Passport'd-Up and Visa Ready

In our loving care, we now have a Chinese National, with a United States entry visa. Today we had our last official office visit and it was at the US consulate of Guangzhou. This office processes one third of all international adoptions (worldwide). On behalf of our little Cantonese cutie we took an oath. We swore to the accuracy of all documents and information provided to the United States government with the primary intent of securing entry and automatic naturalization upon clearing United States immigration. For us, and millions of people around the world, this remains a privilege that we do not take for granted.

For this auspicious occasion, the sunshine peeked out of its winter hiding for a couple hours. We had a nice sunny bus drive through several sections of Guangzhou. Fresh off hosting the Asian Games in December, the city looks pretty good. There are a couple of very impressive new high rises that would rival the flashy sister to the north, Shanghai. With Spring Holiday rapidly approaching, there is also beautiful potted orange trees dotting the streets and plazas. Val keeps threatening to pick a couple off the vine. Despite the size, the city does have some real charm and the tree lined streets are well cultivated and cared for.

Our day out ended with a dinner-out with our travel group to Cow and Bridge, a very good Thai restaurant on Shamian Island. With the exception of our darling child, all the kids were well behaved and we had a great time. The stress of the chase is now over and now we are all just gearing up for the final push for home. The restaurant was full of families we had seen earlier in the day at the consulate. As I looked around the room I was overwhelmed by the stories unfolding at each table. Kids of all ages and sizes, bound for new lives, dining with their new parents, brothers and sisters, grandmas and grandpas. Over the last few weeks we have witnessed levels of selflessness that are not common in our daily grind. Some may say that we have done a wonderful thing by taking Lena and Marin into our family (to the benefit of Val and I as much as Lena and MiMi). But this pales in comparison to dozens of people we have met over our stay here. We met Robin and Coleman who have adopted four kids and also do charitable work training fellow physicians in North China; or Sally who we met today, with four adopted children and her husband at home, here on her own in China (second trip in seven months) bringing home her new six-year-old darling daughter with Down syndrome. Special needs kids as the second or third addition has been the norm. Just as heart warming, we have also met several new parents, with their five year dream finally coming true. Daily we have met individuals who are going through this arduous process yet again, the third, fourth or fifth time to provide a child with a loving home and family. Today at the consulate we learned that 67% of children adopted from China in 2010 were special needs --compared to 40% when we adopted Helena in 2008. This trend is continuing in 2011. To employ an over-used word, this trip has been inspirational (as well as thought-provoking).

On the lighter side of things, we have really enjoyed our little travel group. Really nice people with enough laughter to keep us all sane. Laura and Diane (pictured at the front of the table) have kept their senses of humor and a few of their quips come to mind.
When I complimented Laura on her fantastic collection of unique jewelry, she said, "Its what separates us from the animals". Also, when they found out that a 40oz bottle of beer was only $0.79, she said we would be losing money if we didn't buy it. We will treasure all of our travel buddies.

Red couch picture tomorrow... we're in the home stretch!

True Children's Home

Save for the day when we took Marin into our arms, this may have been the most treasured day of the trip. We had the pleasure, honor really, of visiting the True Children's Home in Dongguan, about an hour and a half drive from Guangzhou. Dongguan is a VERY industrial, factory town that is oppressed with smog. In fact it is the heart of industry in the Pearl River Delta. The Pearl River Delta being the place of origin of almost every manufactured thing all of us own. As you look out over the vast expanse of gloom, to factory after smoking factory, the thought of light, sunshine, a bright spot of any kind is the furthest thing from your mind. You simply can't believe that hope can exist here. But, in fact, it does. The True Children's Home is located in a rather nice gated complex within the city limits. The home is actually two, three-bedroom apartments across a common hall from one another, housing ten to twelve kids each. One apartment is for young babies, usually prior to surgery, and the other for older babies and toddlers that have either recovered from surgery or are in need of ongoing care. Mikel, the home's director met us at the front door. We were invited into the main living room of the "toddler house" and were greeted by ten happy kiddos all in the hands of their smiling nannies. Marin was in Val's arms and as we entered the room hands went up in all directions to greet her. We sat her down and she immediately started playing and smiling with her buddies and the nannies, who ooh'd and aah'd over her. She was so content, and we left her in good hands as we took a tour of the facilities. Each home has three bedrooms with three to four bright white cribs each. Every room was clean and welcoming with colorful paint and cheerful decor. A small, clean kitchen was located off the main living area. Mikel also pointed out a wall in the apartment where the kids' treatment records, feeding schedules, and medications, were posted. She also explained a colorful family tree of sorts, that is utilized to track the status of all the children under TCH's care. In addition to the home residents, this charity also places kids in foster settings before they can be formally adopted. After the tour we joined Marin on the carpet with her peeps. The nannies were friendly and warm to us, although we could sense their bittersweet feelings about Marin leaving with her forever family. Marin came back to use willingly, but not necessarily eager to leave. It was exactly the response we wanted, Marin's willingness to go with us, but doing it with fondness for those who had fostered her. We were touched by one special little boy with spina bifeda, who asked the director if he could come home with us too. She gently told him to be patient; his family is on their way, and they truly are, having already adopted two special needs kids from the True Children's Home. We would love to show you the pics we took for Marin of her happy aunties, brothers and sisters, but for privacy reasons (requested by TCH), that will have to wait until you come meet Mi Mi in person. :)

