A little about Mississippi, a little about Louisiana, a little about New Orleans and A LOT about our adoption story. This blog and our adoption story is dedicated to Camryn and Matthew Cassreino so that you both will know. Copyright 2021 by Terry R. Cassreino
MADISON, Miss. (Monday, Dec. 29, 2008, 11:15 a.m.) – Now that Christmas is over, Pam, Camryn, Matthew and I are busy preparing for the New Year.
Nope, we won’t be hitting the clubs or the party circuit on New Year’s Eve. It’s possible we might travel to Slidell – but that’s pretty iffy at the moment.
Actually, if I do travel to Slidell I will have to spend some time shopping for Carnival and the Krewe of Endymion.
I ride in Endymion, the largest Carnival organization in New Orleans with more than 2,500 members. The parade attracts 1 million-plus people to the streets of New Orleans; I’m on Float 7-A this year.
I already bought the majority of my beads; now I need stuffed animals and other throws. And if we head to Slidell this weekend, I may try to complete my parade shopping for this year’s event.
The parade, of course, is just one part of the next two months. Pam and I will attend the Endymion coronation ball on Jan. 31, the open house at our den Feb. 7 and the Endymion Extravaganza the night of the parade Feb. 21.
We also plan to take Camryn and Matthew to New Orleans for the parades. Camryn absolutely loves Carnival parades; it will be interesting to see what Matthew thinks.
MADISON, Miss. (Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008, 3:46 a.m.) – Now I can tell the whole story, one I purposely withheld from my wife, Pam, while we were preparing for and taking our trip to China to adopt our son.
Despite a successful and memorable trip to china in March and April 2006 to adopt our daughter, Camryn, this trip didn’t go quite as smoothly.
For starters, Pam and I traveled to China ill. I had a bad sinus infection that I still am struggling to end as I write this blog entry.
It didn’t help that Pam fell ill and bedridden for a day while in China; that Matthew, our son, became ill and had to seek help from a Chinese doctor; and that my sinus infection worsened.
On top of that, we were traveling across China – to Beijing, Zhengzhou and Guangzhou – by ourselves.
This time, Pam and I were traveling across the country by ourselves.
And we were traveling overseas less than a week after terrorists bombed a hotel and singled out Americans in a raid in Mumbai, India – next door to China.
I’m already fearful of flying. I entered the 2006 and 2008 trips to China mindful of the risks of international travel for Americans. But the terrorist attacks had me uneasy.
Everywhere we went in China, I was always making sure I knew where we were and who was around us. I kept on eye on Pam and Matthew and another on everyone else.
That was especially true on Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008, when a taxi ride left us on Beijing Street in Guangzhou – a scene of wall-to-wall people making a mad dash for retail shops that lined the wide thoroughfare.
I never felt so out of my element in my life. We were there maybe 30 minutes to an hour looking for a taxi; it seemed, however, like we were there for hours.
I know it sounds paranoid; heck, maybe it is. But I know how I felt, I know how uncomfortable things were for me and at times I knew I couldn’t wait to return home.
The state of our world today is pretty pathetic, isn’t it – particularly when a married couple, seeking to give an orphaned child the gift of a family, doesn’t feel safe on their journey to parenthood.
Well, we are home. We made it back safely. Our son has met our daughter. And we are grateful to Holt International, China and others for making this happen.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.
MADISON, Miss. (Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008, 9:30 p.m.) – I just barely made it through today as I continue to struggle with jet lag from our 31-hour trip to China in which we passed over the International Date Line and 14 time zones.
Pam also is struggling. In fact, it seems worse this trip than it was last time in April 2006 – possibly because we traveled home in 23 hours in 2006 compared to 31 hours this year.
Nevertheless, we managed to take Matthew and Camryn to visit Santa at the Bass Pro Shop in Pearl. Hey, the shop has a much better Santa than Northpark Mall in Ridgeland.
Matthew went hysterical and Camryn shied away.
After I explained to Camryn that Santa likely would pass up our house on Christmas Eve if she didn’t tell him what she wanted, she returned for a short visit on his lap.
Santa still had to pry from Camryn her Christmas wish: A hula hoop and a jump rope. Hopefully, I will be able to post a couple of Santa photos by Monday.
Today, Pam and I shopped for Christmas at Wal-MartSuperCenter in Madison. As expected, it was a madhouse; we lasted a couple of hours before deciding to hit Target on Monday.
Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.
MADISON (Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008, 5:35 p.m.) – Many of the Chinese we met during our Dec. 2-Dec. 18 adoption trip were concerned about one thing: The failing United States economy.
Everywhere we went in Beijing, Zhengzhou and Guangzhou, the Chinese whom we met and whom spoke English all wanted to know just how bad the economic crisis is back home.
I was fascinated with their concern, especially in a country that is still a developing nation. My answer was the same: It’s very bad, it could get worse but Presidet-elect Barack Obama will bring much needed change to the nation.
Our economic problems won’t end overnight, I said, but President-elect Obama will put us on the right path to correct the problems of the past eight years.
Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.
MADISON (Saturday, Dec. 20, 2008, 8:10 a.m. CDT) – My Friday was pretty much shot.
I stopped by the bank in the morning to deposit unused travelers checks (we got by nearly three weeks in China spending half of the budgeted amount of money, something I find amazing).
I visited my doctor to find relief from the sinus infection from hell that has been dragging along since Thanksgiving. My doctor gave me another round of antibiotics and took an x-ray of my sinuses.
I stopped by Kroger for about an hour to buy some much needed groceries for the house. And then at CVS Pharmacy to fill my prescription for antibiotics.
By the time I returned home, Pam was getting Camryn, our daughter, and Matthew, our son, ready for an afternoon nap. I was tired, too. The jet lag finally caught up with me.
Thursday night arrival
We arrived at the Jackson-EversInternationalAirport at 9:21 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 18. Northwest dumped our plane off on the tarmac, which I thought was classless and tacky.
We had to carry Matthew down a flight of steep steps, walk across the tarmac to the terminal, then trudge up two flights of steps to the terminal building. That sucked.
A few feet down the corridor, our family was ready to greet us and meet their new brother, cousin and grandson: Matthew Wu Di Cassreino. It was an overwhelmingly emotional event.
Our daughter screamed with delight to see us for the first time since Monday night, Dec. 1. Our moms cried tears of joy at seeing their grandson.
And Matthew was vaklempt. Actually, he cried and screamed, not wanting anyone but Pam and me.
Adapting to home
Since Thursday night, Matthew has accepted his family. He goes to his cousin, Jamie. He wants his Maw Maw Gay (my mother). He lets Na Na (Pam’s mom) hold him. And he loves his new sister, Camryn.
Camryn also loves her new brother. Other than learning about sharing (Matthew has no toys, while Camryn has tons) and the occasional slight streak of jealously (which is to be expected), Camryn adores her brother.
If you need proof, take a look at this accompanying photo: Friday night, Camryn helped Matthew to the glider in our living room, sat right next to him and gently ricked back-and-forth while her brother laughed of joy.
Then, Camryn rocked Matthew to sleep.
On tap for today: Let’s put up the Christmas tree and – maybe – let’s visit Santa Claus.
Copyright 2008 by Terry R. Cassreino. All rights reserved.
