We are in Holland waiting for our flight out... we should be boarding soon... have to make this quick as I only purchased 90 minutes of internet time... I was going through major withdrawals! LOL
The flight from Detroit to Holland was LOOOOOONNNNGGG! WOW! But it was good... we watched a movie (I watched one, Frank watched three! LOL) I slept some, and I made friends with the lady next to me and a couple flight attendants who got to hear all about Kellsey and our adoption story and all the kids with Down syndrome waiting for forever families all over the world. :)
When we arrived here in Holland (which REALLY is the Amsterdam airport), the pilot announced over the loud speaker "Welcome to Holland to Frank and Renee and congratulations on getting your baby! Best wishes to your family!" And everyone cheered. It was so neat! SO on the way OFF the plane we got to share Kellsey's story with MORE people!
Fortunately we had a LONG layover here and got to buy lots of souvenirs that say HOLLAND on them! SO excited about that!!!!
Anyway, this next flight is about 3 1/2 hours I think, and then we need to meet our facilitator, get to our apartment and SLEEP!!!! Our SDA appointment is on Monday. Not sure what time yet. Hopefully afterwards we will get to go meet Kellsey! We have to get clearance to do so... if we don't get it Monday, then we'll get to go Tuesday for sure. Be praying for Monday! :)
OK I'm going to sign off before it boots me off! More later!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
In Holland! :o)
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11 comments:
I am so happy for you! Don't forget to get enough shut-eye so you don't suffer from *TOO* much jet-lag!
Did you get that pink-chocolate shred?
SO great to hear from you
Yay...soo fun! Brings back soo many memories for me!!
How exciting. It sounds like everything is going so well. Here's hoping you get to see your baby girl on Monday!
Rebecca, E's mom
That was so sweet of the pilot to congratulate you! Hope the rest of your trip goes well :)
Rachel
heartforthephilippines.blogspot.com
OMIGOSH!! Tears stung my eyes immediately when I read that the captain welcomed you guys to Holland!
Tiff (Etta's mom)
omg, when i read the welcome to holland part, it made me tear... im such a baby
congratulations
A personal congrats from the pilot...impressive. And so cool to be "Welcomed" to Holland...again. :)
RK
Oh, the pilot thing was just awesome! Yay!! Can't wiat to see you two WITH Kellsey! :) :)
Melissa L
adopting Liza
I am sure you have read the "Welcome to Holland" poem. When my son was diagnosed with Noonan Syndrome I read it for the first time and it meant so much to me. Good luck with your travels and I can't wait to hear when you meet Kellsey!
Is the epidemic that is going around there the same as our "swine flu" here? You all are in our prayers that you stay well, Kellsey stays well and everything goes smoothly!
Kim Godsey
Your were officially "welcomed to Holland" -- what a journey!!
WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley
c 1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills ... and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.
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