Cassreinos prepare for Dec. 1 China adoption trip

By TERRY R. CASSREINO

MADISON, Miss. (Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008) -- Welcome back to Cassreino Online, our family blog and an archive of our April-March 2006 trip to China to adopt our daughter, Camryn Ai Hua.

It’s been two years and eight months since that momentous occasion. You can look back at our trip by visiting this blog’s archives on the left side of this page. From there, go to March 27, 2006, and you can follow our trip day-to-day until we returned to Mississippi after a nearly three-week stay.

Since then, we moved from Hattiesburg, relocated in Madison County just north of Jackson, I took a job as communications director for the Mississippi Democratic Party, Pam works as a teacher in Madison County Schools, and Camryn continues to grow and amaze.

The big news for us, however, is that Pam and I are returning to China on Monday, Dec. 1, 2008, to adopt a little boy. And we will chronicle every step of our trip through this blog, offering readers like you an update probably twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon; sometimes we’ll update more often.

You can expect more of what you experienced during our last trip: Observations about China and what’s different two years since our last visit; a critical review of airline food (and with all the extra fees they are charging, it ought to be better than the garbage we had last time); a critical review of the different Chinese beers based, of course, on observations and reports from our new son (who has had more than a year to try them before we arrive in December); and, more importantly, an intimate look at our adoption.

The world has changed a lot in the past two years. We moved to Central Mississippi after quickly selling our Hattiesburg home in the end of a booming real estate market; the state and national economy has crashed; we have a new president who no doubt will right what had been a sinking ship; “The Sopranos” is no longer on television and I have nothing for anyone to tape on television while I’m gone; and Blu-Ray discs have replaced DVDs (at least for me and my sick addiction to buying films) in home libraries.

But one thing hasn’t: The need for innocent, abandoned children to find a new home. And that’s what we plan to do. After months of stressful waiting, Pam and I are finally ready to head to China on a trip that will end with us adopting an orphan boy. He Wu Di was born on March 16, 2007. And he’ll be 1 year, eight months when we get him.

Check back daily beginning today and follow our journey. Don’t forget to share your thoughts with us, too, by sending an e-mail or commenting on our entries. And something new this time: Look to the left-hand column and you’ll see a link that will allow you to subscribe to our blog by RSS feed.

Look for more on He Wu Di and our complete travel plans in the next couple of days.

Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino, all rights reserved.

Starting the adoption process again

Saturday, July 6, 2006

We've just made it official: Pam and I are applying with Holt International Children's Services to adopt a secondchild from China. A welcome packet is on its way from Eugene, Ore., about the China program.
Ofcourse, we are familiar with the program. So, while it will be once again tedious work compiling documents, it should be easier because we've been through this already. My best guess is that we couldhave a dossier ready to ship to Holt and China by about October or November.
If the wait time holds up, we could be back in China for another adopting by the end of 2007.

-- TERRY R. CASSREINO

Mother's Day and our seventh anniversary

Saturday, May 20, 2006

HATTIESBURG – I’m running a little late, so sorry.
But here’s to Mother’s Day and our seventh wedding anniversary. This short photo gallery is a nice look back at Mother’s Day weekend. The photos are not in order, but you’ll enjoy them anyway. -- Terry R. Cassreino

PHOTO 1
Camryn enjoys a ride in the basket at Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Hattiesburg as Pam spends hours and hours walking up and down the aisles looking at every item for sale and reading all product labels. I’m not sure when the photo was snapped, but I know it was recently and it is kind of cute.

PHOTO 2
OK, so I’m cheating a little. This wasn’t exactly Mother’s Day. But it does feature Granny Jo feeding little ol’ Camryn. Actually it’s Na Na Jo. Another nice photo if grandmother and baby. And a nice shot for Mother’s Day whether or not it was snapped that day.

PHOTO 3
Mother’s Day morning, before we attended Mass at St. Thomas. Here, Camryn sits in her high chair staring at a Cheerio minutes after she rampages through the house clanging pots and pans and screaming in Mommy’s ear.










PHOTO 4
Later that day, Pam and Camryn sit on the front steps of our house for this nice shot.













PHOTO 5
On Monday, May 15, we stopped at my sister’s work to visit before Pam and I headed to Uptown New Orleans for our anniversary dinner. Here, Camryn holds onto my fingers as she shows off how she can stand.

PHOTO 6
I love black and white photography. There’s something about it, a timeless quality. This is a particularly nice shot on grandmother, Maw-Maw Gay, and grandchild.












Photos and text copyright 2006 by Terry R. Cassreino

Letter from the president

Sunday, May 14, 2006

HATTIESBURG - Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there.
And in celebration of this momentous occasion, I thought you'd like to read thetext of the letter President George W. Bush personally mailed to our daughter, Camryn, to mark her citizenship in the United States.
- Terry R. Cassreino

****

Dear Fellow American:

I am pleased to congratulate you on becoming a United States citizen. You are now a part of a great and blessed Nation. I know your family and mends are proud of you on this special day.

Americans are united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals. The grandest of these ideals is an unfolding promise that everyone belongs, that everyone deserves a chance, and that no insignificant person was ever born. Our country has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by principles that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests, and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every citizen must uphold these principles. And every new citizen, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.

