Dear Disney

Take this trip and shove it
We ain't comin' there this year
You've gone and messed up all the reasons
We were comin' there.
You better not try to 'pologize
It's a little too late
Take this trip and shove it
You lost $4000 this date...

day 8 virginia trip 2008...we're home

John woke up at some ungodly hour like 6:30am and said let's go. I think he lost his mind on that drive. But then we got a wake up call at 7:20 for some unknown reason. And then the clock alarm went off at 8am. We took it as a sign that we needed to go and off we went. Well, we took advantage of their breakfast, then off we went.

During the long drive of the night we left the mountains, we left the hills, we left the forests, we left the huge groves of trees surrounding the highway. We're in east Texas, there are still some trees. And as we near Dallas it gets flatter, the air gets dirtier, and the trees are the same short oaks with few leaves like we have at home. You can really see the difference. Without a doubt, the eastern US is more beautiful than most of Texas. It makes this trip sadder.

We got home about 4pm and unloaded. Good to be home, but sadly we wish home was green and filled with trees. Tomorrow I go to the doctor.

day 7 Virginia trip 2008

The kids got along and the parents got along. It's just how you hope a meeting like this will happen. And man can her husband cook a great breakfast! Yummo!

The kids got dirty in that lovely red clay dirt stuff. =) And they also had a zip line that Adam loved (he now wants to put one on our stairway!) and surprisingly Jani loved it too. Even the little guys tried. Jace screamed with delight but Jovi was scared and let go. I think they only have it about 5 feet off the ground.I was pleasantly surprised to see that the trees in South Carolina are just as beautiful as the ones in Virginia. Though I think VA had more trees. I think. But look at these colors. This is what we want to see!!!
Again it was about 2:30 before we said our goodbyes and got back on the road. And then it seemed like we had no sooner left Greenville then someone had to pee. And John needed coffee. For anyone needing an easy coffee fix, Jefferson GA has a Starbucks right on I85! That was the easiest on/off we've come across yet. The other thing we've found is that when you stop with 6 people, each of those stops is no less than 15 minutes, usually about 30. Especially if the parents are having to take turns to use the facilities!

I think we drove until 3am landing in Bossier City (another cousin lives here) and we crashed. Oh, we've also learned that most hotels don't care how many children you have in your room, they just need to know for statistics. Or maybe I should say better, they didn't care that we had 3 small children. I imagine if they had been teens it would have mattered.

day 6 Virginia trip 2008

Outside at the bottom of the hill they climbed. See the sticks Adam found? We don't have trees here where we live, seriously. We definitely don't have cool walking sticks. The hills, the mountains, I think it's the trees we love most of all.

The living room, but the pool table is there so that you have room to shoot. We had several great games, discovered that John is better than us, but that we all stink. =) That door goes out to a 2nd porch, which is really the front of the house.

Jani and Jovi's room. We put Jovi's pack n play at the foot of the far bed. It's a really sweet room. Florals, pinks, girly. At night it's really dark. Really really dark. Each room has it's own thermostat. Some kind of heater is along the bottom of the outside walls under the windows. I've not seen this type before but it worked really well. Bad thing...kids can reach the control by standing on the bed. Bad girl. =)

This is the room Adam and Jace slept in. Jace's pack n play was just on the other side of the bed. As it turns out, Adam had the best bed in the house.

Our room was to the left of this room, across the hall from Jani. I failed to take a picture of it. =( It was the bedding that I loved. These sheets were really thick. And the comforter was so soft.

The living room (but I think it's the master) has a bathroom thru the door you see and the other sliding door walks out onto the porch. We loved the chair and couch, some sort of suede I think. Very soft. This is also where we sat to see the election results.

The kitchen. Very cool. Just needs a cabinet to put food in for those staying longer than 2 or 3 days. Like a small pantry. Or even a small bookcase under the bar overlooking the pool room. It did have a 2nd tv mounted over the table. Not useful for us though. They painted the chairs different pastel colors so it was easy for the kids to know where their seats were.