The most intriguing member of the staff was Mikel. She is the twenty-something, maybe early thirties, West Virginian who was teaching English in China when she found herself the director of this small, but very demanding enterprise. She is uniquely suited for the job and seems to have the passion, drive, and energy for this program. She is so selfless as a young, single woman, in a job that never sleeps. These people have chosen to make a difference in these little lives, one baby at a time, and they do it so well. We feel so fortunate to be directly touched as beneficiaries of this care. They have four programs: Foster care for the babies whenever reasonable and possible, home care within their twenty-bed facility, surgical care, and community outreach. The outreach program is so important, to help moms who love their babies but don't have the resources and support to keep them in their own homes; the all important outcome being a reduction in the rate of child abandonment.

We traveled back to Guangzhou very touched by the inspiring people we met today. The experience reminds us of what Mother Teresa once said, "In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

Cruising the Mighty Pearl

With less than a (business) week till we depart, our time is now spent trying to find things to do while we wait for our consulate appointment on Wednesday. We had a few errands to run today, mostly restocking our formula and beer supply (both staples of good parenting). Then we killed some time in our room and the playroom while our daughter decided NOT to take a nap. She was happy-go-lucky until it was time to board our river cruise tonight, then she had a minor melt down. This didn't last long and she predictably passed out in mid-screech about five minutes into her tirade. After we set sail, she woke up ready to party on the boat, so we all headed up to the Lido Deck. We had a nice ninety-minute float that included a decent dinner and time to chat with our fellow travel families. The highlight was Guangzhou all lit up with holiday lights. It was particularly fun to see the White Swan from the river's perspective. The ole girl is distinguished landmark. The views from the upper deck were impressive, but Marin's favorite part of the voyage was the juggling clown in the dining room.

We were also excited to finally see Jason, our CCAI guide from three years ago. He and his current group were with us on our cruise. We shared lots of pictures of Helena as a big grown-up four-year-old, and also introduced him to Marin. He is now married and still happily working for CCAI. We mentioned to him that we thought we remembered he was dating a girl, when we were here last time. And with a twinkle in his eye, his reply was "yes, I think a few girls, but I picked the right one to marry."

Please excuse the runny nose pictures but we thought they were too cute not to include. We also included a picture of one of the orange trees, which are all over town, and are a sign of the upcoming Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival to the locals. People were out in droves today, doing their holiday shopping. The stores are packed with all of them playing the same Happy New Year sound track. By the time we leave, we should know the words by heart.

We are very excited about our day tomorrow. The three of us, and our representative Grace, will travel an hour and a half southwest of Guangzhou to visit Marin's previous digs, the True Childrens Home. We have a list of questions and and we hope to have lots of good info to share in our next post.

Pearl Market and Playtime.

Just a quick post today since its late here. We had a fun morning at the wholesale pearl market. Its the size of a very large, multi-level shopping mall with primarily pearls and beads for wholesale distribution. Unreal. As you can see from the colored beads picture, the quality may be variable. We bought a little something for me and the girls from a "reputable dealer" according to our agency representative. We are hopeful that we won't get home to find the paint coming off the pearls. I'll let you interpret the pic of Justin and Laura for yourselves.

