tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65515194883516128072024-03-13T15:31:51.002-04:00Our Journey to the EastGretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.comBlogger210125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-76016682801778521652012-01-16T06:01:00.002-05:002012-01-16T06:01:40.348-05:00HomeWe made it home safely on Saturday morning. <br />
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I will be working on moving over the posts from China to this site in the next couple of days. I will also be adding some more posts that I did not get to while we were in China. So please scroll down and enjoy our trip to China!Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-11075415948596560712012-01-11T06:41:00.000-05:002012-01-16T06:43:36.867-05:00Two More Days<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Only two more days and we will be going home!!!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sorry I have not posted the last two days. We have still been out and about but we are just done. When we have returned to our room the past two days we have either just watched tv or took a nap. I will do some posts with pictures soon.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Two days ago we visited the Chen Family Temple and then went to check Makinley's TB results, which she passed.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Yesterday we visited the Guangzhou zoo and I highly recommend this. It was lovely. All of the animals were up and about so we got a lot of good pictures and video.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Today we are going back to the island to walk around and then head to the store for some last minute supplies.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Tomorrow at 8:30am is our Consulate Appointment, then we have nothing more to do until we fly out Friday night.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Like I said, we are ready to go home.</span></span>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-41678015485060850762012-01-08T07:36:00.009-05:002012-01-17T14:53:45.345-05:00Orphanage Visit<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Today has been a very emotional day for us. It was wonderful to get the opportunity to visit where Makinley has lived for the first three years of her life. It was wonderful to see the children and how very happy that they are. But there are so many. Zhongshan orphanage is home to 500 children that need forever families and that is heart wrenching.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We were not sure how Makinley was going to react going back to her 'home'. She did so much better than I could have EVER imagined. She did not cry or fuss at all. She stayed in her stroller and just watched everything happening around her. I think that the stroller actually made her feel like she was in her own little bubble. Every time some one came up to her she would just sit back and turn her head. She did not respond to anyone except Ms. Zhong at the end of the visit. She did look at her nanny (ayi) and listen to her when she talked to her, but she would not let anybody touch her except me. My baby was very brave today. Honestly, I do not know how these sweet children do this. Everything changes for them. Their whole life as they know it is now different. I have no idea what she must have been thinking today as we went back to Zhongshan. She always seemed to know that I was not going to leave her. She never seemed scared, just a little nervous again. Honestly, the only time that she is not nervous is with us in the room. Then she just talks, giggles and plays away! </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">We brought 250 DumDum lollipops to pass out and the children absolutely loved them. The older kids swarmed us for them. Everyone was very appreciative. It was a good choice for a treat because all the children can have them and enjoy them. </span><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">As we passed out the lollipops we were able to meet many of the children that have families in the process of adopting them. They were all beautiful. All the children were beautiful. They all touched my heart very much.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In the baby room we were told that most of the babies had families adopting them. Most were healthy so they were being adopted domestically, which was wonderful news! Ms Zhong told us that she has 400 families in the process to adopt children from Zhongshan!! That total is domestic as well as international. That seemed like a very large number to me. It was great news because it means that these children will have families.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Zhongshan orphanage is rated the best orphanage in China. The government has put a lot of focus on Zhongshan and it is very clean and well maintained. I am so glad that this is where my daughter was. She received physical therapy while she was there and it is very apparent that they have worked with her.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">As we were passing out the lollipops to the older children a group of girls grabbed the list with the names of the children that I needed to get pictures of and started finding children for us to take pictures of them. They were so cute and they were so very helpful. We got to see 12 of the 14 children that we had on the list. The other two are in foster homes. They were asking what the names next to the children's names were and I told them that was the Mama or Baba's (daddy) names. They were asking how to say them and then Journey, my friend's little girl, kept telling everyone, "Your Mama's name is ..... Your Baba's name is ......" It was very cute. Then they would ask, "Who was my Mama?" because they wanted to say the name correctly. It was so fun to be in the center of the chaos of children.