the trip home... part deux.

Let's see, where was I. OK, yes, puke and poo.

So, Morning finally came and the owner of the hotel still never showed. John took Erickson to breakfast, while Lovekender and I curled up on the tablecloth on the edge of one of the nasty mattresses. When John got back, I went to go sit and have some coffee myself. I just ordered toast. There is something about the smell of human waste and burnin trash that really supresses one's appetite. I sat, sipping my coffee, nibbling my toast, thinking about work. I was so worried about missing my shift and about not being able to call. I was afraid I would lose my job. In the big picture, obviously my family is more important. But, now that I am the sole breadwinner for a household of 5, it is important to have a paycheck. Each dollar is accounted for. I'm one shift away from not having enough money to pay the mortgage and the second mortgage for the adoption. More importantly, I need the health insurance. These boys need medical attention. Perhaps surgery for Erickson, who appears to have an umbilical hernia and diastisis rectii. The night before, I had serisously contemplated flying home, as scheduled on the 23rd by myself so I could get to work by the 24th. However, considering the events of the previous 6 hours, I knew there was no way in hell John could manage these two kids on a plane by himself. So, I had to stay. And, how could I miss the boys' first flight home? Their first night in America?

I went back to the room and John and I got everything ready to go back to Marie's. We needed to get medicine for the boys and we were hoping to meet the boys' birthparents.

Gary picked us up and we headed to Marie's. On the way, Gary was going to stop and get an international phone card for John. Driving through the streets/creek beds of Haiti is so facinating. It's amazing to see the people, how they dress, carrying things on their heads, vendors on the street. There might be a man with a "tire store." He is sitting there with 6 tires and an umbrella. So, we pull over to one of these tattered umbrellas on the side of the "road." Gary talks to the vendor in Creole. The vendor man hands him these 3 little card board pieces. They look like the -save-ceareal-box-tops-for-education- thingies. Gary hands these to John and tells him that he just has to insert it into his phone and then he can call international. John tries to explain that there is no place in his phone to insert a small piece of cardboard. Jean Gary says that he will just put them in his cell phone and then we can use his to call international. John asks how many minutes we have. Gary says, "Probably about 11 or 12." John and I look at each other. We now have 11 or 12 minutes to call American Airlines and change 4 flights from tonight at 5:30 to tomorrow. We need to call my work and we need to call my parents and let them know what is going on and that they will have Violet another night.

So, we get to Marie's. I sit there with the boys while John tries to work Gary's phone. He finally gets through to American Airlines. I literally set my stopwatch. After nine minutes on hold, I cut John off. We need a new plan. Last resort: our cell phones. John calls his dad really quickly and tells him the situation. We need him to get on-line and give us several flight options. We will call back in about an hour. There is no telling how much that 4 minute conversation will cost!!! Roaming from Haiti. Not pretty.

I then take Gary's phone and call Central Baptist. I know my director is out of the office until the 29th, so I decide to just call HR directly. As the phone is ringing, there is a voice that says something in Creole, but all I catch is "deux minutes." I have 2 minutes!! HR answers the phone. I frantically try to explain to the receptionist, "I'm Kendra Adkisson, I am a nurse in Labor and Delievery, we are adopting 2 boys from Haiti and we are stuck down here because the embassy is closed and we can't get visas and I'm suppose to be at work tomorrow night at 7PM and this is a family emergency and I can't get there." The receptionist says, "Let me transfer you to someone who is in charge of that." (TRANSFER!!! I"ve got like 90 seconds dude!) So, I get transferred and I get voice mail for someone. I leave the above message as fast as I can on her answering machine and then add..."I have no internet and spotty cell phone reception so you have no way of calling me back. Please call my mother, Bonnie Adkisson, she might be able to explain more if we get a chance to talk to her. Her number is........." And with that, I hang up. I have absolutely no idea if the person I left a message with is working that day. I don't know if L&D will get the message. And again, I can't help but think I'm going to be fired.

I then call Mom. "Mom, I have about 2 minutes so just listen to me. The embassy is closed. We can't come home today. We are trying to book new flights. You'll have to watch Violet another night. Tell her we love her and Merry christmas. Human Resources might call you about where I am. Could you call a pedeatrician and try to get us appointments for next week? We'll let you know when we know when we are coming home. The boys are with us and it's great, but they are sick. Thank you and I love you, Bye." Mom mumbled something about Violet was fine and she loved us. Then we hung up. I think I went over the 2 minutes. I hope I didn't cost Gary about $80 on his phone bill.

The people at the orphanage said Marie would be back by about 10:00 AM. So, we just hung out on Marie's porch, playing with the boys. Marie came back. She gave me amoxicillin and Flagyl for the boys. However, none of it had been refrigerated and it was expired. It also seemed pretty watery. Definitely not the long term plan, but it would have to do for today. She also made Lovekender some ...well, ....gruel. It looked disgusting. Lovekender practically inhaled it. I asked Marie what it was. She said it was ground rice and flour. Note to self.