We forced Marin into two naps today, a bit of a battle since her nap schedule has been off since Gotcha Day. Paperwork and other obligations seem to always fall during nap time. Her cough is no worse and maybe a tiny bit better and she is sleeping quieter tonight, sounding less and less like a sleestack (not sure I spelled it right, and only those of a certain age will get the reference anyway).

Included a couple of cutie-pie pics just for fun. We know you only tune in for the pics of Miss Marin anyway. :)

Familiar Sites

Today was a "tour the city" day, with no scheduled meetings related to completing the adoption process. After our daily breakfast buffet, we piled on the bus and headed to Seven Banyan Temple. Places like this put what we like to call the old, old country into perspective. Erected some 1500 years ago, the temple avoided destruction during the cultural revolution in the late sixties by hanging posters and banners of Chairman Mao at and around the entrance. One can only imagine what the landscape looked like at that time. Now, the remaining two banyans and temple are smack dab in the middle of town, with the temple and courtyard surrounded by high rise buildings. Despite the neighbors, the temple grounds are a very peaceful place and we enjoyed a little solitude. The babies received a traditional blessing from one of the monks and we watched as many of the area Buddhists left offerings of incense and fruit.

Next stop was the Folk Art Museum. This historic structure was built years ago by one of the biggest families in China. Over the years it has been a number of things including a college. It is one of our favorite sites from our last visit and we thought a lot about Matt, Kristi and Ruby and the multiple trips we made to find the right "souvenir" in 2008. Today we enjoyed some new exhibits and even got out of there with most of our Yuan in our pockets.

We had a brief follow-up with a doctor after our compulsory exam yesterday. We won't bore you with the details but will say that little Marin checked out okay and she also rivaled her big sister in the "good patient" department. The day did include some mentionable parental stress, and little episodes like this really bring home the miracle of adoption. The instant love and concern you have for this little being in your care is immediate. It is real. It is intense.

In an effort to "equal out" the parental bonding, we changed things up on Marin today. Daddy got her up, fed her, changed her diaper, and strapped her to his chest. There was remarkably little resistance from Mimi and things seemed to go swimmingly. This all changed when Dad tried to relinquish his charge for a quick trip to the boys room. That's when mommy had a little ego check as Marin rejected her outright. We humored Marin for a while, but at some point told her enough was enough and told her "you will talk to your mother." After this didn't work, Val tried another tactic and took off the hat she was wearing. That did the trick. Who knew that Marin was just expressing her fashion advice and trying to tell her mommy that her hat was "so last year."

Tonight we were ALL buddies and after a day of inconsistent naps and feedings, Marin is snoring peacefully in her crib. Tomorrow, we will try to improve on our feeding and napping schedule and we will both leave our black hats at home.

Meet Our Families.

Although we technically have seven families in our CCAI travel group, there are only four of us currently in Guangzhou, as the others are still in their respective provinces finalizing their provincial paperwork and getting acquainted with their babies. This has given us lots of opportunities to get to know our small group a little better. Having a small group also means things take less time when only four families are being processed (passport photos, doctor visits, etc).

Diane is seen here with her three-year-old daughter on Gotcha Day. I have never seen such a quick bond and this little girl, Jessica, is happy and playful as well as being a little pistol, just like any three-year-old. Diane's husband is at home in Boulder, CO with their seven-yr-old, but brought her good pal, Laura (a.k.a. Sherpa Laura). She is pictured with me in the red coat and is a perfect travel companion. While Diane is busy running around after Jessica, Laura is her support staff, laundry doer, stroller fixer, and all around good friend with a very positive attitude to boot.

Chris and Suzanne from Memphis are pictured here with their daughter, Abbie, who was adopted from Kazakhstan eight years ago, as well as their new addition, Emma. Abbie too is a wonderful travel companion for her parents as they all get to know their new family member. Emma doesn't think much of Dad yet, however, he has a fan in Marin and she flirts with him whenever she gets the chance.

Chris and Kristin, seen here soon after their Gotcha moment, have two boys at home in Colorado(ages 9 and 11). Their daughter, Jenae, also prefers mom but dad continues to bribe her with food... it will work eventually :)

And that brings us back around to us and Marin. She still isn't feeling well and appears to like the consistency of one person to cuddle all the time. So, you guessed it, Dad is not currently her favorite. The advantage for him is that gets to go to the bathroom by himself whereas Val has a little velcro attachment. Justin is taking it in stride and sometimes it seems like Marin is just experimenting with how far she can push her new Mommy. She is still coughing quite a bit and we may be on the verge on antibiotics with her worsening cold --although its likely a virus and we are trying to wait it out. Tonight she is resting soundly after her big day at the doctor's office for her visa physical. You can tell from the pic that she was having an off moment, but she managed to be back to her happy self after a nap. Yesterday we were beginning to wonder if she was just going to be quiet kiddo, but today she has turned on the charm and babbled our ears off. She has even said Mama and Dada in the past 24-hours, music to our ears!