This morning we got up and started packing. John walked over to talk to Chuck and tell him we were leaving and why. Sarah got sick with the flu. I just had to cry off and on that we were leaving early. Just so sad. But it will be ok. At least we can figure out what's wrong.

Something we learned about Uhaul. We rented a 5x8 trailer to bring our stuff here. Total it was $172. When John went to the same place we dropped the first one off, to rent a 4x8 or 4x6, it was $315!!! No other choice, so he got it (our stuff would not fit in the van). The man told him the price was based on where you were leaving the trailer. See in Lexington when we dropped it off, there were only 3 other trailers. But in our town, there were maybe 15 trailers. So if there are too many trailers or trucks or whatever where you want to leave it, they make you pay more! I guess to cover their charge for making them redistribute them? Or maybe to discourage you from leaving it somewhere? Either way, we had a new 6x12 now 1/4 paid for.

John and Adam are the best. They love me. And though we were all sad about leaving, they both said said it was ok, that I was more important. Gotta love it when your family loves you. So off we went, headed for South Carolina. But first we had to stop and tell Grammy goodbye. It's always sad leaving her. You never know when or if you'll get to see her again. And it's always sad for us to leave this area. We just love it. But I think it's the memories. And the trees. That's what we love the most. We were able to see Miss Edna, Grammy's dear neighbor. She's so sweet and kind. We just love her. It was about 2:30 before we finally got on our way.

Something else we learned. If your directions tell you it's about 6 hours to get to your destination and you have 4 children, 3 that are 4 and under, what it really means is that it will be about 8 hours. We were headed to our friends house that we've only talked to online and on the phone. Excited about meeting and hoping we liked each other in person just as much. I also thought about calling my cousin that I haven't talked to in 10 years but with our travel being so far behind we skipped it. It wasn't until about 930 before we hit Greenville. We all agreed to have breakfast together the next morning.

day 5 Virginia trip 2008

Today was bad. So bad. And so sad. We left in hopes of going to Roanoke via 60 from Buena Vista. We went up the mountain and were almost to the sign where we take the picture at every year. (pictures from 2006) It's been great to see Adam in front of this sign so often. And since we didn't go last November, I was counting on these pictures for the kids to have.When we were very close a few hundred feet, my head felt like it was going to explode. My shoulders were tight. It was a weird feeling. Not dizzy, just unexplainably weird. I told John to get off the mountain NOW. I wasn't sure what was wrong, but somewhere in my brain I remembered that elevation can affect blood pressure. My chest was also hurting like it had been off and on the last couple of months. After we got back down (maybe 5 minutes) we stopped at Grammy's doctor's office. I went in and asked the nurse the about elevation. She said there is something about elevation sickness and blood pressure and if I had any more problems to get to the ER. The local ER is in Lexington which is great if you live here. But if you don't, you feel like you aren't near anything that could possibly help you. And for me, it made me panic.

So we went to Grammy's and I layed down on her couch (ewww) and John took the van and the little boys to the Ford dealership down the road. Why? Because as we were coming down the mountain something was weird with the brakes. It turns out our brakes over heated and the rotors warped and needed to be re??? so that they worked properly. As if things weren't already crazy enough! I was just ready to be home instantly in Texas.

Once John came back we fed the kids a picnic lunch we had packed. I was feeling a bit better, but still just wanted to go home. My chest still hurt. A lot. This is Grammy's view out of her door that she sits and looks thru all the time. We always get a little turned around, but if we pegged it right, this is Elephant Mountain, the mountain that does not love me this year.

