Itinerary!!

06/24 ~ Atlanta to Tokyo to Beijing

06/25 ~ Arrive in Beijing~~free time

06/26 & 6/27 ~ Tour Beijing

06/28 ~ Fly to Zhengzhou, Henan Province

06/29 ~ MEET MAX IN THE MORNING!!!! & tons of paperwork

06/30 ~ More paperwork

07/01 ~ Free time/tour Henan

07/02 ~ Free time/tour Henan

07/03 ~ Receive Max's Chinese passport then fly to Guangzhou

07/04 ~ Happy 4th of July!! Max's physical and TB test, Max's visa photo taken, paperwork for US Consulate

07/05 ~ Free time/tour Guangzhou

07/06 ~ Visit clinic for TB test to be read & free time/tour Guangzhou

07/07 ~ Free time/tour Guangzhou

07/08 ~ US Consulate appointment, receive Max's visa packet

07/09 ~ US Consulate oath

07/10 ~ Take train to Hong Kong

07/11 ~ Tour Hong Kong

07/12 ~ Depart Hong Kong to Tokyo to ATLANTA.

HOME ~ Max meets Ben (!!!) and Lily realizes Max will want to play with her toys at home. Please note that throughout the trip there will be intermittant prayers that the 2 teens at home aren't burning down the house or just plain trashing it......or worse yet getting into trouble or killed. :) Lord have mercy on my soul.

No really~I'm sure the teens will be fine. :) Our neighbors know we're leaving, and Bob & Sue, our wonderful friends across the street, have volunteered to keep a watch over things.

5 more sleeps!! **the picture above was taken at The Forbidden City, Beijing in 2007.

If you want to hear God laugh....tell him your plans.

Funny how plans change....kinda makes you stop and think about how we really are not the ones in control. Because see...if it was up to me I would still be starting orientation this Monday. I learned this morning that my recruiter put me on the orientation list to start this Monday not realizing that to be JCAHO (joint commission) compliant they need my "official" results from the state~~which is taking anywhere from 8 business days to 3 weeks. I can get "unofficial" results in 48 hours...but....

...I'll just sit tight, concentrate on passing this exam tomorrow, and enjoy an extra 2 weeks of time off. These 2 weeks will be even sweeter since I won't have to study anymore. A blessing in disguise!

We're hoping to receive an update of some sort about Max soon. We think and talk about him all the time....imagining him being here with us. It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to really love a child that you have never even met. So in the meantime we've been preparing for his arrival shuffling teens around. We painted the guest room for Angela. She's all moved in and loving the fact that she has her own bathroom! Mark liked Angela's room since it was bigger so we painted it a color fitting for a young man instead of a teenage girl. Then we decided to paint the kids bathroom. This is done now so we will paint Max's room next week and move the clothes and toys that we've bought for him so far into his room. I had to laugh when Lily looked at me and said, "I want to change the color of my room". Eric loves the New York Yankees~~so maybe a baseball theme for Max's room?? I like boats and the beach~~so maybe a nautical theme??

(Lily took this photo of us about a week ago)

Prom 2007

I had to get a picture of Mark in his tux before he left for the evening.

Mark & Liz at Ashley's before their group took a limousine to The Fox Theatre in Atlanta.


Mark with Liz and Ashley - don't they look great! They're ready to hit the town.

Mark & Liz Prom 2006

We'll post pictures of Prom 2007 after April 14th.

Friday Night Kicks Tournament

YEAH Dean Rusk Panthers!! Runner-ups in the Cherokee County Middle School League. The girls won a trophy for the school, T-shirts, and they celebrated at Shane's Rib Shack! It was a great game. I can't believe how aggressive and serious the girls can be...and, I don't think I could ever do a header :)

Dean Rusk vs. Mabry

Angela is No. 8 (white shirt)

Angela and Maddie after they received their Runner-Up T-Shirts.

Mark and Liz came to watch the game. They've been together for over a year and will be attending their second Sequoyah High School Prom in April.

Pictures & tid-bits of the day...

A perfect day for a game...Angela had a make-up soccer game--Panthers won 4 to 1! Yea Lady Panthers! I think this means we're in second place. It felt like summer with the sun so warm on very pale, winter skin.

We're all talking summer...our neighborhood pool is now being resurfaced to get ready for the season. I can't wait to pick out a cute swim suit for Lily. Mark & Angela have a big group of friends that go to the pool together. So they'll be loud & obnoxious, dunking each other at one end while we will be catching Lily coming down the slide and teaching her to swim at the other end.