Hide-and-Seek and other hotel room games.

We are getting to know this little girl just a little better each day. Her personality reveals its little gems a bit at a time. This morning, she was adamant in watching the CNN financial report while Justin changed her diaper. We we're told that she regularly watched Baby Einstein (in English), but they didn't mention she also liked Bloomberg Report. Her granddads will be so proud!

Hanging out in our room she spontaneously started doing some yoga (downward dog), which later turned into a game of hide and seek. We caught her spying on us from her crib (during what was supposed to be nap time), and then when she noticed us noticing her, she immediately headed for the corner of her crib, dropping her head down like an ostrich --while sporting a big grin on her face. We have yet to hear a laugh, but have had plenty of little quiet coos and giggles.

Unfortunately she is not feeling 100%. Her cold has gotten worse over the day and she is really congested, but this doesn't seem to dampen her sweet disposition. She curses us in Mandarin when we bring out the "snot sucker" but this animosity quickly fades. She has also been tugging at her ears, which we fear is a little ear pain. So she is now on occasional ibuprofen and I have a feeling she is going to need a steam-bath. So itspizza night in the hotel room. Sorry, no parties.

We are officially done with the "Chinese side" of her documentation and we are now moving toward her American immigration side of the paper chase. We included a typical scene from one of our many meetings. Funny, we work so hard getting her established with her Chinese identity and passport, just to have her become a US citizen as soon as we clear customs in San Francisco. Our prize is now in this final chase, her visa, so we can bring this little bundle home.

Thanks to all of you sending e-mails and blog comments our way. It's such a nice thing to wake up to in the mornings, so please keep it coming. Although we are surrounded by 15 million people, we are still a bit lonely for family and friends. Your kind words remind us of what blessings we have awaiting us at home.

Thanks to Nana and Granddad, we Skype with Helena about once a day and she has been a little trooper. We miss her so, and she appears to be growing every day. Unbelievable that she was this small when we first met her. We miss her a little more each day and try to block it out so as not to eventually lose it. Ten more days to go Lena! BTW, we weighed Marin this morning with the help of a luggage scale and shopping bag. 18 Lbs of pure sweetness.

What Else Ya Got, Mom?

We returned to the scene of the crime this morning and had our official meetings with the registry official and notary public. Marin is now our responsibility and we were formally asked our intent to accept her and make her part of our family. Although it may seem like some small formality, in the eyes of the Chinese Government it legally and morally solidifies our relationship with our new daughter. And with truth and confidence in our hearts we enthusiastically said "yes".

The main lobby in the Civil Affairs office was a much calmer scene today than it was twenty-four hours ago. To describe it yesterday as complete chaos would be an understatement. We were prepared for a hand off similar to Helena's, three years ago. On that afternoon each family was called up individually, their child was then brought out to them, they would greet him/her and then find a quiet corner to be alone with their new bundle. Not the case yesterday. Children (and their accompanying caregivers) arrived from every possible direction. All four of our group's families received their girls at approximately the same time. Although all of our (group's)introductions were fairly peaceful and subdued, this was not the case for everyone in the lobby. There were a few scared little souls and lots of tears. These initial meetings are hardest on the older kids (Butch and Mandy can relate with their "screamer")and we witnessed one especially difficult introduction. With their new son screaming bloody murder, Val offered them a little pep talk and shared little Reid's story with them. Butch and Mandy, fine folks from our first trip, endured an hour and a half of a wailing Reid, before he succumbed to their patience and warmth. I can still remember the three of them (Butch, Mandy and their new son Reid)filling the back of our bus with infectious laughter --all the way back to the hotel. We are happy to report that today we learned this same scenario occurred yesterday, with the little boy's fearful eyes replaced with grins and giggles.
But, enough about other people's kids...how about this daughter of ours? We had an amazing day getting to know this precious little gift. She is a charmer and loves to share her little smiles with whoever might catch her eye. Mom thought it was high time to introduce her to a couple kid staples, cheerios and rice congee. Marin's reaction, "Mom, where have you and your cheerios been all my life?!?!?!"