We had dinner at the house and cooked the roast we had bought. Ultimately we decided that we would head home tomorrow because I still don't feel well. Actually, not feeling well isn't quite the truth. I cried myself to sleep wondering if I would wake up the next morning. Scary. I had John and Adam crying before the night was through. I was so upset to leave our vacation, completely paid for, but we couldn't tell if the elevation was getting me or not. All I wanted to do was lay down, sleep was calling me. And it was only 8:30. Decision made.

day 4 Virginia trip 2008

We are so tired. So tired, we didn't do more than venture out to see Grammy and come back to the cabin. We mostly hung out around the house all day trying to get settled in more since we'll be here for 10 days. We can't decide what town to go to first. It's great to look out the window and see trees, make that a forest. This picture is our cabin taken from the creek that runs next to it. It's an old schoolhouse, that was then used as a barn, then a rental house, and now a rental cabin for vacationers. Chuck and Sarah bought it in January and spent Jan-Mar repairing it to be ready for people like us.

The pool table is really in what should be the living room. It's connected to the kitchen, but you need the elbow room to shoot. So the living room is in what we think is the master bedroom since it has a full bath connected to it. It's called the Alone Mill Schoolhouse in Lexington VA if you're interested in staying there. From the main road (Hwy 11) it takes 12 minutes to go the distance to the cabin.

day 3 Virginia trip 2008

(the driving machine)

Today is the day we get a new president. Shockingly we encountered no talk radio all day long while driving so we had no idea what was going on. It wasn't until we got to the cabin about 4pm and settled in later that we were able to sit down and see what was going on.

The drive here is just unbelievable. Starting in norther Mississippi you see trees and mountains and giant hills. It's just gorgeous. We love this time of year because the trees are all changing colors and leaves are all over the ground. I imagine if we lived where leaves were every it would be annoying, but us visiting we love it.

(our first good glimpse of the mountains)

day 2 Virginia trip 2008

On our way out of Texas we were able to stop and see John's sister's family. She was at work but her hubby and daughter were home. Carolyn and Carolyn finally met. Both girls are named after John's mom. Jani is 7 months older than Carolyn.

We didn't do much more than drive drive drive today. We made it as far as Chattanooga, TN. It was late; we were tired.

We've also learned that the boys aren't the best travelers. Adam and Jani did pretty well at their ages. We have them across the back row, all on 1 bench. Jovi has hit, pinched, and squeezed the arms and bodies and faces of Jani and Jace. He's turned 2 and into a little bully! Jace couldn't leave his headphones alone so we wound up zip tyeing them to the hook above him. And the whole way since we've left we get to hear "mommy, mommy, mommy". I always thought it would be music to my ears...not so much though. Jovi says it no less than 100 times a day at home. I think traveling in the van he pushes that # up to around 300.

day 1 Virginia trip 2008...on our way

We have a great picture to start off our trip with...

We had to fill up the big van before we left and we were so glad to see that gas was still the same price as the night before. When we originally made plans to go to Virginia, gas was about $2.50 and still climbing. We fully expected to pay about $4 gallon all the way there and back. Also we had heard about the supposed gas shortage in TN and were wanting to make sure we avoided that area. And also not really sure how traveling IH10 would be since Ike and any other big bad storm had hit the gulf. We were glad to say that gas was not more than $2.24 the entire time, but mostly it was about $2/gal.

It was about noon before we really got on our way. We stopped and got some of our favorite pecans along the way. Chocolate covered are my favorite. John thought cinnamon was his, but now I think he's hooked on the honey glazed. We also tried the jalepeno ones....not so good...though initially they were tasty.

Part of the reason that we've considered moving has to do with air quality here in Texas. I must say that until a friend made me more informed I never imagine all the junk that TX politicians allow to be dumped into our air. And we live in the allergy capital...John, me and Adam have taken allergy shots for 4 years now. Things aren't much better, if at all. All of us had nose bleeds this summer, but the 3 little kids had them most often. Not what I ever expected. My bff in the DFW area sent me a picture of the smog on the horizon in her area. And for the first time in my life, as we drove into Houston, we saw it. I think I actually gasped. There was a green-yellowish cloud that hovered ever so slightly above the area. Having grown up in the Beaumont area I was used to the smell. After a while you don't smell it. But now you know that's really bad and it's there. Nasty.

