk which would delay the court dates in the town near the orphanage, etc. etc. etc. My son Kyle is truly a product of his dad and I. The anxiety that plagues us has been passed on to all our children and as soon as things start falling OUT of place that anxiety kicks in. Not only is Kyle now dealing with all sorts of complications with the adoption but the BIG JOB that brought him to England is now demanding attention that he can't give because he is being run around the Ukraine.
In the end there were delays and excuses and changes of venue. Roman wasn't at the orphanage when K&B got there but at a summer camp 2 hours drive into the country. Suffice to say K&B are NOT IMPRESSED with the Ukrainian government, towns, roads, food, people, weather (hot hot hot) or pretty much any other aspect of the country. Most of the country is third world Russian ruins. Cement block building mostly in disrepair and roads that are more pot holes than road.
K&B have spent a small fortune. Kyle has flown back and forth between London and Donet'sk to get some work done and to see Abby, all of which has set the stage for endless ulcers and emotional break downs on all our parts. Abby has been FANTASTIC! Even though she misses her mom and dad she tells us how dad has to leave again so she can have her big brother come and live with them. How any one would choose to do this is amazing to me. I am so proud of my son and his wonderful wife for seeing this through, for taking Roman into their hearts when they first met him back in December, for not forgetting that Roman deserved chance in life and for providing that opportunity at such a cost.
A year from now I'm sure we'll all be looking back on these months as a blur of emotions but I know I won't forget the respect, pride and admiration I have for this family and for every other family who has chosen to adopt. God Bless You All.

PICKLED WALNUTS ?

NO, this is not a reference to husband getting drunk, that would be "Pickled Numnuts". I have discovered another new, (to me), and odd food item here in Jolly Old England. Ger happened to be reading the food section of Sunday's paper, (he must have been desperate) and he came across a recipe that called for, yes, PICKLED WALNUTS! Never in all my life have I heard of this strange food and so naturally I had to find out first hand what this was all about. I did look it up on the Internet AFTER I went to the store and bought a jar of the mysterious things. To save you the time of an Internet search of your own I'll fill you in on what I found. It seems that these peculiar treats are well know to the English and are often part of the Christmas feast. Walnuts are taken from the tree before their hard shells form, (some time at the end of June), and are punctured and soaked in brine for several weeks. They are then drained, dried for a couple more weeks and then they are PICKLED ! Along the way of this process they turn black. This just intrigues me more and more. Since we just happened to be going to the grocery store YET AGAIN (remember it is one of the few places I can get to and back from without getting lost.), I added Pickled Walnuts to my shopping list. Not having a clue as to where to find them or what I will do with them if I do find them, the search was on. Low and behold there they sat in the Pickled food section. Now incidentally, on my list I also was searching for Sauerkraut to go with the fresh pork roast for dinner. Having not yet determined the rhyme or reason to the British grocery store I thought perhaps pickled cabbage,(as in sauerkraut) might be found in the same section as pickled walnuts. No chance! Silly me, the sauerkraut was in the "POLISH" section. That discovery was made by my assistant, Ger, and 6 employees of the grocery store. As we have often found in this country the first response is,"We don't have that." but if you persist they usually hit upon someone who can find what we are looking for. Along the way of our shopping adventure today we also picked up a very sad replica of a coconut. It is about a quarter of the size of the coconuts we have in Florida but I thought it would be fun for Abby to try.
Once home from our adventure to Tesco I had to check out the strange new walnuts. Sure enough they are soft, black, walnut sized things floating in a black malt vinegar. I tasted one and the texture is sort of like that of an olive The taste is fabulous! If you like pickles and walnuts. They are used to accent the taste of beef roasts and cheeses and I can see how they would make both taste wonderful. As with the clotted cream I think it is a good thing that these are not common in the USA because they are just more things my chubby body does not need to add to the menu. As for the walnuts I am now planning a beef stew with pickled walnuts for the end of the week.
OH, FYI . . . Abby had a great time smashing the coconut but does not like the taste or texture. I wonder if I could pickle coconut?

