Thanksgiving

With the turkey and all the trimmings finished and put away; one way or another, I keep coming back to what I'm thankful for. Other than the usual Aaron, Sammy, family and friends, there is a very special young man, so far away, whom I've never even met and of course it's Sebio. Hard to think or even verbalize my feelings about him and I'm sure his co-children that I will eventually meet and surely come to love. Being an only child I never knew what it was like to have siblings. And having no children of my own it's hard to think about having this special young man in my life and feeling maternal love for him even though I've never even looked into his eyes or heard his voice.

The anticipation of our meeting is at times overwhelming. I did hear from some friends after posting what the blog's name means. And I will admit I'm very nervous about the trip. I didn't mention before but I can't exactly post when the trip is actually scheduled to take place. For security reasons both ours and theirs it's best that some details are not disclosed.

I will however be posting about the preparations that will lead up to this monumental trip. I did get my passport so at least that's a start. I still have shots to get, ouch, not looking forward to that. And I am begging anyone who has ideas, thoughts or sentiments on how to best get through a flight that I've been told is oh, what something like 17 hours long...please send them my way. I have requested a hand-held gaming device for Christmas which I'm sure I can make good use of since I'm a Bejeweled junkie but I'm sure that won't cover "all" those hours.

I have been looking at websites and blogs for Filipino recipes to try. If I happen upon any that are successful I'll be sure to post them. We did find frozen lumpia while shopping at Ft. Dix and tried those. They are the equivelent of egg rolls and not bad. If anyone knows someone with Filipino recipes please send them my way.

So as this Thanksgiving quickly becomes a memory I am thankful to all of you in my life, those who are following along on this journey with me and especially to our boy Sebio who I look forward to meeting someday.

Baby Duck Revealed

Well, since no one wanted to play along and guess where the blog title came from here goes the story:

I do believe the origin of all this dates back to a September 10, 2008 email from Linda in Pa who wrote: "you really should consider a trip over...Sebio will be graduating and that would be the trip of a lifetime". Yeah right, sure thing I could see myself doing that especially after the presentation she and Ms. Bicky gave regarding their last trip over together about some of the conditions there; hot weather, loss of electricity, climbing out taxi mini bus type transportation and more. Na, I don't think so, I'll just support Sebio from afar as best as I can.

Now I've seen Linda and Ms. Bicky on occasions when Aaron and I have gone to see his family in PA. There were always mentions (proddings) of my going with them to meet Sebio and his co-children. And my response has always been that is just not for me, I'm a wuss.

Then came a June 1, 2009 email that she and Ms. Bicky had been tracking air fares and they were the lowest they had seen in a long time to the Philippines, they were planning a trip and did I want to go with them? I told Linda she never seems to give up but for some reason this time I was having second thoughts about actually going. Could I do it? Would I be able to deal with going to a country that didn't have all the creature comforts of home? But if I went I could actually meet our Sebio and give him hugs, perhaps even see him graduate high school.

So, on June 2, after an interesting phone conversation with Linda I said yes, I would go. But I'm sure some of you may be saying but Dawn where does this Baby Duck thing come from? It comes after reading the church bulletin where Linda always includes an article about the children at God's Town. This one in particular not only included a story but a picture...a picture of the boys holding the 11ft python snake one of the boys, Eric had killed on the property.

Oh yeah, and this is where I'm going...seriously? I immediately shot off an email to Linda and kept asking seriously an 11 ft. snake to which she replied: "I have never seen a snake when I was there...but I know they have lots of them including cobras. When you're walking you just make noise so they know you're coming and they will leave. There are some big spiders...and some REALLY big rats in some places. Don't worry Ms. Bicky and I will protect you." ending the email with:

"IT'S A WHOLE NEW WORLD FOR YOU BABY DUCK"

So from that point on I've been Baby Duck, BD for short, and there you have it. I figured since this probably is going to be one of, if not THE biggest adventure of my life what better name for the blog. I want to continue blogging about not only Sebio and his co-children but my preparation for this big adventure I'll be taking. Aaron will not be going it will be the 3 of us.

By the way, the Baby Duck name is quite flattering given my age of 50, how cool to be considered a baby of some sort!

Next time: my long distance project with Sebio and frightening trip prep

The Baby Duck is International

Ok, I will admit up front that I made a request from a relative to click and read the blog and thankfully they honored that request. It is so cool to see on the stat counter map a pin in another country. Thanks go to my cousin's son and daughter in law Todd and Brandi. I'm thanking them both because I'm not exactly sure who did it. That pin on the map is located in Germany.

And while I've got the floor I'd like to publicly thank Todd for his service, he is in the US Army and he and the family are stationed in Germany. He recently got back from deployment oversees and we're truly proud of him.

So as you can see the Baby Ducks first international landing was in Germany without so much as a single wing flap. Not bad for someone who has never left the country or had a passport...yet. And there lies another slight clue. So the Duck has now been viewed not only in Germany but in at least 12 US states from coast to coast.

I recently traced back a part of the origins of the blog title and it first goes back to an email dated October 10, 2008 from Linda in PA. Which wasn't too long after we signed on to sponsor Sebio. Actually I told Linda not too long ago I think this was all part of a plan ever since the first time I met her and listened to the presention by Ms. Bicky about their trip to God's Town.

A guess about the title....anyone??