I was able to get us a hotel room for free. See, last year we were in Beaumont and the non smoking hotel floor had lots of nasty cigarette smoke. I mentioned it before we left, but wrote an email when we got home. The manager emailed me back and offered a free night's stay next time we were there. Bingo. Free room.

Instead of arriving at my aunt and uncle's about 1pm, it was about 6pm. We did well packing food for the trip so we were able to whip out lunch meat and make sandwiches at their house. The kids loved playing with them. Jani remembered them from last year. My Aunt Peggy is great. She kept me when I was little and it made my heart smile to see Jani on her lap again as I imagined myself years ago. Uncle Gerald was not to be outdone. We couldn't believe how high he lifted Jani while she riding pony on his leg. He's about to be 70 years old! The boys had a great time playing and getting to know them too. They are just a bit wild though and make me nervous in houses with pretties.

Sights and Sounds in the City

After we arrived in the Taipei airport we waited about 30 minutes in the immigration line. Then we walked through some doors and see a sign with our name on it. Awesome! A local who knows how to get us to our destination. We rode in a Mercedes 500 class 4 door sedan. It was so smooth! Just what I needed after feeling motion sick and exhausted from the flights and waiting in lines. I highly recommend this quality of arranged transportation. The driver was nice. It was well worth the $40 suggested price and we were able to tip $10 without it breaking us. As we drove in from the airport I couldn't tell if there was smog or haze in the air but mostly I was appreciating the smooth ride in. Did I say smooooth? The drive through Taipei city was filled with old and new buildings. There are lots of colored signs and businesses. Lots of people on motor scooters. Motorcyles are my passion so I was taking it all in. Growing up in Delaware my friends and I used to love the smell of 2 stroke pre-mixed oil and that's how the air smelled when Jeri and I ventured out today. One thing that's really cool about Asia is 2 stroke motorcyles are everywhere. Most 2 strokes were phased out in the USA except for the Yamaha RD350 which had it's last run about 5-10 years ago. Anyway, lots of bikes we don't get in the US to to emissions reasons. A veritable feast of four stroke singles and other 125cc bikes. We ate lunch today at Fang's Restaurant. The inside is very nice and they had a food server who spoke english. I wanted to make sure there were no nuts in my food since that would be deadly for me. We had shrimp fried rice, chicken fried rice, and some tangerine pork. Nothing with nuts and peanut oil is not use to fry the rice. All this for 778NT or US $26. The portions were large. We ate about 25% of everything and took a to go box. A good deal. I recommend it. Our hotel room was not as large as I thought from the images on the web. But we aren't paying a fortune either. One thing that stands out to me. When you walk into the foyer to approach the front desk whomever is behinds stands up to greet you. Every time. The earthquake - the beds started rocking and Jeri said what is that. I said earthquake after hearing earlier in the day that there was one in south Taiwan. We went and stood in the bathroom doorway and I prayed for our safety in Jesus name. The only name under heaven whereby we must be saved. The idea of being on the 7th floor was not too thrilling. I went out in the hallway to see if anyone else was out there. There were 2 hotel workers out there. They didn't speak any english but they clearly communicated that their heart rates were up, as was mine. At that point I wished that they spoke spanish at least because I know more than (a little) poquito espanol. I think they were trying to say its okay to go back to bed but I was in search of more information. I walked down 7 flights of stairs knowing that climbing back up them would be tough, but the night manager downstairs told me that the building was built to withstand earthquakes and that they happen regularly. Mental note: I would prefer to be in a hotel that has fluent english speakers 24/7 so that in the event of a "casual 6.0 earthquake" I can get some clear communication. He told me everything was okay so I took the elevator up hoping I didn't get stranded in it. It says 550kg limit but it only holds 4 people. That would be mighty claustrophobic to be stranded in. The hotel staff here are friendly and the air conditionng lacks nothing by American standards. Outside the hotel teenagers were lauging an joking. They were used to earthquakes or tremors and were unaffected. Well, TTFN

John

Sunday Sunday

Yep, I still have my silly hat on, which I think really means I must surely still be sleep deprived. I'll recap the last 48 hours, approximately, because I really don't know how much time it's been.

