Having a blast in India!

Beth and I made it through the wedding, which lasted for 3 days in Anand. We had sari's made in Delhi, and they were just beautiful. We missed the first night of the wedding, which consisted of the surrogates performing an act for the bride and bride groom. The second night of the wedding was the Mehndi party, which I loved and will most likely get a touch up on before we leave to come back home. On the third night it was a talent show, that ended in dance and drink. The next day was the wedding which was a lot of fun, especially being with the bridegrooms family as he made his entrance on the horse and carriage. The food was vegetarian, but most of it was made right in front of you at the wedding, which was great. We were able to meet so many cool people from all over the world, who were friends of the Patels.

Today we arrived in Jaipur after a very late arrival due to Spice Jet. Just for the record, never fly Spice Jet. We sat on the runway with no a/c for close to 2 hours.

We are staying at the Rumbaugh Palace in Jaipur tonight and tomorrow and will tour the area. Jaipur makes you forget that you are in India. I'm skipping over so much stuff, but I must get to my e-mails. I will post more in the am.

Here we come!

I leave for India this week-end with a girlfriend, and our main reason for going is the wedding of the Patel's daughter. This trip for me, stirs up a lot of emotions, but the emotions are differnt from those that I had when Mark was born October 2008. This will be my first Hindu wedding, and I truly look forward to this exciting event, and will share it with all those who might be intersted. I will also vist the surrogate house, and drop off goodies that Ip's have asked me to leave.
What a week this has been, as I try to organize my household for the next two weeks. My brother called me today to let me know that he has shipped his international telephone, and that it should arrive tomorrow. I want to be able to communicate with Colin and Mark on a regular basis. My checklist is getting shorter, but I still have alot to do, so I'm off to bed at 12:05 a.m.

YOU WOKE ME UP FOR THIS!

Mark Is One!

It seems like forever since I have blogged and Mark turned one on October 15th. We had a great birthday party for him last week-end, although he had no clue about what was happening around him. He had a year of many firsts, such as going to the West Wing of the White House, being a model in a Nordstom's show and flying to the West Coast at four months old. And tonight he was a dalmation puppy for Halloween. with that said this morning I opened a letter from India and it was a birthday card from his surrogate, Nayna, and her family. I would have never thought that it would have been an emotional moment. It felt like an internal game of tug of war. When one doesn't return letters or take the telephone calls from the all the while sensing her emotional and financial pain. The burden seems to much for me to bear.

I'm headed back to India in November, a place that I dread yet love at the same time. The culture shocks me, yet I feel awed at the human condition. Beth and I will be attending Dr. Patel's daughter's wedding in Anand, then head to Deli,agra and Jaipur. In my quiet moments, I know that Nayna and I will meet. How do I prepare myself for her that meeting?

THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES AND SURROGACY

Most people know who have read my posts know that our son Mark was born in India. In my quiet moments, I ask myself if I knew then what I know now, would I have gone to India. Honestly, I don't think I would have, I just would have been too afraid. The realities of surrogacy are the following: some clinics use prositutes as I have been informed by a prominent agency, some where the doctors are not doctors at all, but hairdressers, some clinics who do not synchronize the egg donor with the surrogate, surrogates extorting intended parents, clinics not being honest about pricing, surrogates aborting embroyos early in the pregnancy, surrogates who did not take the meds correctly before the transplant, lost sperm, and the list goes on. No one particular clinic is at fault, as no human being is able to police all of this activity, but the buyer must beware.

I would advise anyone to do as much research as you can on whatever clinic you choose, should you need the services of a third world country. The process is not an easy one and should not be entered lightly. If someone tells you that it is easy, run!! Most of us have had many sleepless nights and are filled with anxiety when doing business with someone who is thousands of miles away. With that said, all things are possible and many, many people have children in third world countries but you MUST, find someone who has already gone through the process, and let them guide you to ask the right questions of the clinic that you wish to do business with.

We are still in the process of deciding what is the best way for us to get a sibling for Mark, as we had a negative in July. As the late M. Scott Peck said.
"Life is difficult. This is a great truth, one of the greatest truths. It is a great truth because once we truly see this truth, we transcend it. Once we truly know that life is difficult - once we truly understand and accept it - then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters."

Do you want new fonts like mine?

I found a web site that has fonts you can install for titles and dates on your blog. I installed one called "milk". Here is how you do it (using whatever font you like):

1. Go to this tutorial for installing a font on KevinAndAmanda.com
2. Follow the very clear directions on the tutorial.

Expect to do uploads, downloads, make a site on webs.com and paste HTML into your blog's template. It's all very round-about, but it works. If you have trouble, just ask me to get Colin to help!

Autralian Immigration Procedures for Surrogate Babies Born in India

We heard from Millie and Terie, Autralian clients of Dr. Patel in Anand, Gujarat, India. From their experience getting a newborn surrogate baby from Dr. Patel's clinic, they have provided a PDF file that I would like to attach to this post. This file explains procedures for getting surrogate babies from India to Austrtalia.

However, only cool multimedia things like videos can be attached to a blog. At least that is what I read on a forum: "You can only upload video and images to blog. There is no ftp or Public_html folder".

So if you want the information about getting babies from India to Australia, please contact me directly: crystaldt@gmail.com.