Marie said that the birthparents might not come after all because it was raining. But, to our surprise, they showed up later. We saw the mother walk through the orphanage gate with a sheet of plastic over her. The mom and dad walked on to the porch and sat with us. The dad immediately began talking and Marie was translating. She said, "He says he is so happy to meet you and that we are all family now." As she was translating, the dad had his arm around me and I was holding the mother's arm. We asked Marie to tell them that "We love Erickson and Lovekender and it is an honor that they trust us to raise their precious boys. We will do our best. We love them so much." I brought out my list of questions to ask the birthparents. I'll save this part of the story for Erickson and Lovekender. It is their story to tell, not mine.



It was a beautiful time with the parents on the porch that rainy day in Haiti. We have a lot of pictures and video. I'll be framing a large picture of all of us together. The boys will always know that their beautiful parents made the hardest choice parents can make. In America, we have the luxury of keeping our children. When people say, "I just can't imagine how those parents could do that!", I just think to myself..."of course you can't imagine it." I wish it were mandatory for every high school softmore to go to a third world country. It might put an end to the "me" generation. If you didn't have a job, no prospect of a job, no education, pitiful living conditions, no running water, no electricity, no access to medical care, no food to feed your child, you might send them to someone who could. If I were on a bus with Violet and it was about to crash and there were people standing on the side of the road with outstretched arms, I'd throw Violet out to whomever was there. That's all I need to say about that.

After visiting with the birth parents for over an hour, they left. I took a picture of them as they walked out the gate of the orphanage....my sons' mother coverd in plastic. I wonder if I'll ever see her again. I wonder how Erickson and Lovekender's younger brother Jameson's life will be there in Haiti.

Meanwhile, John had called his dad and we had tickets to leave Haiti on the 24th at 1:10 PM. It cost $400 to change all of our tickets, plus we had to get a hotel room for Dallas the night of the 24th. There were no flights to go straight through on the same day.

We left Marie's and headed back to the Habitation Hatt. John took a little snooze and I tried to entertain the boys by the pool. It was actually too chilly to get in (overcast and drizziling). I think I just ate a protein bar and then we went to sleep early. I still didn't feel dirty enough to take a shower in Haiti. (Yes, our room had been mopped and we had new linens.) That night we didn't have copious amounts of bodily fluids.


DECEMBER 24th, 2009

We packed up all our things. We left behind several pooped on outfits. I didn't want to throw them away because they just needed to be washed. So, I just sat them beside the trash can. I have no doubt that they were found and used by someone.

Gary picked us up and we headed to Marie's again. We picked up Megan who was there to adopt Lovely. We said good-bye to Marie and headed to the Embassy for our 9:00 AM appointment. We waited for only about a half an hour and we got the boys' passports with VISAS!!!! However, we immediately noticed that their last names were Ferguson.

Insert side note: John and I have different last names. I already had a name when I got married and I'm not John's property, so as any self-respecting feminist does, I kept MY name. It's hard to say and spell, but alas, it is mine. (Actually it is my father's, but what to do?) I'm always suprised at how confusing me having my own name is to people. From block buster, to the DMV, people seemed baffled.

At any rate, I filled out all of the adoption paperwork. I put myself as the "petitioner" and John as the spouce. So, when we went to Haiti last year, the embassy had listed the boys' names as Erickson Adkisson and Lovekender Adkisson. We laughed about it at the time. The problem is, we made the boys' plane reservations with the name Adkisson. We immediately had to call John's Dad (on John's cell, yikes!) and ask him to call back American Airlines and change the tickets to the last name of Ferguson. Long story short, (too late) it was $600 just to change the NAMES, not the flights!!! John's Dad, after many threats, got AA to change the fee to only $300.00.

We left the embassy and headed to the airport. Erickson immediately had a breakdown. John had to practically drag Erickson through. I had Lovekender in my Ergo baby carrier and all the luggage, while John dealt with Erickson. All the Haitians were trying to talk to him and tell him what was going on, but it was no use. Finally, when we got to an escalator and Erickson was so mezmorized, that we didn't hear another peep...until we boarded the plane. Erickson did his best rendition of a complete and total meltdown on the plane from Haiti to Miami. He was thrashing and kicking, so John had to physically restrain him. (That looks REALLY good to a plane full of Haitians, I'm sure!) Erickson finally screamed himself into a deep sleep. He missed the entire flying experience.

When we landed in Miami, we had to go through customs and immigration. We were "held" back in this special room. We watched the minutes tick by and new we would miss our connecting flight to Dallas. I was also sweating bullets to call work before 5PM. But, there were big signs posted everywhere, "ABSOLUTELY NO CELL PHONE USE." The homeland security people look like a serious bunch. I didn't want to push it. So, I obeyed.

More tales from immigration another day....We will continue with the airport and that will be my last post for this blog!