Eric is kicking-it-up-a-notch in the home project area...he and his Dad are working on the swing set and he's going to power wash the deck, etc... My lilies are up about 3 or 4 inches out of the ground and my favorite hydrangea is budding. It's so nice to have the windows open!


Eric getting the soccer chairs out of the truck


That's my girl, Angela! Lily's Jie Jie!


We've been finding Ben sleeping in Lily's room alot lately. I'll ask him, "Are you sleeping in Lily's room?" Of course he just looks at me, but it's like he knows...he knows she's coming home soon.


Here's my other girl, Lily! Angela & Mark's Mei Mei! Sarah also went to the orphanage this weekend...these pictures of Lily are dated March 11th! I love the ponytail!

Hmm....does Betty Ford have a pickle detox wing?...

This girl can put away not only one jar of Claussen Kosher Dill Spears a day--but, two jars a day (if we'd let her) ! I'll open the fridge and find a jar of just pickle juice. At first I was silly enough to ask, "Angela, why did you put the jar back in the fridge when the pickles are gone?" Angela's reply, "I like the juice too."

GO LADY PANTHERS!!!

The Friday Night Kicks games have begun! Angela made the Dean Rusk M.S. soccer team so we've dusted off the soccer chairs & broke out the coffee thermos. We didn't win last weeks game :(, but we were up against a tough team and we played well. This Friday I'll try to remember to take the camera to take pictures. Eric especially loves going to the games & helping Angela condition--we've been teasing him by calling him "Mickey" (the trainer from the movie Rocky) :o)

As of today we are on day 77 for waiting for the new letter required for travel approval. We hope it's not going to take too much longer even though we seemed to have landed right smack in the middle of a bunch of changes at the CCAA. Each day is one day closer to kissing Lily's sweet cheeks!

Christmas & Angela's Birthday

Angela's birthday is December 26th...she turned 13 this year! One of our family traditions is to let the birthday person pick the restaurant that they wish to have their birthday dinner. This year Angela chose Bahama Breeze in Alpharetta. Mark always enjoys BBQ Ribs, Angela-a good medium-rare Filet Mignon, Eric had the Mahi-Mahi, and I had Ahi tuna. And, who could forget the Mojitos!?!

For Christmas this year we wanted to focus on Mark & Angela's rooms. They really have needed some new "teen" furniture. So what do smart parents like ourselves do??...well, they go to downtown Atlanta to IKEA...of course. During this Christmas/New Year break we painted Angela's & Lily's room, and took Lily's toys out of the packages to set up for her to see when she gets home. We had to return Lily's bed because of a cracked board and now it's backordered. Do you think Angela is anxious for her sister to come home??...she was sitting on Lily's floor playing with Lily's blocks a couple of nights ago and then tonight she asked me for Lily's orphanage address so she could see it on google-earth...Come on travel approval!!

Finally...the oldest teen is EMPLOYED!

Today will go down in our family history as the day that Mark, our 16 1/2 year old son, got his first job! WOOOOOHHHOOOOOOO!!! We've been working on this for quite some time! As you can imagine--teens about this age are very expensive...they are constantly wanting money to do all kinds of things with their friends. And, it's not like you can buy them something from the toy isle for 10 or 20 bucks and make them all excited. No....Hollister & Abercrombie can actually send you to the poor house if you let it.

Ok, well...if you know Mark then you know he could care less about clothes. Angela on the other hand....well, that's another story. Mark loves electronics--computers to be specific. And, that's right--they're not cheap. Mark's eyes light up at the mention of various computer components that only he can intelligently discuss in our household. Sometimes in family dinner conversation Mark will start talking about "coding"--among other things--and we will look at him as if he has three heads. Then I'll say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, dude...TMI. We're completely lost...how about layman's terms??? It's not that we're not interested...just more I.T. challenged." Could you imagine if I started explaining the pathophysiology behind Irritable Bowel Syndrome to him? I think I'd get the same look.

Congratulations to Mark! One more step toward self-sufficient adulthood and independence. It's paycheck time....oh yea-wait until he sees how much goes to taxes. Should we explain that one now or let it be a surprise? :)

Mark & Angela

Family pictures

Our son Mark & Liz, Prom 2006.
Our daughter Angela (left) & her best friend Kelly.