Bringing Jansen Home

This seems to be his favorite sleep position or else he thinks it's his "better side" since we see this view a LOT! Too cute...

Just a brief post to say we're still alive and doing well...just BUSY!...at least too busy for computer time these days - ha! Are these boys handsome or what?!

We made it! Sorry it took awhile to get back online, but we've been a little busy... :0)... Rupankar Jansen is WONDERFUL, and we're just amazed at his resilience, personality, and overall perfection! Since it's pictures you want, it's pictures you get. Enjoy!!!

Today we were able to visit Rupankar Jansen's caregivers and buddies at the orphanage. I've never seen so many smiling Indian faces when "The Charmer" arrived back for a visit. These ladies and gentlemen obviously care a great deal about the children there, and it appears our newest addition is quite adept at wrapping adults around his little fingers. The caregivers were gracious enough to entertain Jansen while we spoke with the director and also took photos of some of the children. We so very much enjoyed spending moments with these cuties, even though it was nap time for quite a few of them. We unfortunately woke a few but I think a few were glad to see us so they could avoid a nap - ha! I also believe Rupankar wasn't the only charmer in the group. We definitely saw some big smiles and giggles. It was also pretty special for Jack when Jansen reached for him after walking back into the room we were in. You could tell the caregivers were pleased Jansen already seemed comfortable with his new parents. It was difficult to leave though because I knew these caregivers were a little heartbroken over Rupankar's departure. Several ladies peeked out of multiple rooms each time we were leaving a certain area, and it appeared they really wanted one last look at this precious boy. I think one caregiver was admonishing another though when she wanted one last hug from him. We didn't mind at all, of course. It means a great deal to know and see how much they cared for our son. I feel like I'm rambling because I just don't know how to explain all the emotions of it. I remember it being this way when Jayden came into our lives. We were thrilled for ourselves, yet heartbroken for his birthmom. You can also throw in some exhaustion for good measure, too -- ha! The same emotions are definitely there this time too. Excitement for our new family, sadness for the "family" that has cared for him to this point, and definitely throw in some exhaustion. Mix it all up and you might have an idea of what's raging through our hearts and minds right now. Enjoy the pics of the day. May post more in a bit.

If it weren't for the longer hair, I would swear this child is Jayden or his twin! Too cute to even describe! Gotta go snuggle with him since it's well after midnight here! Hope you enjoy the two videos from today and the pics cause we're sure enjoying creating the memories!

Joy here again. I may have confused some of you about whether we actually got to "keep" Rupankar Jansen once we met him at the VISA interview/US Consolate office. YES WE DID! Usually, families meet their child at the orphanage and spend time with the director, etc. before the final Visa processing takes place later that day or the next at the US Consolate in Calcutta. Maybe because our two boys were older than the typical child coming out of this orphanage or I guess maybe for any variety of reasons the orphanage director wanted to do things a little differently. It wasn't a problem, just not what we had expected to happen. We had plenty of notice though before we were to meet them and that first moment of seeing his face will never be forgotten. It will just have to be remembered in only our memories as no camara equipment of any kind is allowed even on the same block as the Consolate! We anticipated some of this security issue and hoped to meet Rupankar Jansen outside, but the guards still wouldn't let us open camera equipment. They were polite, just firm. We did use the camcorder a little on the ride back to our hotel with these two precious boys on our laps! I think it helped each of them to have the other beside them most of the day. They even exchanged toys and were a little jealous of whichever toy the other one had. Typical, huh?!

Anyway, it's been a superb day and I'll close with some pictures. Jordan took some really good ones, but alas, I pulled a no-brainer and had the memory card out of the camera at the time so the pictures are stored on internal memory of the camera. I only brought a memory card reader on the trip, so the other pictures will have to wait to be posted. But they are GREAT!!!! seriously! She truly got some great shots. Hope to post more tmw, but may be having too much fun playing with the newest addition to do that!

My sister has loaded videos of Jansen on her site because we are having trouble posting. The links are on the top right of the page. It may take as long as 5 minutes for these videos to load (so be patient). The man's voice you hear on the video of Joy & Jansen is Darrell from Carthage who adopted his son Luke from the same orphanage.

We're less than 2 hours away from meeting Rupankar Jansen! The orphanage staff is actually going to bring the boys (our traveling companion from Carthage, NC is Darrell and his son-to-be is Luke Swarnadip) to the US Consolate office at 2:30 p.m. (4am in NC on Tuesday) and we will meet them and have our Visa interview, etc. Then tomorrow we will go to the orphanage and take pics and video of some of the other children. This is different than what we expected, but that's okay. We're just excited, nervous, antsy, sweaty (just kidding), overjoyed, and so thankful to be in this moment. Thank you for your support along the way. We'll post pics or a note as soon as we can. :0)

Hello everyone this is Jordan. I just thought I would let you all in on how our day was. Today we got a lot of rest, seeing as we were so sleep deprived. Once we were all rested up, we all got ready to go do some site seeing. We decide that we would try to go to the market. We called for a driver and were on our way.