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The older boys (ages 5- 13) kept asking Ms Zhong, "When are you going to find me a Mama and a Baba?" There are so many boys at Zhongshan. I told her that I have already been telling people to adopt boys because they fill many orphanages since most people only want to adopt girls. Ms Zhong told me to tell them to adopt the boys at Zhongshan!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The children are obviously well cared for at Zhongshan. They eat well they have beds and clean showers and classrooms. There is still something significant missing...a connection. My sweet girl did not connect to anyone at the orphanage, not one. Out of all of the nannies that have taken care of her for three years, not one of them did she really give the time of day to. Not one of them did she let touch her. She let Ms Zhong hold her but not until the end when we were leaving. She refused her the entire visit up until that point. So while this is the best orphanage, there is no love connection. This only a family can give to these precious children.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So my heart is heavy tonight as I will never forget the faces that I have seen today. The sweetness in each of their smiles and the tender hugs they desperately ached for.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S7PEDXSzMbc/TxXQuBpXJWI/AAAAAAAACb8/HaAcPDacguE/s1600/DSC_0950.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-S7PEDXSzMbc/TxXQuBpXJWI/AAAAAAAACb8/HaAcPDacguE/s320/DSC_0950.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">All the nannies gathered around </div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zKoRz_XC-Ws/TxXRRwNBBZI/AAAAAAAACdE/ovlOq1Orui8/s1600/DSC_1004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zKoRz_XC-Ws/TxXRRwNBBZI/AAAAAAAACdE/ovlOq1Orui8/s320/DSC_1004.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center">Ms Zhong and Makinley</div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com141tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-3542593352324689312012-01-08T06:35:00.002-05:002012-01-17T14:45:12.127-05:00Pictures of Z Kiddos<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I'm going to post pictures first of the children whose parents will be looking to see if I got pictures of their children. Then I will post about our visit. The kids were all beautiful and wonderful!</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EHSPkXLSM6Y/TxXPhWIQuYI/AAAAAAAACb0/7y74GLKNH-I/s1600/DSC_0998.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EHSPkXLSM6Y/TxXPhWIQuYI/AAAAAAAACb0/7y74GLKNH-I/s320/DSC_0998.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-58755124333536548222012-01-07T06:33:00.004-05:002012-01-17T14:36:25.873-05:00Shopping Day<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Today we spent the day shopping and walking the old street markets. We are very fortunate to be with only one other couple right now so we have had a very nice time getting to know each other and our guide, Kelly, whom we had as a guide the last time we were in Guangzhou. We have learned a lot about China culture and for the past two days our guide, Kelly, has taken us to two very amazing places to eat. They definitely do not cater to westerners at all and Donny and I get to try a lot of different foods because she just orders for the group and we eat it. We have tried things that we would NEVER order for ourselves. But the last two lunches have been the best food we have had since we have been to China. She orders about 5 to 7 different dishes and we all get to try some. For those of you who do not know my husband, he does not eat anything. Yet, he has tried nearly all of it and he has actually liked it. Our guide tells us that what we have eaten with her is like their home cooking. No chinese food in the US tastes like this. It is much better here. It is Cantonese cooking. As good as it was, we would not go back on our own. We would not know how to order what she did. The first place did not have a menu!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">For all of my Z family, we are visiting the orphanage tomorrow!!! I am really praying that I will get to meet all of your beautiful children!! I have 14 kiddos to see!! I will post pictures as soon as I can. Love you all!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Makinley did amazing today. She does not whine or fuss, even though we go past lunch time sometimes and miss nap. She is a wonderful, lovey, happy little girl. She is slowly letting go of some of her fear when we leave the hotel, but she is always ecstatic to return to our room. She is very comfortable here with us. We just love her so much!</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yq3oNJO6KTw/TxXNrY5Z-tI/AAAAAAAACZc/kASm-uFvg2s/s1600/DSC_0918.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yq3oNJO6KTw/TxXNrY5Z-tI/AAAAAAAACZc/kASm-uFvg2s/s320/DSC_0918.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-27110370754654829802012-01-06T08:32:00.004-05:002012-01-17T14:35:19.247-05:00Red Couch<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">While we were on Shamain Island today we went into the White Swan (mainly to stay warm). Even though the hotel is closed, the first two floors are open with their shops and restaurant. That meant that we could get our "Red Couch" pictures.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sleeping is also getting better, thank you all for asking. I think we are on a normal schedule now. Makinley has slept great both nights too.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We LOVE the emails! I try to respond, but I know that there are several that we have read that I have not responded to. I am sorry, but please keep emailing us. We are half way through the trip, but we are already ready to go home. Our children are missing us a lot too and that makes it hard. Your emails give us something to look forward to in the mornings and evenings.