New Bunk Bed

Tonight Abby is sleeping in her new bunk bed. Daddy and grandpa spent the afternoon working on putting it together and getting it all set up for the girl. The bed had arrived LATE Thursday and sat in its packing boxes till Friday night when Kyle started putting it together. Kyle is a "Lawlor" which means that he does not read directions until all else fails and the project is an a thousand pieces all over the floor. At that point the Lawlor will call for their wives who step in, read the directions and get the project put together in no time. Staying true to form Kyle set out to put together the frames for the top and bottom bunk. When we all went to bed Friday night there were 2 bed frames ready to go together and add a railing and a ladder. Yesterday was a busy day so the bed remained in it's half finished state. This morning we went to church, had a lovely lunch out and returned home to complete the bunk bed. I decided that the best way to help would be to occupy Abby with something so she would stay out of the way of dad and grandpa. Abby and I were busy out in the hall way unloading slats from a box and stacking them when we heard a discussion coming from her room. Seems that the beds had been put together with the wrong sides on each bed. An hour later and TWO (2) changes of sides the "boys" once again had both frames put together, this time in the proper way. (Mind you, they have yet to read the directions) Suffice to say that the "quick" job of assembly took 2 days, several left over parts and some carpenters glue to finish the job.
The bed looks great ! Abby loves it ! Grandma vacuumed up the 12 tons of Styrofoam. And hopefully Abby is sound asleep in her new bed with Jilly the "ZuZu" pet asleep in the top bunk. Sure hope Jilly doesn't snore.

CAMP JELLO

This evening was just too good not to share and since Bridget remains in the Ukraine away from Abby and Kyle I thought she could use an extra chuckle over the antics of her girl and Kyle.
Kyle and Abby spent the day out and about. They set off this morning on their bikes heading for Windsor and didn't return till about 4:30. Ger and I had a FABULOUS DAY. We napped and read and relaxed for the entire day. (I did do a little laundry and ironing just to validate my existence.) Once K & Abby returned we started to think about dinner. At some point of their adventures today K&A went to a farmers market and one of the venders gave Abby a carrot to eat. In return Kyle purchaced some beans from the man and Abby decided we would eat the beans raw. I have never seen beans that huge. They looked like lima beans but were the largest lima beans I have ever seen. They tasted awful raw and were so well handled at that point that we decided to exclude them from our menu. Not wanting to be left out of the picnic planning Abby decided to contribute 6 containers of jello that she got from the bottom cabinet in the kitchen. She put the jello into a pastic bag and brought them out to the picnic. We had a disposable grill which did a fabulous job roasting the salmon, a bottle of wine and some home made biscuits. Our picnic was completed by smores. Abby and I have spent a day or two playing "Girl Scout" so naturally the topic of smores has been discussed. Abby has never toasted a marshmallow over a fire so this was a big event. Sadly we are in England where we could NOT find LARGE marshmallows or graham crackers or Hershey's chocloate bars. EVERY Girl Scout knows you need these 3 EXACT ingredients to make the perfect smore. But we made due with mini marshmallows, bakeers milk chocolate and some sort of tea biscuit. It was a pitiful substitute but then we were camping on the lawn of a Manor House rather than in the middle of a forest. The toasting of mini marshmallows was an adventure in itself. There were no small sticks to be found and the closest we could find for a substitute stick was half of a chopstick. Picture this . . . chopstick - mini marshmallow. It was amusing but served the purpose and the camping adventure was almost complete. The only thing left for a true camper is the "sleep over". Off went Kyle and Abby to find a nice spot in the sun and there the 2 of them settled to digest the picnic dinner. As I was gathering the remains of our picnic I looked over and there sat Abby with her 6 containers of jello neatly set out around her. NOne of them were ever opened but they gave a name to our English camp site . . . CAMP JELLO.

Saturday

Abby and Kyle have just left on their bikes to go to the castle for the day. It is 11:30 AM here and a beautiful day. Kyle arrived home Thursday night and went into work yesterday. He seems tired and distracted but being home with Abby is good medicine for him. Last night we all started putting Abby's new bunk bed together but had to stop at 8 to get Abby to bed. She got to sleep in mom and dad's room because her room looks like a tornado swept through it. (Abby discovered she can break up the Styrofoam packing pieces and make them fly around like a snow storm.) Let me just say that my children are better parents than I ever was. I would have been crazy with my kid making such a mess. But as a grandma I think it is WONDERFUL!
Today Abby got to choose what she would like to do and her choice was to go tour the castle again. SHE LOVES WINDSOR CASTLE ! Ger and I suggested to her that just she and dad go and Abby jumped at that. It is a win win day for everyone!
Last night we had a surprise Skype call from K&K in Ft. Lauderdale. Our not so little, yet to be born grandson is doing great, as are mom and dad, in spite of the worse than usual Florida summer heat. We are hoping baby will stay where he is until we return to the states on July 27 but for Kristen's sake baby "S" can arrive when he is ready.
We have become "natives" here in England, in that we have a daily routine. It is feeling like "home" and I am happy to have the day "off" today. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying this very special time in England with Abby. I wonder how much she will remember as she grows older. Hopefully all the pictures Grandpa and I are taking will help remind her of her time here with us.
For those of you who have inquired about Abby's school . . . the first 2 pictures show you the front of the building. (All the buildings over here look ancient) It is a one story building with nooks and crannies and passageways leading off in every direction. I would be lost in it in a matter of seconds. I can't figure out the floor plan and tend to think it was originally a small building that has been added on to again and again over the years. Abby's class is at the far right with the small blacktopped area in front. No play equipment, just a sand box and some old tables and rubber tires. The school is building 2 new additions in the back that will be a cafeteria and classrooms. IN the back of all the buildings there is a large field where the children play after lunch. This is the field that housed "SPORTS DAY" last Thursday. The entire school participated and all the parents and siblings were innvited. Abby ran 2 races but did not win either one. She was a little disappointed but told us she could beat 2 other children in her class but she wasn't teamed up against them. (It seems that Abby takes after her dad when it comes to sports. We always refer back to the phone call from Kyle's gym teacher when he was in Kindergarten. Mrs. Weed was very concerned about Kyle's inability to skip and so he had to attend remedial skipping classes. My BFF Sharon always said her son Rick was the athlete and Kyle was the brains. They made a good team and were the best of friends for many years) If the amount of dirt were a factor in how good a time Abby had a Sports Day I would say the day was a huge success.
Abby is still fighting her nose and I think her nose is winning, although today it does seem just a little better. I am still amazed at the allergies over here and will never complin about the US allergies again. I guess living in the country has it's drawbacks.