We about froze our butts off waiting in LAX once we got to our gate. I mean it was freezing! We were shivering. See, we don't wear jackets in the summer. Sure a lot of other people do, and then there are those that know to bring jackets, but seeing as how we live in Texas where our cold weather last from November (maybe, but sometimes we're still wearing shorts at Christmas) thru March (again maybe, this year we had 90+ temps in Feb) jackets just aren't in our nature. So we froze. And shivered. An shook. And did the bob and weave because according to our bodies it was coming up on 3:30am and shouldn't we be in bed about then?

I think we started boarding our plane about 1:10am pst, we settled in very quickly and promptly went to sleep. I think I stayed awake thru take off, but I think John crashed before then. It should also be noted that we were both still sick from earlier in the week. I had a meeting with the bowl in the bathroom in the morning before we left, and also shortly after take off from Texas to California. Or rather that meeting involved a bag. It's this drainage, it's killing me! Hey J, I can hear you now saying "girl, it's the air, I'm telling ya" as I smile and nod my head. It's all allergies though. Same with John now. We did take some dramamine thinking it might help our stomachs and I think it did. A little bit.

Anyway, on to the plane. I have to say, as I said to John, I think I like China Southern's premium economy better. EVA has newer seats and newer equipment (took us forever to figure out how to work the movie thing). CS has wider seats, more leg room between you and the seat in front of you, more offerings of food, and staff checking on you. Besides offering drinks 2x, and the 1 meal we were awake for, we never saw the staff on EVA. It was kind of weird, you know? Don't get me wrong, we would still fly EVA again, and would definitely choose the deluxe again (if nothing else than for the shorter wait lines you get to stand in!), I'm just noting some differences. Because I realized that should we still feel icky when we fly back on Friday, Jovi's going to be sitting somewhere on us, not in a separate seat, which reduces the amount of space we have. See? A mom thinks about these things.

I think our plane was supposed to get in at 6:40am (but I could be thinking about when we leave on Friday). We got in at 6am, very nice smooth flight. It was exciting as we watched the screen the last hour, and then thru all the clouds we started seeing some land. My emotions flew as they always do when we approach the country to adopt. I choke up, I cry, because I know that me being here means something so incredibly life changing for someone else. Adopting from China I knew that Jani needed us, without us her life would not be a good one. But for the boys I feel differently. Don't get me wrong, they need us and we need them. But Taiwan isn't China. If it weren't me it would be someone else. These boys are fed (seriously, have you seen Jovi's pictures?) and clothed, and not put 3 to a crib with a straw mat and standing in pee. You know? It's just different. But no less, it still makes me sad to take them from their home country. I was wondering as we were still approaching, would I have these same feelings if I was adopting from in the US? I think I would, except maybe instead of their country, it would be from their surroundings, the sights they would have seen growing up, the slang that their area uses. Little things like that. The things that turn us into the adults we grow to be. So I'm here, we're here, but my heart is sad for Jace and Jovi's loss too.

We followed what Laura said as best as I could remember it. When we got off we went to Immigration, but noticed that NO ONE was at the bank booth to exchange money. Of course mostly everyone was Taiwanese except for the 60 people in the non-citizen lines. We traded our crisp new 100s for some bigger 1000s. Yeah, don't we wish we could all do that! Oh, and speaking of trading, do not trade in LAX!!! We got just over $30 to $1 here, and in LAX it was $27 to $1 I believe, maybe $26. Bad rate. Oh, anyone coming over soon, I bought some NT off of my sweet friend S prior to coming, and promptly lost/left the envelope at home. So for $40, anyone want to buy $1200NT?

