Here at Last! New Pics Added

Ok, I am here in China. We finally made it here and I also finally got to where I am able to get on my blog. It is actually day 2 here as we arrived yesterday afternoon. We still do not have any luggage and hope it finds us soon. Tomorrow day 3 we are supposed to do our site seeing to the Wall and the rest of the places listed on our itinery. Yesterday we went to 7-11 (they have one here, whoo hoo) we bought some bottled water and some munches. Water was like 20 cents for about a 19.6 oz bottle. A Bottle of Diet Pepsi was 40 cents for the same size as the water yet a can of diet pepsi at the hotel restaurant was $4.50. Can you say crazy??

Hopefully Short but Yet Sweet

Well, we are here at 3:40 am Cental time \in LA. We are not very cheery at the moment and quite tired. We arrived in Chicago to find all flights to LA were delayed. We moved up our flight to an earlier one in an attempt to catch our LA to Guangzhou flight on time. The earlier flight also got delayed but we thought we would still make it. We thought wrong. Come to find out they were to expedite us and luggage to our LA to Guangzhou flight and whether our luggage got expedited is yet to be known to us but we were definitely not expedited. Here we sit on the floor in a dead airport waiting for life to arrive for the United check in so we can be more tired and more angry with United for the mess they have caused. We do expect them to get us on the next flight straight to Beijing which is at 7:30 am PST with one stop who knows where and they better be in first class. I guess we will know more in a few hours. Wish us luck and pray we arrive on time in Beijing or at least Mikayla's province. Trying to stay calm and doing well traveling other wise, thanks for the prayers they are working well for my stability and peace of mind.

China Bound

Ok, Ok I am here to update! For those of you who reminded me what day it was and when I was supposed to be here....Thanks. Sometimes I need that little accountability push, especially now as time is ticking away (by the way the clock pictured here is my kitchen clock taken the time our phone call came in notifying us that our referral came in). In just 3 days we will be on our way. We are pretty much ready to go...just need to figure out how we are going to fit everything on the bed into the little suitcases allowable. In Tennessee, we found out with our business we will now be working with cell phone service, AT&T, Verizon, US Cellular and others just to name a few. If anyone of you would like new cell phone service let me know I can probably get you a really good deal. I will be doing some other new things with my business as well but I will get to that later. Right now, I told you I would be giving you our detailed itinerary so here it is....

Tues, July 28th Leave home to begin our journey

Wed, July 29th Lost day due to traveling over the International Dateline

Thurs, July 30 Arrive in Beijing ... relax go get some drinks and maybe some food, maybe
even a massage to help with the jet lag and sitting so long from plane to
plane (we will have approximately 24 hour total air time with layovers and
plane switching)

Fri, July 31 Free Day to do as we please as most of the group is just arriving on this day

Sat, Aug 1 Sightseeing with the adoption group in Beijing: TienAnMen Square and
Forbidden City, The Great Wall (Juyongguan) and then an orientation.

Sun, Aug 2 Fly from Beijing to Chongqing (Mikayla's Province)

Mon, Aug 3 In the afternoon, Meet Mikayla for the first time, Finally!!!!

Tues, Aug 4 In the afternoon, Adoption Process

Wed, Aug 5 Sightseeing with the group to the Zoo

Thurs, Aug 6 Sightseeing with the group: Ci Qi Kou Ancient Town

Fri, Aug 7 Get all the papers back, fly to Guangzhou

Sat, Aug 8 Medical exams for all the adopted children in the group

Sun, Aug 9 Free Day - Time to shop for those China memories

Mon, Aug 10 Free Day - Time to shop for those squeaky shoes and beautiful china outfits

Tues, Aug 11 American Consulate Appointment - to finalize the adoption, do visa
paperwork

Wed, Aug 12 In evening go to American Consulate to take oath and get visa

Thurs, Aug 13 Free Day for us, most everyone else will be headed home to USA

Fri, Aug 14 Departure to USA ...God Willing! Arrive in LA and stay the night

Sat, Aug 15 Arrive home with Mikayla......

All time not accounted for here we will be shopping, doing our own sightseeing around the areas playing in the pool or relaxing in our room. We hope to get plenty of pictures so keep following us as we go. I will probably not get much sleep with the new baby so I am sure I will be here at least once a day. Even if I do not get here while she sleeps I will be here while G gives me a break or two or three or four :)

The stork will arrive at our house the day we come home. We will post the flight home when the time gets closer. We will post the arrival time so if anyone would like to welcome us home and get a sneak peak of Mikayla before we whisk her off to her new home and we all crash, you are all welcome to do so. Please remember we will be very tired and Mikayla will be quite disoriented. We hope to spend some time alone once we get home and would appreciate it if you would all call before dropping by.

