Hello from Guangzhou, China...

Well, hello friends. It has been such an adventure since I last posted. I'm going to have to take this by days to explain all that we've seen and experienced. So here goes...

The Flight: I am convinced that God answered prayers about our flight. DELTA rerouted us through Atlanta and we ended up on a 777 Boeing Jet... Huge. And we got the front row seats in our section. We had lots of legroom and it was bearable. In fact, it didn't get miserable until somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. The inflight tv screens connected to our seats allowed us to watch unlimited movies and had interactive maps which showed us where we were along our route. We enjoyed a couple of meals... lots of rice, and we watched several movies. I smocked for a few hours and Griff read. My mom read and watched movies too. Once we arrived at Tokyo, we began to feel the affects of over 24 hours of no sleep. Your brain begins to feel a little fuzzy. The flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong was another four hours and we all three slept a little during this. I also watched a movie...:) When we landed in Hong Kong, we took a train out of the airport and it put us out at Kowloon station. From there, we took a van to the hotel. The van driver charged us $100 US dollars for the taxi ride to the hotel. At that point, we were beyond exhausted and couldn't find any other means to get to our hotel, as it was already getting close to midnight. He kept trying to assure us that we were getting a great deal... "good car, good car"... Yeah, right. Oh, well. He received a blessing from us that evening. I'll chalk it up to that. But my dad always used to ask me after a mishap... "Now what have you learned from all of this?" Well, in this particular case... do not trust any cab drivers and ask the concierge what a fair price is for cab rides. Lesson learned.

Hong Kong: Hong Kong is a city in the middle of the ocean... much like New York City. Lots and lots of people. Mass transit is the name of the game. We left our hotel Friday morning and went to the train station. It was very frustrating trying to learn WHERE we needed to go, WHICH train to take, HOW to buy a ticket, HOW to change paper money into coins, and HOW to get on the train. Crazy. But we did it. I was so proud of us. We went to Ocean Park, which is a popular tourist attraction in Hong Kong. It is very similar to a Six Flags... a little like a zoo, but with amusement rides and attractions. Griff loves roller coasters, so we went so he could do that. Let me just say that July heat in Hong Kong is brutal. I rode one roller coaster with him, but the heat got the best of me and took a pass on the second one, as I felt I might lose my breakfast. So, Griff rode the second one, The Dragon, solo. We enjoyed the bucket ride and I got some awesome pictures of the ocean. We then took the bus and train back over to the Kowloon side of Hong Kong and then took a train to the Tram, which took us up the side of a mountain. At the top, was Victoria's Peak, another key attraction for Hong Kong. We made more beautiful photos of the city skyline and ate dinner. Afterwards, we went back to our hotel to collapse. We were having difficulties with internet connections and were frustrated to the max. We were very much looking forward to getting to Guangzhou where we would have a guide to help us manuever around.

Guangzhou: Well, this is just the beginning of our time here. Our hotel is gorgeous. Since we've been here, our housekeeper has brought in freshly cut roses and a fruit plate. We received our itinerary and met our guides, R and M. They are going to be an enormous blessing in this foreign world. So... the most important thing: We will be leaving the hotel at 2 pm on Monday to go the Civil Affairs to get Mia. That is such a surreal feeling to know we are so close to meeting our daughter. I'm looking out of our hotel window over a city and I honestly cannot believe that I am here. She will be with us in two days. Wow....

We are about to venture out and find dinner. Please continue to pray for us, but most importantly for Mia. She is about to be taken from the only home, the only people she has ever known and be placed with strangers in a city she's never seen. EVERYTHING will be a new experience. God will protect her... but we must continue to lift her up in our prayers.

Much love,
Ashley

We Made It To Atlanta!

LOL... this is is going to be a long trip! Our flight itineraries were changed when we checked in this morning at the DELTA terminal. Instead of going to Minneapolis, we went to Atlanta. We will get to Tokyo earlier than scheduled with a little longer layover there than we were initially going to have. The word of the day is LUGGAGE. And lots of it. We are waiting in the Atlanta airport sipping our Starbucks (Thank you, Lord for Starbucks) and will board our plane to Tokyo around 1:30. Please say some prayers for us as we start the long part of this journey. The happy thought is that we are finally getting to go get Mia. I've been counting the days and the day has finally come. So thankful.