Here's Our Girl!

Where to begin... Words truly failed us today when we stood, stunned, as two lovely American women delivered our daughter Marin Irene into our arms. They said, "Do you know who we are?". Uh,... no. They proceeded to tell us that Marin has been with their charitable organization (True Children's Home) for special needs kids and has been in their loving care since she was four months old. They arranged for her lip AND PALATE surgery to be performed at the same time and she remained at their facility through the surgery (which was in June) for the past nine months. They proceeded to give us a special quilt made for her by some dear ladies in Phoenix, AZ and a priceless photo album that one of the staff members put together for her to have as a keepsake. To top it off, in keeping with a Chinese tradition, they had a small lock of her hair made into a special calligraphy paintbrush. Most importantly, it appears she has received excellent day-to-day care by people who love her. We were speechless, utterly speechless. When we tried to thank them, only our cracking voices could be heard through our tears. These are incredible people with such big hearts and faith in their cause. They handed Marin to us, answered all our immediate (albeit dumbfounded) questions, and gave her a big kiss on the cheek "bye bye Xi Xin!" as they left the building. We are so hopeful that we can honor their invitation and travel to see their facility sometime later this week in Dongguan, about 90 minutes south of here (Guangzhou).

Now about Marin, what an angel and what eyelashes. I have to say we were expecting a real challenge today. I thought since she was likely with foster parents, and probably returned to the orphanage for a short period of time, that she would be in a state of shock and sadness when she met us. On the contrary, she just looked up at us from her caretaker's arms so we wanted to move slowly without freaking her out. Mikel, the director (a twenty something supermodel who is fluent in Mandarin, Tyler), confidently said "Just take her, its okay". And we did, Val took her into our arms and Marin assessed us and just kept looking at us and others in the room, but she never freaked out or shut down, she only whimpered a bit at first. She didn't eat great when we got back to the room, but ate well enough (from a normal bottle) for us to breath a sigh of relief and put her to bed. She sang to herself, and I SWEAR she said "Mama", and flashed a couple smiles before drifting off to sleep. I must say, the whole day went about a thousand times better than we were expecting. Our prayers have been answered, really, and we are now excited to get to know this Baby Marin (and yes, we have called her Mimi a few times) over the next two weeks.

Helena has also been on our minds all day. We can't look out the window, get something to eat, or walk through the hotel without thinking of her and the special time we spent here together. We really miss our little Lane and that is sure to escalate over the next ten days. We can hardly wait to introduce her to her new baby sister.

Greetings from the PRC.

After a long morning of relaxing at the Hong Kong Hyatt, we boarded a train and set sail for the PRC.
The short two hour ride was great. Ambling along the track, checking out the countryside is so much more enjoyable than being stuffed in the cabin of a jetliner. I really wish trains were a more viable option for us in the US.
There's nothing like looking over miles and miles of endless high rise apartments to put into perspective what 1.3 billion people looks like. Wow. Cruising past "country towns" with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants is then dwarfed again when you arrive in Guangzhou, the 5th largest city in China (population 15 million).
Our smiling CCAI rep was patiently waiting for us at Guangzhou East station. Her name is Grace and she's great. With a sparkle in her eye, she answered the question that was on all our minds..."you will get your babies at 2 o'clock tomorrow."
We settled in at the White Swan (good to see the old Swan),and started to digest what we knew, where we were and what we had in store for the next 36 hours. We received some mysterious news about Marin's condition and current living situation. Sorry, no more than that to share until we hear the official word from her caretakers.
Last night and this morning was a sweet trip down memory lane. Seeing the young ones with their new proud parents is truly a sight to behold. At breakfast this morning, the dining room was full of babies, at various stages of getting to know their new mommies and daddies. We saw a few infants, toddlers, and certainly more special needs kids than last time. The hotel looks EXACTLY the same. The only difference in our room is that we have a city instead river view, but still interesting with lots of people-watching on the street below.
Well, that's it for now. We know you are patiently waiting for the "Real News", and we plan to deliver that in our next post. Please keep us, and especially Marin, in your thoughts and prayers... stay tuned.