As you begin to participate fully in our democracy, remember that what you do is as important as anything government does. I ask you to serve your new Nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens building communities of service and a Nation of character. Americans are generous and strong and decent not because we believe in ourselves, but because we hold beliefs beyond ourselves. When this spirit of citizenship is missing, no government program can replace it. When this spirit is present, no wrong can stand against it.

Welcome to the joy, responsibility, and freedom of American citizenship. God bless you, and God bless America.

Sincerely,

George W. Bush

Camryn receives citizenship papers

Friday, May 12, 2006

By Terry R. Cassreino
HATTIESBURG – Camryn’s official citizenship documents arrived in the mail today.
So now it's official. Well, actually, Camryn became a U.S. citizen as soon as we landed in Detroit on Friday, April 14, and we all went through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services checkpoint.
The certificate is just a little lagniappe. Actually, it’s kind of cool-looking and features an official U.S. seal. It even spells out Camryn's full American name: Camryn Ai Hua Cassreino. And it has a color mug shot of the baby.
Too bad I can’t post a copy of it here on this blog. A statement on the certificate says clearly that any photographs or duplication of the certificate is against the law and punishable by public hanging in the town square of a major American city to be determined at a later date.
Hey, but Camryn did receive a signed form letter from President George Bush. The old prez himself said in the letter that he was extremely glad and proud that someone like Camryn decided to become a proud citizen of the United States of America.
Geez, with all the problems Bush is facing in the polls across America (skyrocketing gasoline prices; an ongoing, pointless, unnecessary war in Iraq; the foot-dragging he has done and continues to do in, first, saving, and, then, rebuilding New Orleans, Southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast), you'd think his office would have been able to realize that Camryn IS A BABY FOR GOD’S SAKES.
She didn’t choose to come here (although, I maintain that had she known beforehand that I was going to be her father she would have had her bags packed, her Sunday-best on, her plane ticket in hand, all the paperwork completed and be ready to go the minute Pam and I arrived at the Gloria Plaza Hotel in Nanchang, China).
Pam and I made the decision for her to be a U.S. citizen. And we are glad we did.
Oh well. C’est la vie. On with the show
So let’s move on to the photos in today’s gallery. These may not be the most exciting (I’ll have some better ones after a trip to New Orleans for a wedding anniversary dinner with Pam on Monday), but they are all I have to offer.
One final note – the dates and times marked on the photos are wrong because my camera is still on Beijing time. Sorry.
Here goes:



PHOTO 1
Camryn stages a sit-in in our master bedroom. This was on Sunday, April 30, before we packed up and headed to Slidell for the weekend (yes, the weekend because I am off on Sundays and Mondays). Camryn refused to budge. She sat there for hours. We had to get a crow bar to remove her from the carpet.








PHOTO 2
Well, after we removed Camryn from the floor we piled in our Toyota Camry and headed for Slidell. When we got there, my mother informed us that my aunt, Rose Caffery, and my cousins (her daughters) Kelly and Melynn, wanted to see Camryn. So we piled back in the Camry and drove to Metarie. I hadn’t seen Aunt Rose in a few years and rarely see Kelly or Melynn. They look pretty much the same. Here they are in Aunt Rose's house.





PHOTO 3
Kelly, right, laughs at the fact that I have more hair on my legs than I do on my fat head. Some things just never change.












PHOTO 4
In this group shot in Aunt Rose's living room Kelly, right, and Melynn, left, pretend to enjoy my company. Notice how I take up three-fourths of the sofa. I thought I lost weight on the trip to China. Ha. Fat chance. Oh, sitting on my lap is innocent little Camryn. She actually behaved herself quite well. No temper tantrums. No spinning heads. No pea soup. No profanity. An angel.






PHOTO 5
Hours later, I was back at my mother’s FEMA trailer. Here I am in the dining room – inches away from the master bedroom, the spare bedroom and the bathroom – looking up at the television are thinking this is a small trailer. A real small trailer.









PHOTO 6
Oh, now how in the hell did this photo sneak in here? This is back at our house in Hattiesburg AFTER the trip to Slidell. Camryn is sitting on my lap while my mother demonstrates how to play a drum the baby just received as a gift. My mother came back with Pam and Camryn because Pam fell out of my mother's FEMA trailer and sprained her ankle. Ouch.







PHOTO 7
OK, now we are back to Slidell. Here is Camryn sitting in the spare bedroom of the FEMA trailer having fun while Mommy looks on in the background.











PHOTO 8
Just who in the hell organized these photos? Fire the jerks. These are completely out of order. This one is at Aunt Rose's house and is a group shot. I tried t oget in the photo, but was ordered out. They were afraid my natural good looks would steal all attention away from themselves. So I said fine, let them have their day in the sun. See if I care.







PHOTO 9
Back home in Hattiesburg. I just finished giving Camryn a shave. Her beard was especially thick. If you look hard, you can even see a little bit of the shaving cream on her face. I’m still thinking about just letting her beard grow and then possibly enter her in one of those carnival side shows you see at events like the Mississippi State Fair in Jackson in October. I remember at the Gulf Coast Fishing Rodeo in Gulfport one year I went to see the world’s fattest man. I paid $5, got suckered into the room and saw a guy eating food. But let me tell you, I’ve seen fatter people grazing at the trough at those all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets or the all-you-can-eat casino restaurants. You want to see people who could stand to go on a 10-year fast and not suffer health effects? Stop by one of those buffets.