The ride to the market was very interesting. We soon found out, when people are driving, lanes mean nothing. they don't use them. All they do is honk their horns and drive wherever they please. We were all very surprised. Upon arriving at the market,we soon found that we were overwhelmed. There was so much going on around us, we didn't know where to begin.

The fist place we looked at was a place to buy art. The man that was trying to sell us a piece of art was very pleased to help us. After much deliberation, Joy picked out a piece that she liked. Next Jack and Joy decided they would like to buy Jansen some toy's from his homeland. They found a few cute things and we headed towards the purses. (Mine and Joy's idea!)We did not find a purse, but Jack and Joy found a valance that would go on the pack-n-play to make Jansen feel more comfortable.By this time we were ready to head back to the hotel.

While our driver went to get our car we waited on the side of the road. While we were standing there a young girl came up to us and was begging for money and food. We didn't know what to do. We wanted to give them money, but Joy was informed that giving the children money was not safe. When we got in the car I got very upset and started crying. I was so sad to think that we are so blessed to actually have food and a place to sleep while these people don't have anything. it made me feel extremely bad. When we got back to the hotel, Jack told us that right as we were getting in the car he handed the young girl some Indian rupees.

By this time we had arrived at our hotel. We are now getting ready for bed because we have o get up early to go to the Embassy. Tomorrow night we have our flight to Calcutta. We ask that you all will continue to keep us in your prayers.

Sincerely,
Jordan Powell

We ventured out a little Sunday afternoon and stopped at a local market, Dilli Haat, where we were first entertained by what appeared to be the battle of two bands. Good bands, too. But the market was an emotional eye-opener for us and we had a very quiet ride back to the hotel. Maybe Jordan will post more about that later.



Jack and Jordan sending out smiles and a wave for Jayden. We miss you, buddy!


Jack doesn't seem too sure about this drive. Jordan's eyes were even bigger.


Jack offered the "window" seat to Jordan for the first flight of the day. So where's the window?

Just a quick post to say we made it safely to Delhi. We're in our hotel and we're gonna grab a quick snack and hit the sheets. It's 3am Sunday the 27th here in Delhi but we're still on NC time and we feel like it's midafternoon Saturday -- only we haven't slept in days! Guess I should have slept a little more the night before the trip, huh?! It's really been a fairly smooth trip so far and we really appreciate the prayers for our safety traveling. Keep 'em coming. Jordan journaled some while we were stuck in a metal tube so she might post that later. She's been a great traveling companion and we're so glad she's with us! Well, I'm missing a certain 4 y/o and I'm gonna go sweet-talk the hubby into making a phone call over the pond. Even though we're only at the beginning of this trip we already have had some memorable moments, and we know the best is yet to come! Will post again after we rest.

So I just got off the phone with another Dillon adoptive mom (Kim) and I just had to share a little Jansen info with you. This family provided us with the most recent photos of Jansen when they traveled to India in December to pick up their daughter, Elizabeth, and Kim has kept a wonderfully detailed account of their trip on their blogspot. Earlier this evening I finally was able to read her postings of the day they first saw their daughter at the orphanage. Well, lo and behold she mentions Jansen and I practically jump out of my chair just reading a sentence or two about him. I can't explain it. The mere mention of his name makes me hyper, uhm, I mean appropriately excited for the occasion. Yeh right. Anyhoo, here's an excerpt from her blog:

"I scanned the babies' faces left to right around the room and immediately recognized one (Jansen) whose story I've been following and who will be coming home soon, but I kept scanning. Finally, my eyes rested on the baby being held by the ayah at the door, and it hit me. I recognize this one, too! This is HER!"

That describes the moment Kim saw her daughter for the first time in the flesh. Wow! And she was coherent enough to recognize our Jansen. Cool! She goes on to say this about Jansen:

"Jansen was in the corner charming everyone within sight! He had a stuffed animal that he was playing with, and Bruce was playing with him."

For those of us who have children in this world that we have yet to physically touch, words really cannot describe how it makes you feel to know that someone else was able to touch and communicate with your child. It's one part jealousy and one part thankfulness -- if that makes sense. I'm jealous of that moment in time I haven't gotten to experience yet, but I'm SO thankful another human being took the time to connect with him and to love on him when I can't.