Programming note: We are unable to access our own blog from here like last time. So, thanks to uncle Tyler who will be posting messages and images for us --hopefully it will work. We are still getting emails, so keep those comments coming. We love hearing from all of you. Butch, the ham fried rice is still damn tasty.

Do you need a suit?

All of the touts on the street corners of Hong Kong seem to think Justin does! We spent the morning exploring the city, and he was approached no less than ten times by entrepreneurial tailors. I guess he appeared a) under-dressed, b) gullible, c) wealthy, or d) American ... wrong on at least the last two counts.

After a very long travel day yesterday (twenty-four hours of transit between our house in Holladay and our Hong Kong hotel), and only three to four hours of sleep, we were beyond tired last night. However, our hotel is lovely and a nice place to lay our weary heads. We ordered room service and then had no energy to eat it. We slept well and then ate even better this morning. We are getting to know our travel group and it appears we will get to know at least three of couples quite well, as we will travel together by train tomorrow morning to Guangzhou. We re-acquainted ourselves with the Kawloon area today and had good memories from our last visit here. Then we had a dim sum lunch with our travel group and even had the same guide, Matthew, as we did three years ago. Families from our previous travel group can envision our lunch today... same room, same menu, great food. We also cruised around the shopping/tourist area. I mean, who really needs to go to the Louvre when you can see the Mona Lisa in burnt toast at the mall?

Justin was interviewed by a cute little elementary schoolboy (alias, Peter) on the waterfront today. Several boys were in there school uniforms and with their teachers. The boy was practicing his English for a school project by asking Justin how to spell his name, where he was from, and how long we were staying in town. Very cute. Along the waterfront, the Avenue of Stars is also a tourist hot spot and it is fun to see their fascination with Bruce Lee, paying homage to Hong Kong's coolest native son.

We thought we might watch the lights over the harbor tonight, but instead opted to have a few beers in the bar with some of our fellow travel couples. Funny, they were seeking our "wisdom" since we had done this before. We had to laugh since a few short years ago, we were begging for advice from those around us. We are amazed at these couples, who have patiently waited FIVE YEARS for their referrals and are finally going to meet their daughters in just a few hours. We are so happy for them.

See you on the mainland!

Marin, your room awaits...

and so does your family. We are down to the final hours, not days, before we hop on a plane and thoroughly screw up our internal clocks. Marin's bag is packed and it seems as though we have transferred the contents of an entire medicine cabinet, dresser, and toy box into her suitcase. We are going to weigh it to see if Mom and Dad can stuff in a few more things. Marin's parents, however, are going to share a suitcase...that should be interesting. So, bags packed. Room complete. Documents copied. Shots given. Appointments scheduled. We're almost ready but I'm sure that won't prevent the last-minute scurrying around that seems inevitable.

We continue to have a bit of feeding-anxiety. Since Marin has a cleft palate, this may present a bigger challenge than we had with her big sister (who, by the way, ate anything and everything for a year). We have been encouraged by parents with this experience under their belts to be patient and not to worry too much. These babies are usually quite adaptable and have figured out their own ways of eating, so we are hopeful that Marin will give us a little tutorial on how to best feed her. We hope the Pigeon nipple is all its cracked up to be!

Most importantly, Helena will be in the best of hands and will have all of her grandparents to entertain and keep very busy. I asked her last night what she is excited about and she said "Nana and Granddad, Baby Marin, Grandma Pat and YeYe (Granddad Jim)". I asked her what she was worried about and she said, "My blankie". So, I suppose since blankie is accounted for and grandparents are scheduled, she has very little weighing on her mind, thankfully.

We are starting to sense the excitement and warm encouragement from those around us. Thanks to all for your support and kind notes. A particular heart-felt thank you to whomever delivered the generous and thoughtful gift to our doorstep two nights ago. It included a Chinese proverb: "Make happy those that are near and those that are far will come". We deeply appreciate and will use your wonderful gift with this in mind, hoping to pay it forward in some way.

ps. A special Thank You to Nana Caroll. Truly, without her, it is hard to imagine this trip being possible. From her gentle motherly advice, her hand stitching of pillows and such in Marin's room, her devotion to her granddaughter Helena, and countless other little things she does for all of us, Nana always shines. As was her mother, Irene, Nana is a giver. She graciously and tirelessly gives all she has to her family. It brings us such joy to know that very soon little Marin Irene will soon feel first-hand her grandmother's love.