Arrived!

Thank you, Lord Jesus!
Here we are in a wonderful city called Pune (poo-nay). I just took a hot shower and am now eating pistacios (provided by the hotel) and drinking bottled water (ditto).

Oh! The social worker from the orphage is calling. ...We get her at 10 a.m. tomorrow! (That's 9:30 p.m. Sunday night in California). I'm so overwhelmed. We need to pick out an outfit to take with us according to Meenal (the social worker.)

Our trip involved Seoul, Korea, Singapore, change of planes to Delhi, immigration, customs, taxi to the domestic airport, plane to Pune. BTW, India is just gorgeous, very poor, but gorgeous. We saw Calcutta from the air. Its huge. Seemed more like a country we flew over it so long. The Himalayas are amazing. Wish I could have seen more, but I think when we fly back to Delhi we'll get a better view. The fertile areas around Pune have amazing plant life. We saw hundreds, maybe thousands of red poinsettias growing near the airport. ...we also say miles and miles of tent cities.
I'll sign off before I get too incoherent in my stream of consciousness ramblings. Off to find some good Tandoori/curry/hot hot hot Indian food, then a Tylenol p.m. for each of us and off to bed. ...don't worry about "jet lag"; I don't believe it. Too much to do and see.
love, Marty
Tom's 2 cents:
I can't believe the driving here! Its as if the rules of the road are mere suggestions. I'm just amazed their are not fatalities all over the road, worse than Rome.
While I have mixed feelings about India (the poverty) I am fascinated by everything we see here.

At the airport

Here's me and Tom in a VERY flattering picture on our SFO aiport shuttle.

So, San Francisco to Seoul to Singapore to Delhi to Pune. When its midnight or so in Palo Alto, CA we'll be landing in Pune, Lord willing. We have a couple of sketch connections. All pray is most appreciated!

More from India in couple of days!

love, Martina/Mom and Tom

Reservations!

Well we have our plane flights to Delhi and Pune. Tom and I will fly on Singapore Air (the best, BTW) to Delhi and back. We have not yet gotten Varsha's (Rachel) because Singapore Air says that a one-way from Delhi to SF is crazy expensive if we purchase it here, but if we get it in India the discount for an Indian national (which our daughter is at the moment) is a pittance. So our dilema is do we really go to India without assurance that we have a seat for her on our return trip? The Airline says "don't worry! its the down season! the plane is not very full!

I (Martina) hate not having all my ducks in a row (and paid for) in advance. I went so far as to call an Indian travel agent in Delhi. He said he can do the reservations now, but he has not emailed me in two days. So, I dunno.

We are staying at the Imperial Hotel in Delhi, which looks just lovely.

As far as my emotions, I'm high, then low, pretty much minute by minute. Been doing a lot of praying. Can't believe we have a tiny little girl moving into our hearts and our home. Everytime I think of a child calling Tom "Daddy" I get all weepy.

On top of all this, I have to listen to 26 hours of legal lectures because my hours are due by February 1st. This comes up every three years, but I hate it so much I can't seem to get it done early. Tommy gets his down way in advance and usually in creative ways, like taking us to Disneyworld and doing lectures in Orlando while we are there. (read tax deductable vacation) But do I attend these lectures with him? No, I'm too stubborn. My mom would be shaking her head at this. Just to be clear...I go on vacation with my sweetie, I just don't go to the lectures.

Ok, back to Estate Planning I. Anybody need a will?

love, Martina

Green Light!!!

Praise Jesus!! He created this little darling and He is trusting us to be her daddy and mommy. Martina and I are awed at the way this has fallen into place.

We were first given Varsha's/Rachel's picture on February 13, 2008 and asked if we would accept the referral for her. Of course, we lost no time in joyfully accepting her. Now, almost one year later we are about to go get her in India!

We leave January 30th and pick her up at a special ceremony in the orphanage in which she has resided since infancy. This will happen, Lord willing, on February 2, 2009. We will then travel to Delhi to hand in her passport to the US Embassy for her official permanent visa to the US.

We will take many pictures, videos (hopefully) and have daily updates as the days progress.

Stay tuned!

--Tom and Martina