Blog post #13

May 16^th, 2013 A short recap of the (long) past two weeks:

We spent a lot of time at the beach in Umhlanga & in Durban. The girls love the ocean & make a game of running into, & away from, the waves. The best of our beach days were spent with a family from the Church we’ve been going to here. They have been so fun to hang out with, so refreshing to talk to, and so encouraging to be around. Our time in Durban would have been much more isolated and more difficult without them. It was so nice to be invited to share meals together. Spending time in someone’s home when you’re overseas makes you feel less like a tourist & more like a traveler, if that makes sense. We will miss this beautiful beach, and especially this lovely family.

We did make it back to uShaka, where I fulfilled my dream of being kissed by a seal. It was…more intimidating than I expected. They aren’t the cuddly pets I had imagined them to be; more like loud, strong, smart beasts that have been trained to kiss. Nonetheless, a highlight of my life! And for any of you who were keeping track, Amahle did finally get to enjoy an ice cream cone there.

All the while, we were periodically traveling to Home Affairs, the office/entity responsible for issuing identity documents to South Africans. It was not as harrowing as I had feared, probably because our adoption lawyers worked long & hard & well-organized on our behalf. We successfully changed Amahle’s surname, got her a new identification number (similar to our social security number), received a new short-form birth certificate, are still waiting for the unabridged birth certificate, received her temporary passport, and will wait to receive her permanent passport when it is ready. Whew! Anyone who has adopted internationally deserves some sort of honorary degree in bureaucratic paperwork completion. Or a lifetime supply of lattes or something energy-replenishing.

Finally, on Tuesday we left Durban behind & traveled to Johannesburg for the last leg of our trip. Nine and a half hours in the packed car with two active little girls. We arrived late at night at the lodge, after a difficult time finding the right road. GPS is very helpful, but not always reliable around here. It often says, “Turn right on Road,” because it doesn’t know the name of the street, or, “Turn left on Unpaved Road.” We got settled in for the night, scrounging through luggage for toothbrushes and pajamas, and didn’t really see our surroundings until the next morning. When we wandered into the grounds behind our lodge the next morning, we were treated to views of zebra, gazelles, & emu! Such has been our experience in Africa—5 parts rush & drudgery, one part incredible splendor. I would even describe our adoptive parenting that way so far—mostly challenging, lots of correction, work around the clock, and then the rare glimpse of how things might be one day: peaceful, joyful, laughing and enjoying our new, expanded family.