We breezed thru, husband and wife or family can walk up together. Then finding our bags, which was super easy, the carts are free (I refused to pay $3 at LAX and we finally found 1 someone had left), but here's what we didn't see. Where do you go afterwards? We could not see any signs as we stood there looking around. We asked one of the airport staff and they pointed to this really big yellow sign that we honestly couldn't see. It's in between the luggage carousels, not at either end of the luggage room. We get thru there, customs just smiled and said welcome (in China they scanned our luggage, or maybe that was when we got back to the US?) and then we rounded the corner to see about 50 drivers waiting for people. And low and behold there was Danny holding the sign with our name on it. I pointed at him while we were a good distance still and he pointed to himself and nodded and I gave a smile and a nod, and away we went. We rode in a black Mercedes. I must say that's the first time I've ever been in one, and we were in the backseat and I was worried about barfing from the motion. Not the case. I swear that was the most comfortable, quietest, smoothest car ride I've ever had.

Danny told us it would be about an hour ride, but it was only 30min. Of course this is in Sunday morning traffic, which I must say I was surprised there was traffic. While we rode, I looked and noticed that this does look like China buildings, but it doesn't. It does not seem as cramped and frantic as China. You can cross the street safely, though John was quite hilarious about crossing because he would almost run it seemed. I told him to relax, it isn't China. Or at least the TianMu area isn't China!

Ok, so to me, here's the coolest part of our day. As we turned right on the main street by the hotel, I found myself feeling like I was back in a place where I belonged, familiar ground. My 3rd trip to Asia. The sights, the sounds, the smell of fumes even, all so comforting. I've seen so many little girls just chattering away in Chinese, and I can't help but think how wonderful that would be for Jani. That I could be looking at her little face and hearing and understanding Chinese coming from her darling mouth. So then we happened upon this bakery place, and I wondered if it was where S told me about. No, it's more of a deli, but as we're standing inside looking around this American lady turns and says hello. Turns out she's actually from Toronto (but she didn't have an accent?) and they've lived here for 10 years with her husband's job. They love it here, she had her 3rd child here, her kids go to 3 different schools (only 1 is at the American school) and she said they can't imagine living anywhere else. She said she's met a lot families that work at Dell, we didn't even know they had an office here. We talk maybe 5 minutes and then leave to head on to the Wellcome store. We see the American school, cross the driveway and then someone honks their horn. That's another thing here, no one honks much at all. We turn around and I see my friend Liz with her hand out her car window waving at us and hollering my name. What are the odds she finds me walking down the street in Taipei! Well, she does live in the TianMu district, her kids all go to school at the Am school, and as it turns out, they have church there too. We got to talk with her for a few minutes, I realized her husband works for Dell, and that's how they are here. They've been here 3 years so far and just signed on for their 4th year. They leave on Friday to go back home for the summer. Just realized she probably will be on the same flight as us as well.

Our room (ok breaking news here, we just had a 6.0 earthquake centered in Taipei that hit at 12:59am!!!) (getting back to blogging about 30 minutes later.) is not as large as we hoped, but nice enough. We've stocked our fridge with water, bought some soup bowls of noodles to make here in the room.

Oh after we went to the Wellcome market (which I couldn't tell if it was me since my balance seems to be off a little, or if it was the store, but it seemed really slanted in there) we walked down another street and stumbled across Fangs. We were hungry as we really hadn't eaten much more than a roll since LAX. We ordered fried rice w/chicken and fried rice w/shrimp. John also ordered tangerine pork riblets, not good, not bad tasting, just lots of fat and small bones that make you think you're breaking your teeth. The rice was wonderful though and felt so good to our stomachs. Sadly, we've forgotten to eat the rest of it and left it out on the table. I'm thinking it needs to go to the garbage now.

I think that's most everything from Sunday. We came back to our room and worked on putting the gifts together and trying to stay awake. Then we repacked our backpacks so we would be ready for the boys: diapers, wipes, sippy cups, spoons, disp bibs, disp placemats. I think we're ready. Bob and Weave came back to pay us a visit. It was funny trying to keep John awake. He's still up and it's now 2:15, but he's watching a movie. No more movement in the last hour. That's a good thing.

