Deja Vu all over again...

It's Tuesday night and we're back where this whole thing began - only 2 and a half years later. We're here for the night at the airport hotel in Philadelphia and awaiting an early wake-up call. We just had a quick drink in the bar and Lisa & I were joking about the conversations we had when we were departing to meet Kyle for the first time. Tonight we sat just a few tables away from where we were then.

The memories of that trip are still vivid and the anticipation and sense of excitement this time around are magnified by Kyle's presence. He's very excited to be a big brother and he's ready to go!

I'm glad today's winding down - Thanks to Grandmom, Pop-Pop and Aunt Mary for a nice send-off meal. We got there a little later than we'd hoped due to some financial hurdles we had to overcome! The Bank "promised" that we'd have the money we requested this afternoon - in fresh uncirculated 100's! As we're leaving the house to go to the Bank, the Bank called us in the car.

The good news: We have the money.
The bad news: WE don't have the money.

What looked like a casual trip around the corner (to the branch that DIDN'T have the money) turned into a white knuckle race of about 4 miles in rush hour traffic to the Branch that DID have the money. Oh yeah, did I mention that it was 4:45 PM when we got the call - and the branch we needed to get to closed at 5:00PM!
Apparently the "new" money was delivered to the wrong branch.

Not to name names but thanks TD Bank!!! (...did I say that out loud?)

As you've probably concluded, WE now have the money. It's a little unnerving carrying that kind of wampum, so to throw off any would-be bandits, we've decided to let Kyle carry it - they'll never look there! (Relax, I'm just joking - it's safely stowed just where it needs to be.)

I think Lisa may have posted this, but we finally got our intra-China Travel arrangements (hotels & flights) - TODAY! Nothing like a little advance notice.

Again, not to worry, it will take nore than this to throw off our trip composure.
After having done this once before, we have a lot of experience with the ups & downs of this journey. Not just the trip, but the journey we've taken to find Dylan.

From the first application we submitted (one year + one day after our return with Kyle), to our decision to take the special needs path less traveled, to the late night conference calls going over sketchy medical records with the CHOP international adoption docs, to the difficult decisions to NOT proceed with other children, to the relief and exhilaration of knowing that our request for Dylan was greeted with a referral.

We are locked & loaded - hang on - we'll try to bring you all along for the trip.

Good night - I don't know when the next post will be...
C