Destined to Remain Connected!!

So if you weren't a believer of fate and universal connection, well this story should convince even the strongest skeptics!!  This past weekend, we hosted a get together with 3 other couples who have adopted or will be adopting from India. The picture on the left is Bela with her new friend AJ and her OLD friend Usha. Yes, Usha and Bela knew each other at the orphanage they were at! How this all happened is a pretty amazing story, which only gets better.

Back in April of this year, Ryan and I met two families at the Holt Agency picnic (which is held once a year, in Orange County). To our surprise, one of the families there adopted a little girl who was from the same orphanage as Bela! We recognized Usha from a distance and after a few minutes, we realized that she was there at BSSK (the orphanage) when we picked Bela up from India. In addition, during that visit, we actually witnessed Usha viewing a video of her parents! What are the odds!!!??? It turns out, Usha's parents picked her up just a few weeks after we picked up Bela. We have pictures and videos of Usha playing with Bela and the other kids. And now 3 months later, Usha is at the same picnic as Bela in California!! It's probably normal that they didn't remember each other however they got along great at our house. They played really well together and I'm sure they felt each other's energy - even if they physically didn't recognize each other.

So while the meeting with Usha could be considered coincidental to some skeptics (I happen to believe everything happens for a reason), this will blow your mind! The other couple that came to our house was invited by AJ's parents as they are about to pick up their son from the same city that we picked up Bela. When they arrived, they immediately recognized Bela. That was a little strange but we figured AJ's parents must have filled them in before they got here. Nope. After some discussion, it turns out that the child they are bringing home was Bela's best friend, Varun, from the orphanage she was at!!! Yes, best friend. In many of our reports about Bela, and in many of their reports about Varun, the orphanage noted just how close these two were with one another. Each one of us even wondered how we could adopt both Varun and Bela together so we could keep them together - that's how close they were! While they were at our house, Ryan bought up the videos we took and when we reviewed them we both noticed how Bela immediately gravitated toward Varun when we arrived to pick her up. In fact, the video shows that later in the day, to make her stop crying during eating time, we were asked to place Bela next to him to calm her down. Kismet!!?? So Varun is now coming to Orange County as well - literally only 30 minutes from our house. We can't wait for Bela and Varun to meet again. Even if they don't remember each other, I know they will feel each other's spirts. Afterall, they are destined to remain connected! 

According to Unicef, there are 25 million Indian orphans. Of those, only 400 or some to the USA each year. So the odds of both Usha and Varun coming to the US, within 30-60 minutes from our house, is simply amazing. Varun's mom said, "How funny is it that our kids have known each other longer than we have?" I think that statement was very intuitive and just sums up how special this really is. Bela will always have an amazing story to share about her life and it will be even more special knowing she will have childhood friends from where she was born to grow up with; something most adopted children never experience.

4th of July - "Pop-Pop-Pop in the Sky!"

We got to celebrate Bela's first 4th of July with her friend Zaleeya and her parent's who we met before we picked up Bela. Zaleeya is also adopted from India and the girls get along great. So we headed to Z's home town and spent most of the day in the park, dancing to music, eating great food and having tons of fun in the sun. Bela seemed to have a great time dancing and running around and enjoyed her time with Z and Bela's cousins Ayden. When it came time for the fireworks however, that was a different story. We didn't know how Bela would react to the loud noises and as we suspected, she didn't like the loud sounds at first. I in fact held her and walked around singing to her as the fireworks were going off for the first 10 minutes or so. Eventually, we made a game out of the fireworks in the sky by saying, pop-pop-pop them in the sky! Bela liked that game and we sat back down to enjoy the fireworks. All-in-all it was a great day and a great evening out with friends and we hope to make it an annual tradition.

Earings - Oh My!

It seems like being a mom means making hard decisions all the time! Working in startups seemed like a breeze compared to this! While the decisions never cease and many you never think about again, there are some that you sometimes think about quite often. The one I think about is the decision to get Bela's ears pierced. Yes, piercings! It's not a life threating decision nor will it even be a major issue in a few months time, however it's amazing how certain things weigh on you!  

We started the day at the mall where we had pretzels and drinks before the piercings. Brianna, Bela's cousin, came with us for moral support as she had just gotten her ears pierced. All started great and the girls had  a blast playing in the store while we waited for Bela's turn. We waited about an hour or so and several girls (8-10 yrs) were getting their ears done. They all cried which really didn't make me feel better but Bela was too busy playing to really notice. Bela tried on purses, glasses and did her girly-girly stuff while Daddy and Brianna kept her company. I got to wait in line, fill out the paperwork and pick the earrings Bela would wearing for the next 6 months. She got these little pink faux-diamond earings that are apparently similar to her birth stone. Little did we know that what would set Bela off was the alcohol swab cleaning!  Bela gets a shot every night and of course we use an alcohol swab to clean the area prior. So when the lady went to clean her ears before the piercing - she totally lost it! She of course thought immediately that she was going to get a shot. I had the wonderful job of holding her body while Ryan held her head straight as she whaled. We said several times that this was not worth it but then we also kept saying, if not now, then when? So we pushed through it and as soon as it was over, she was fine! She played in the fountain in the mall, rode the train, all like nothing had happened!

While Bela really loves them and they look so adorable, she hasn't fully recovered from the experience I think (even a month later). She is now much more sensitive to any pain whatsoever - even non-burning shampoo in her eyes. She also won't let Ryan or I touch her earnings to clean them without a lot of discussion and coaxing. So did we need to do this - no. However, it is a tradition in my family and I know that if we didn't do it soon, she would have to wait until an age where she felt comfortable with it because the memory of the piercing would still be there. So Bela will eventually get over the piercing and life will go on and I hope that she doesn't remember getting them done! I guess this is why it's best to do the piercings when they are babies - but of course we didn't have that option.