We made it home late Saturday night. Again, nothing went according to plan. But we made it and honestly, that’s all either of us care about at this point.
First, our first flight was delayed. As we watched the updates all notifying us of further delays, we couldn’t help but wonder if we’d be able to catch our connecting flight or be stuck in yet another major USA city for a night. But, the good news is we made our connecting flight with just enough time to grab a Starbucks as we walked between gates (thankfully).
Second, our friends who were supposed to pick us up at the airport, with our Canadian car seat and a tiny snowsuit for Baby MPB couldn’t make it to the airport. As we donated our USA car seat before returning to Canada we absolutely needed someone with a car seat to pick us up to get Baby MPB home safely. And given the weather we needed a snow-suit (the one we brought with us was way too big for our little guy). So a cab really wasn’t an option. And, surprisingly and frustratingly, our back-up friends were also away. But, we called another friend who was just thrilled to pick us up and let Baby MPB borrow their infant car seat to get home. Our friend even brought one of their kids adorable little snow suits for him to stay warm. And, since they have a baby girl it was bright pink, which made me smile. But, I guess the cold Canadian winter was a bit of shock to Baby MPB as he screamed bloody murder when we walked out of the airport to take about 5 steps to our friends car.
Third, we had Canadian customs and immigration to worry about. I had submitted the Canadian forms weeks ago but had not heard anything back so I was pretty nervous about this part. I was once told is easier to bring an adopted child into Canada then a banana, but I just wasn’t convinced. Seriously, what if something went wrong? How in the world would we ever get it fixed? Could they send us back to the USA to deal with a possible error with the paperwork? Evidently because all our documentation was in order, even though no-one from immigration bothered to tell me that, it really was a breeze. We were through in a matter of minutes.
.
By the time we walked into our house, it was almost midnight. Our friend who picked-us up helped Mr. MPB carry all our bags inside as I tended to Baby MPB. Our friend took our first family photo together at home and stayed for a beer to visit and snuggle Baby MPB.
It is so nice to be home!
Yet, what struck me the most over the last few days is that I wasn’t at all excited to be home. Rather, I am simply relieved. I feel like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders and that we can finally start living. Our horrible agency is finally done insanely dictating our lives and we have our freedom back. And we have our son home. Life with an infant is crazy, but life with an infant in hotels with others dictating our every move was far less then ideal. But now, now the chaos is done!
Just being home seemed to give us some energy, which was very much needed as the flood of visitors started early Sunday morning. Family, friends and neighbours all dropped by throughout the day. As the visitors come through the door one thing became very evident to me, no-matter the differences I may have with some of my family, they love Baby MPB. And so, I starting taking a picture of every single person who visits and loves Baby MPB so that one day I can show him just how loved he was/is.
If you like this post, please feel free to share and please click the follow button on the side or return to myperfectbreakdown.com to follow my journey.
If we can pull of a few small miracles today we are flying home tomorrow!
We even have our flights booked now, so we are desperately hoping everything comes together. (You are required to have flights booked in order to get a rush passport appointment, so we have).
Today we HAVE to accomplish the following:
- Overnight mail arrives before 8am containing original court order approving adoption.
- Make it to the passport office with original court order by 9am for a rush passport appointment.
- Canadian government returns their signed paperwork to agency this morning.
- Cross the city for an 11am appointment with agency to get Canadian paperwork and sign adoption placement paperwork. (This also signifies us becoming “real” parents in the eyes of our USA agency).
- Get back to the passport office for 2pm to pick up passport. Passport office is only open for pick-ups for 30 minutes.
And all of this depends on Mr. MPB driving all around a major USA city with only the help of a Garmin, an infant and a horrible navigator (i.e. wife) who is known to confuse left and right.
If anything goes wrong, we will be delayed until at least Monday, possibly longer depending on what goes wrong (i.e. if we miss the 30 minute pick-up window, then we have to pick it up on Monday. But if we don’t get the documents then next available passport appointment is Wednesday and we cannot fly without the passport). If we are delayed we will have to cancel our flights and re-book (and re-pay) for new flights.
Wish us luck!!
If you like this post, please feel free to share and please click the follow button on the side or return to myperfectbreakdown.com to follow my journey.
My Perfect Breakdown 