We are going to miss our boys while we are gone as I know they will miss us. I just can not wait until we are all home so we can all adjust and live the family life we so longed for. I am going to leave you for now and will probably not be back here until we arrive in China on the 30th unless there is time in layovers and I just pop in to let you know how far we have made it at that particular time. For my little accountability partners I am sorry to say you will not be able to reach me by phone but I will be checking mail and coming here. Keep us in your prayers for a safe and healthy trip. I look forward to getting back to you all soon.
Blessings to you all,
AJ

On The Road

I am on the road, Nashville bound. Catch back up with you soon, Sharon I will see you tomorrow. I will let you know all about the great new deals we have going on. Blessings, AJ

Going Crazy

Hello,
Just wanted to stop in and check on the blog. Thanks for the reply on the food source. Thank you Diana, I am so glad you were able to make it. We will be praying your turn comes real soon. I am off to the spa while laundry is going and dinner is in the crock. Tomorrow is my road trip to Tenn so I may be out of pocket from the blog until Monday. I am sure I should have something more to say by then. Gotta run. AJ

And Then The Showers Came

Shower Number One
Shower Number Two

The Fun We Had!!!

Yep, I am slacking already but not by too much. I have had two showers and have not been here to post about anything. Its all good though. Shower number one was Friday evening and went off without a hitch. It was my first shower and was a blast. I never thought I would have so much fun opening gifts that are not even for me. There was so much yummy food and so many great friends. Some of the gifts included a tricycle, potty seat, booster seat, dishes and cups, clothes and more. All filling my entire trunk and some in the back seat. Just for reminders for those who were there.......Who has the Paper???? Where is that paper I did not do my homework for nothing?? For those of you who will attend a shower in the future here is a tip for you: If you do not know what to get the mom to be.....Just get what you like and forget. ;)

Moving on to Sunday, afternoon and shower number two, it was just as much fun if not more. Great friends some I had not seen in what seems forever. It started with confusion and started a bit late. No problem with that no one minded or was in a hurry. Next, this was the fun part....first was the wind then the wall cloud and low and behold much more wind and then ohhh just a little bit of rain. We all survived the worst of it so did the food and the gifts. The food was awesome, tons of pot stickers, egg rolls, ribs and lettuce wraps all really good. I forgot the name of the place they were from so if someone who was there cares to comment and post it here that would be great. The gifts included: Diaper bag, flight vest, swimsuits, PJ's and wonderfully handmade photo albums and cards to name a few. Now the best part of the shower was the part that I had warned shower number one about....I told them if I had more time I would have done a bit more. When shower number two came I did have more time and from the pics you can see I had a blast. Some where along the line I decided to sit down and then getting to the bench and getting up and down was sooo difficult. When the storm started I thought my water broke....oh and we cant forget my false labor....having to eat for two and oh all the fun. ;)

Well my fun is over and I have to say to all the ones that helped create the showers, prepared and purchased the food, opened their home, came to celebrate at the showers with me and helped me pack it all up and everyone else I might not be mentioning....Thank You, Thank You, Thank You you really did a great job and made my day. I can not thank all of you enough. I know Mikayla will love everything and would love to meet each and everyone of you.

By the way I love coming here to post and every time I come here I always look to see who is following my blog....I am confused though because I only see three I know there are more of you. I guess I am wondering why you are not becoming followers. No matter, I guess, I know your out there. Until next time....Love ya, AJ

We Are Booked

It is official. We have booked our flight for China. We will be leaving home late afternoon, Tuesday, July 28th. We will leave China Friday, August 14th returning home late on Saturday, August 15th. It was crazy trying to find cheap flights. Especially since China Southern only flys on certain days, of course those days are not the days we wanted/needed to travel. Because of China Southern we will have to leave earlier then planned and coming home seemed easier to stay in LA a night with the way customs is there. All in all we are on our way so to speak just counting the days. Next week we will hear from the Agency about our inside China travel and we will be just sitting pretty waiting for the end of the month. Post more later....Hope all of you have a Wonder 4th Holiday Celebration. AJ

Appointment Confirmed

Hello Everyone,
I can not believe I am writing again so soon. I am definitely not upset about being here so soon. Our visa appointment has been confirmed so our itinerary will be as posted in the last post. Next step on to booking our flight making the process more of a reality. Catch you in a few. Blessings, AJ