Sunday was spent traveling to Delhi and settling in at our final hotel. Monday morning was all about "doing the needful" (one of my favorite Indian expressions), with visits to a medical clinic and the CARA offices (the national/governmental department that oversees adoptions).
Our visit to the doctor confirmed that our girl is tiny! At 2 1/2, she is 31 inches tall, and weighs 17 pounds, 10 ounces. That's less than Anya weighed when we brought her home on her first birthday! The doctor was kind, and asked a few more questions about her, then a nurse did the TB test. We have it read on Wednesday morning.
Then we headed over to the CARA office. Most families don't have to do this step, but we'd had some crossed wires about one piece of paperwork that the embassy needs from them. There was some confusion between our Kavya and a different Kavya placed with another US family, so the embassy hadn't received our Kavya's Article 23. After spending over an hour there, the confusion was cleared up, and they couriered our document to the embassy (and gave us a copy too). Anya was a trooper with our morning spent in waiting rooms.
After being cooped up, we decided to get some fresh air. We had snacks in the car for the girls, and we headed to a peaceful outdoor historical site, Qutab Minar. We visited last time, but due to a camera malfunction, all our photos were tinted purple!
We spent an hour or so in the sunshine seeing a magnificent stone tower -- construction began on it in 1193. It is also the site of India's first mosque. The site is in amazing shape, with beautiful textures and different hues of stone. Everywhere you walk presents amazing views of arches, walls, foundations, and a blend of different architectural styles, all framing the tower from every angle.
Then we headed back to the hotel. We wanted to make sure that a lot of the day contains playtime and just being together in our rooms with Kavya. We ordered some excellent room service for dinner -- they offer a variety of cuisines, but the Indian dishes we've had have been wonderful. Anya's favorite dish at one of our hometown Indian restaurants was featured with a slightly different name, Tikka Murg Mahkni. Delicious! For future traveling families: be warned that the spice levels here are a few notches higher than in the US!
We also talked to our boys Aaron and Nathan via FaceTime (a feature of Apple devices). It was so great to see their faces, and hear them laugh and laugh at the things Kavya was doing! My mom was watching them that day, and got her first sighting of Kavya in action -- she was absolutely taken with her. We are just a few days away from going home, and we're really anticipating seeing our family again. *I promise I will add photos, but it's late and my blogging time has been greatly reduced by a certain active, energetic 2-year-old!
Our visit to the doctor confirmed that our girl is tiny! At 2 1/2, she is 31 inches tall, and weighs 17 pounds, 10 ounces. That's less than Anya weighed when we brought her home on her first birthday! The doctor was kind, and asked a few more questions about her, then a nurse did the TB test. We have it read on Wednesday morning.
 |
| The dreaded TB test! |
Then we headed over to the CARA office. Most families don't have to do this step, but we'd had some crossed wires about one piece of paperwork that the embassy needs from them. There was some confusion between our Kavya and a different Kavya placed with another US family, so the embassy hadn't received our Kavya's Article 23. After spending over an hour there, the confusion was cleared up, and they couriered our document to the embassy (and gave us a copy too). Anya was a trooper with our morning spent in waiting rooms.
After being cooped up, we decided to get some fresh air. We had snacks in the car for the girls, and we headed to a peaceful outdoor historical site, Qutab Minar. We visited last time, but due to a camera malfunction, all our photos were tinted purple!
We spent an hour or so in the sunshine seeing a magnificent stone tower -- construction began on it in 1193. It is also the site of India's first mosque. The site is in amazing shape, with beautiful textures and different hues of stone. Everywhere you walk presents amazing views of arches, walls, foundations, and a blend of different architectural styles, all framing the tower from every angle.
 |
| The tower has been struck by lightning twice in its history. |
Then we headed back to the hotel. We wanted to make sure that a lot of the day contains playtime and just being together in our rooms with Kavya. We ordered some excellent room service for dinner -- they offer a variety of cuisines, but the Indian dishes we've had have been wonderful. Anya's favorite dish at one of our hometown Indian restaurants was featured with a slightly different name, Tikka Murg Mahkni. Delicious! For future traveling families: be warned that the spice levels here are a few notches higher than in the US!
We also talked to our boys Aaron and Nathan via FaceTime (a feature of Apple devices). It was so great to see their faces, and hear them laugh and laugh at the things Kavya was doing! My mom was watching them that day, and got her first sighting of Kavya in action -- she was absolutely taken with her. We are just a few days away from going home, and we're really anticipating seeing our family again. *I promise I will add photos, but it's late and my blogging time has been greatly reduced by a certain active, energetic 2-year-old!
 |
| Alicia and Peter had a little field trip one day to this spot next to our hotel . . . |
3 comments:
Thanks for the update! So fun to hear all that you're doing. :)
Sounds like things are continuing to go well. One of my fondest memories of our first India trip was visiting Qutab Minar. I was taken by the chirping of the budgies that were perched all over the tower. Did you hear them? Would love to hear your take on the offices of CARA sometime.
Safe travels!
Julie
Loving your updates. :) Soooo happy things are going smooth.
Post a Comment