Gregg and I marked our 31st month of waiting on a cruise ship outside of St. John (that would be New Brunswick, Canada, not the Caribbean island). While we were holding out every hope that we would get the call while we were on our cruise, it did not come. (However, huge congratulations to Veronica on the referral of her 18-month-old son on October 4! I am so happy for you!)
Really, though, we had a marvelous time and I was sad to see our vacation end. We got a lot of much-needed rest and were quite happy to not have to respond to phone calls, e-mails, and office deadlines. The ship stopped in the ports of Boston, Portland, St. John, and Halifax, but we did not spend a great deal of time out and exploring. We did get out and walk around a bit but didn’t do any shore excursions. We spent most of our time on the ship relaxing with a good book (or two…or three) and a cup of hot chocolate…or coffee…or tea. We did manage some ballroom dance classes that were a lot of fun and had a great time getting all dressed up for dinner (something different when you get to go totally casual to work every day).
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| Our last night - so relaxed! |
The dining room staff on this trip was absolutely amazing. Our waiter, Edwin, was from Mindanao and the hostess in the dining room, Rachel, was from Cebu. Gregg and I decided to try to speak with them about where they were from and bring up the subject of the adoption to see how well it was received. We were wondering how our family might be treated after we adopted, if we were to bring our child on a cruise ship with a primarily Filipino crew. The original reactions were interesting. First, Edwin and Rachel thought that we were talking about sponsoring a child in the Philippines. When we explained that the child would be our son/daughter and would be coming to live with us, they were polite about it. The more they talked to us, the more they started to hear about the respect that we had for the people and their culture. The more they heard, it seemed the more accepting they were and the happier they were for our family.
On October 3 we had a conversation with Rachel about the foods of the Philippines. She couldn’t believe we had eaten Filipino food and liked it, let alone tried to cook it before! Then she told us that there had been a special request for chicken adobo on October 4 (our 31st monthaversary) and she asked if Gregg would like to have that for dinner. (I’m allergic to poultry, so that wasn’t going to happen for me )8 ) What a surprise that was! Gregg was thrilled, and that evening was probably one of the biggest highlights of our cruise.
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| Gregg's Chicken Adobo |
We came home Saturday afternoon and there had been contractors busily working on some home repairs while we were away. That will continue through this week and then hopefully be finished. It’s also back to the daily grind of work again. I’m so grateful for having taken that time off, though – it’s much easier to deal with the everyday stuff. I wish I could say it was easier to wait for the call, though. One day at a time.
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| For our future recruit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police - We couldn't resist! |