Much love,
Ashley

14 More Hours...

And I'm still not finished packing. We are leaving very early in the morning to begin the long journey to China. We will fly from Birmingham to Minneapolis, then to Tokyo, then to Hong Kong. We don't arrive in Hong Kong until Thursday, July 1 at 10:30 pm. We will lose thirteen hours, so our travel time will be somewhere in the neighborhood of twenty-six hours of travel. I travel a good bit with my job, but not internationally and NOT like this. I find airports to be the most miserable place on earth, honestly... People are in a hurry, they are tired, they are hungry, they are ready to get where they are going. So I am not looking forward to the next couple of days. Hong Kong... I am looking forward to. I can't wait to post pics of our stay there. Griff and I are looking forward to a little relaxation before we become the proud parents of Miss Mia. We are going over to my grandparents in a little while to enjoy some great Greek pizza (Griff's very favorite) before we leave home. Nana is on her way to stay with our boys, so they can stay in their beds in the morning, as we are leaving VERY early. For those of you that have followed our story from the beginning, I thank you. I am in disbelief that this is happening. I feel like I'm living in a dream. We have been blessed so much during this adoption process and we hope that you have considered what role you can play in the life of an orphan. Make the difference for one... love you all and I'll be talking to you next time from HONG KONG!!!!

Much love,

Thanks again, Dr. E...

I just THOUGHT I was going to spend the weekend packing and getting ready to leave for China. Instead, I am sitting in Cole's hospital room blogging. Wow, what a weekend we've had. Cole began having stomach pain on Thursday evening late. At first, we thought he had pulled a muscle. By mid-afternoon Friday, he was having excruciating pain in his lower abdomen and we raced to the ER in our hometown. After some blood work and a CT scan, we discovered that Cole had an appendicitis. Well, Dr. E. to the rescue... AGAIN. If you'll remember back in February Nolan had to get some stiches in his head after a sledding accident and our sweet friend, Dr. E fixed him up. So Dr. E. removed Cole's appendix later Friday evening. We are so thankful to have such a talented and kind friend that just happens to be an awesome surgeon. He is such a blessing. Cole is struggling with soreness and pain, but I know that this will pass in a few days. We are hoping he'll get discharged tomorrow, so we can get him home and settled before we leave Wednesday. I am so thankful that this happened now, instead of when we were out of the country. I have enjoyed loving on my sweet Cole and he has been a great little patient. God had a reason He didn't want me home packing this weekend. I'm just going to have to trust that He will grant me the energy to get us ready to leave. And while I'm on that subject, did I mention that we are leaving in four days? Oh, my goodness... now for another sweet thought... we will meet Mia in one week. I can't believe it's finally here. Unbelievable. Please say some prayers for Cole's healing, for my sanity, and for that God will prepare Mia's little heart to bond to her new family. Thanks, everybody.

Much love,

Another peek at her...

We received another little peek at our girl yesterday. She is so precious and I can't wait to be able to love on her. I am just praying that she'll let me... Hold on, Mia... we're coming for you... six more days...

Happy Anniversary and Father's Day too!

I'm a couple of days behind, but I wanted to tell my fantastic husband, Happy Anniversary!! And Happy Father's Day!!! Griff and I have been married for sixteen years (wow that sounds like a really long time...)and I have to say that our marriage keeps getting better. I know, I know... that is pretty corny, right? But, it's true. The older we get, the more we are beginning to realize what really is important in this life... and right now it's our family and our marriage. We are learning to prioritize our time together. Griff is my stabilizer, my calming force. I've loved him since the first time I saw him. He's also a wonderful father to our boys and I can't wait to watch him father a little girl. He doesn't think it's going to be much different... can you hear me giggling? Just wait, Griffin. I love you so much.

What are you up to? Oh, not much...

That's a joke... Since my last post, we have shifted into high gear preparing for our June 30 exodus to China. Wow... and still a lot left to do.
Crazy expensive airfare tickets bought, money wired to China, medicine and supplies bought, planned the boys activities for our eighteen day absence, and now I've started the daunting task of packing for all of us. I am so thankful for our quick travel, but now I realize it would have been easier if we'd traveled during the school year. Since it's summer, I'm scheduling the boys' care around golf camp, Camp Bobby, Vacation Bible School, etc. Please say special prayers for Nana (Griff's mom), Gigi (my dad), and my sister, Allison. They have got their work cut out for them trying to schedule all these activities!!! Allison and my mom came over tonight to help me pack Mia's suitcase. It is coming in weighing 46 pounds... so let's just hope it doesn't get fatter before the trip! We spread everything out on my bed and all over the bedroom floor... this is the fun part, because I know we are getting close now. One month from today we will be home... that is a wonderful thought. I'm working for another seven days and then we leave, so I'm sure I'm going to be pulling a lot of late nights preparing for this trip. My main goal this week is to have quality time with my boys as this will be our last week without baby sister. I am already beginning to get anxious about the idea of leaving them for eighteen days. I have been away from them at the most twelve days, and I was about to go crazy then... so this trip will be longer. I am praying that God will give me the encouragement and comfort I need to get through this very important month for Mia and for them.

"I can do ALL things through Christ which strenthens me." Phillipians 4:13

Much love,