I just realized it's officially Monday, June 2nd. Happy 18th anniversary to us. It's hard to believe 18 years have gone by. He's still as handsome as he was then. =) Ok, I'm off, time to post this, and get back to sleep.

Adam and Jani, we miss you terribly. Terribly terribly. But we know it's easier on you both staying there. And Rich, if we did move to Taiwan, you'd have to come with us. You just would. =) Though I doubt you will, especially since they have earthquakes here! Something us Texans are not used to!
Jeri

it's 10:36pm cst, do you know where I am?

I'm in LAX sitting at a place called Daily Grill because they had comfy seats. We paid $26 for 2 giant sandwiches, only ate 1/2 of them, and are just hanging out in our little booth. John's watching a movie on his ipod while I catch up on email and well, post. =) See, told you I would do better about posting. We've even recorded a few things on our camera, tho I must warn you, the pictures are not flattering.

EVA doesn't open until 9:30pm, 4 hours after we landed. Ugh. But we'll get checked in and then be off into the other part of the terminal.

So far we're doing good with our dinner and not losing any of it. My head is pretty congested, I can barely breathe thru my nose. I'm defnitely looking forward to getting on the plane and falling asleep. John is staying awake.

I'm trying to upload a little video we took at the airport, but it's taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r. So I'm not sure I'm doing it right. If you've put a video on your blog, would email me and tell me how. I don't think this is working, and for the record, I'm trying to add it like you would a picture. Is that the wrong way? It's maybe 1minute and it says it's 31mb. Ouch. So there must be a way to make it smaller, right? Ok, I quit, I don't have that much patience right now. maybe later.

it's 1:14am, do you know where your bags are now?

They are all packed, waiting in the bedroom, waiting on morning, or rather 1:15pm to get loaded into the van to take the 1 hour drive to the airport.Wow, I just realized that's 12 hours from now! The bills are NOT done, I'll have to work on those tomorrow. That's minor compared to the packing part. Now off to bed we go. Looking forward to better sleep and feeling better tomorrow.
zai jian...

it's 7:13pm, do you know where your bags are?

Yep, they're still in the bedroom stacked up, not packed. Not the best plan. Anyone want to come over and put everything in the suitcases? I have it all on the bed. Just can't seem to get it in the bags.

I'm moving at turtle speed, which as we all know is not so fast. I was watching our turtle last night; his name is Tuck (yes, we watch and love Wonder Pets). He was moving the little rocks out of the way, all in an effort to get to the bottom of the tank and closer to the outside glass. Why? I don't know. But I realized he's strong, he can move rocks that are big to him, they are bigger than his foot. Slow but steady.

Then this morning when I was in the bathroom with my head over a bowl (haha, seriously folks) John says, "look at those rabbits!" I looked at him like he was nuts but then looked out the window. There were 2 jack rabbits, bigger than our 15lb dog, hauling butt down the gravel road that runs to the north of our property. I figure they got spooked by our neighbor out pushing her baby (G, bet you didn't know you'd become part of a post, did you?) and were trying to find a better hiding space. We have corn planted in the acreage on 2 sides of us, so sometimes you see some interesting things. But mostly just rabbits. And when there's no corn, you see a cow that got out sometimes. Last time I said if he came on our land we'd be having a whole cow served up. =) From what I can tell they are all grassfed with some hay when it's dry. Probably older than a year, but hey.

So now I must go back to the packing. Still coughing, having a headache, sucking on my inhaler, but packing I must.

the last week

Hmmm, I realized I haven't journaled much during this past week. Not really much happening. Well, there's always something happening, but most of it had to do with searching the internet or searching thru boxes. Fun.

We finally got our air tickets all squared away and purchased on Monday 5/12. But not until we made the really hard choice to not take the kids. That makes me really sad. I hate leaving them. I do. I hate it. It's the most economical choice we could make though. Even flying economy is no longer cheap. Between Dec and May the flights have increased $1000/ticket. And if we make it a shorter trip of course that's less hotel and food. And for a shorter trip it's easier without the current 2 because by the time they would adjust to the time it would be time to go back home again. So we're going, on EVA's Evergreen. At least we'll be comfortable.