The Taxi Queue

In England we do not wait n line, we QUEUE. (Well, actually many of the people don't bother to queue or wait, they just push ahead.) But one is supposed to queue when waiting to pick up your child from school, buying groceries and getting on the bus. The children queue, the buses queue and the taxis queue. This is all well and good as long as I am not IN the taxi queue, which was exactly where I found myself last night at Heathrow Airport.
Ger, Abby and I left to pick up Kyle at the airport on his return from the Ukraine. I had googled the airport lay out, directions and parking information. WE made a stop at Mac Donalds in Slough to fortify ourselves for this adventure. This is where the trouble began. Ger asked Abby what she wanted for dinner, Abby replied that she would decide after she went to the bathroom. Steam seeped from Ger's ears and his face turned an odd sort of purple. Sensing an imminent eruption I whisked Abby off to the bathroom where she innocently asked."Is Grandpa grumpy again?" I explained that he was just hungry so she should do whatever and we would get back out to dinner.
The mood has now been set and it just went down hill from there. WE had K&B's "GPS" but Ger couldn't figure out how to use it. I had to go back to Windsor to find the road to the airport and there was a ton of traffic. The trip TO the airport was uneventful and we still had an hour before Kyle would be through customs. (Ger rushed us out of the house 2 hours early for a 15 minute drive.) We arrive at Heathrow which is like every other HUGE airport I have ever been in. It is a maze of roads chris crossing with exits shooting off in every direction. Add to this the LEFT HANDED driving and it was a lot to manage. Abby was excellent in the back seat. She KNEW to keep quiet. I was doing well following the signs for Terminal 1 parking when I suddenly found myself in a corral. A narrow, one lane road with fences on both sides preventing me from going anywhere but forward. I WAS IN THE TAXI LINE! er,... queue ! Taxis in front of me, and just as I decided to back up and out, taxis in back of me. I thought this was a riot . . . Ger found nothing humorous in it. He fussed and fumed, muttered and mumbled till a little voice from the back seat said, "I'm bored back here". That did it for me and the giggles erupted which only made Ger angrier. There was nothing to do but wait for the queue to slowly move forward as each taxi filled and moved out. I had Ger take Abby and go into the airport to wait at arrivals (something that he would NEVER have done if Abby wasn't with us but since we wanted her there to see Dad as soon as he came through customs) Ger reluctantly got out and took Abby inside. I continued to wait another 10 minutes or so, got near the front of the queue and squeezed my way past the last 4 laughing cabby's.
Bottom line, Kyle arrived about 15 minutes after I got into the airport and all was well for the rest of the night. When I asked Ger if he knew we were going into the taxi line he said "Yes" but didn't think to mention it to me.
Abby is delighted to have her daddy home. The two have snuggled through the night and now Kyle is at work and Abby is in school. Bridget remains in the Ukraine watching over Roman and Kyle will return to be with her on Tuesday of next week. Hopefully today with be queue free and Ger will calm down.

No Post Tonight

It's late! The bunk bed just arrived . . . 9:30PM. WE have been to the airport and back picking up Kyle and have a great story for you about that but it will wait till tomorrow. Abby will be up at 7 for school and since I am back to sharing a room and bed with husband I will probably have a lousy night so I better get a start on it now.

See you in the morning. YAWN !