And we finally decided to stay at the Feeling which is where our agency directors stay too. It's in the American ex-pat district. What can we say, the price was right. We don't feel the need for a really nice place, but we do want comfort and something clean.

Airlines tickets and hotels consumed me from Wed night when Laura called thru Sunday. I really didn't have time to be consumed, you know?

Wednesday 5/14 I finally decided to work on our AIT papers. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, especially since I've had the packet since Sept. =) Hang up after hang up and there you have it, I can't find our tax returns. The last ones in the file drawer are 2003. And I just had 05-07 a couple of weeks ago here on my desk. But when we set the new computer up we moved everything off and put it in a box, 1 that was put somewhere special so that it didn't get lost. Amazingly I made it thru 3 days without taking anyones head off. See, old age is really suiting me! We still have some stuff in our garage donated by friends for us to sell to help us raise money. Plus we have our stuff from where we emptied our storage building last year. So stuff is everywhere. I searched thru the entire garage, things in the kitchen, and that meant everything downstairs I had gone thru. But then I found 1 large box on the treadmill, in the very back corner of the garage, and it wasn't even 1/2 full. Surely this wouldn't be it, but it was! Singing hallelujah on a Friday night. I got all the copies made and John sent it off to AIT on Saturday morning for a (gulp) very low price of $59!!! Egads. And that was economy! Cough cough sputter sputter. Oh well, hopefully things will go very smooth for us when we get there.

So now it's time to pay bills again. And after this last week, I really don't want to do anymore paper work!

I want to cry

You know how sometimes you just need to get it out? I'm having one of those times. It started yesterday. Of course a good chunk of this emotion is probably due to getting THE call. Well, the 2nd THE call. It's been such a long journey full of first for FEC and full of first for even CY. I just can't believe it's here, it's time.

I want to cry because I'm so sad for the families sitting with agencies that only work with CY. As they struggle with understanding how the new rules impact them; if their agency is telling them the truth; as they think surely their agency is telling them the truth though because they did their homework and really had faith they were choosig the best agency; as some of them grapple with the fact that they might not be able to adopt in Taiwan anymore; or at least not thru their agency. It's a tough thing to confront. And my heart is sad. Because this even effects us as we were hoping to adopt again, still looking for that 2nd beautiful daughter.

I want to cry over the cost of travel. I'm flipping out over finding a room for a family of 6. =) I smile because MY family will really be at 6 now. We have a quote from one hotel, 16 nights for $4170. That is a 2bedroom suite that includes breakfast. Ugh, it makes me sick. If it included airfare then it would be a steal. But honestly! So where do I find that wonderful place that will hold us all and not break us, nor cost the same as the airfare?

I want to cry because I know the world for Jace and Jovi is about to flip over. Please pray with us that God will intervene for them. To have it go as smoothly as Jani's did would be a miracle. We prayed for God to send our faces and voices to her in her dreams so that when she met us she wouldn't be afraid. And she wasn't. The boys have great photo albums that we sent over that were supposed to have been read to them often, maybe daily. But who knows if that's happened. So please pray that we are a welcome site to them. That they have no fear. But my heart breaks for them regardless. They will leave behind the language and the smells they know.

I want to cry because I know where they are going. Home. To a foreign land full of allergies, but hopefully cleaner air (thinking of you JR!). But most importantly to a family that has waited patiently (we think!), to a brother that can't wait to play with them, to a sister that wants to play kitchen with them and let them sleep in her bed, to a daddy that can't wait to have his very own baby legs to squeeze, and to a mommy whose heart will most likely explode and whose eyes seemed to turn into water faucets if she thinks about it all too long.

So cry with me. Oh, I just remembered Sunday is Mother's Day. Do the gifts get any better than holding a child in your arms? Does it get any sweeter?