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">For the Z families, our guide is trying to set up a day to visit so when I know I will let you know. Or guide was sick so we have had another guide the past 4 days. Now that she is back she will set up the visit.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J5xnENd7_X8/TxXNYeNc0TI/AAAAAAAACZU/wFoswsIxmQ0/s1600/DSC_0938.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J5xnENd7_X8/TxXNYeNc0TI/AAAAAAAACZU/wFoswsIxmQ0/s320/DSC_0938.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-42722022325848630582012-01-06T07:30:00.006-05:002012-01-17T14:28:13.478-05:00Medical Exam<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We headed out this morning for Makinley's medical exam. It was the coldest today that it has been since we arrived here, and it has been cold most days. Today was raining and cold...brrrrr. My girl is a trooper though. She is doing so well bonding with me. She even gave me kisses this morning on her own when I got her out of bed..swoon..what a lovie!!!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So we arrived at the medical clinic and she was extremely nervous, again. As soon as she saw the nurse and the doctors in the white coats she totally lost it. Screaming Mama, Mama, Mama and flinging her body all over the place. A bit like she did for me on Gotcha day. It took me and a male doctor to try to hold her down just so he could check her heart and her body. We were not doing so well at keeping that little buggar still. Did I mention before that this child has super human strength. Our poor guide tried to help me hold her for her ear check and was shocked at how strong she was. So we screamed and pitched a fit through the whole exam. You can only imagine the TB test....but as soon as she was done with each station I was able to calm her down. The rest of the afternoon whenever we would enter a building (for lunch or shopping) she would get so paniced. Poor baby.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">She also decided today that Daddy was not one of her favorite people. Poor Daddy. But this evening he got her in the tubby and has been playing with her for awhile with the bubbles and toys. I guess he is on her good side again.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We found another food place in the hotel called Food Street. It has all chinese food and it is actually pretty good. It really is reasonably priced too. We have eaten there twice now. Our guide will be showing us some other restaurants nearby tomorrow. Although it is just too yucky to go walking outside right now anyways.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zRQcoSsFFwc/TxXLlMlcRwI/AAAAAAAACY0/oPFxdKmKuP0/s1600/DSC_0922.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zRQcoSsFFwc/TxXLlMlcRwI/AAAAAAAACY0/oPFxdKmKuP0/s320/DSC_0922.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center">This is a normal sight. People carrying oversized loads balanced on their bikes. It just amazes us.</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center"></div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-2376740191216704592012-01-06T06:28:00.002-05:002012-01-17T14:24:47.543-05:00She is Ours!<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Yesterday we had to return back to the civil affairs office to do some paperwork that would make Makinley legally ours. I was worried about the car sickness. And I was worried as to how she would do going back to that place of horror for her. Well, the Dramamine worked. What a HUGE praise!! But my baby was deathly scared when we got in the van. We went up the elevator and she was so very nervous. Once we got there she settled down a little and we were able to do the paperwork. It is official now. Wan Chun Ying is an orphan no more!!! She has started her new life and she is now Makinley Faith Chun Ying Sloan!!! She is our girl...finally a Sloan.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">After we left the civil affairs office we went to the Carrefore for some groceries. It is similiar to their super Walmart. We bought some things for the children back home and then headed back to the hotel. It was a good day after all. I just wish that she had not been so terrified.</span> </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8kfM9oT3dQQ/TxXKRjCUMuI/AAAAAAAACYU/x7NGbTEiAw8/s1600/DSC_0913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8kfM9oT3dQQ/TxXKRjCUMuI/AAAAAAAACYU/x7NGbTEiAw8/s320/DSC_0913.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div align="center"> Her first McDonald's</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g442nFmQCVo/TxXKZ0MgRcI/AAAAAAAACYc/5Z4KlzbDxpU/s1600/DSC_0919.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g442nFmQCVo/TxXKZ0MgRcI/AAAAAAAACYc/5Z4KlzbDxpU/s320/DSC_0919.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-1545406609333475662012-01-04T07:24:00.010-05:002012-01-17T14:17:45.957-05:00Meeting Makinley<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We are settled in back at the room and everything is going so much better than we could have imagined. Especially with how it started......</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We arrived at the Civil Affairs building and waited for Ms. Zhong (orphanage adoption director) and the nanny to arrive with Makinley. We saw them come in as they were explaining to our guide that she got sick on the ride there. They tried to clean her up a little and then we were the first ones to meet our child. She started to walk out and as soon as she saw us she started to walk backwards. Ms. Zhong took her hand and gently led her out. She tried to walk right by us so I jumped up and went to see her. Then it happened....complete melt down. Worse one that I have ever seen. My poor baby didn't just cry, she SCREAMED!!!! She screamed and fought with me for so long and so hard that I thought that she would get sick aagin. Finally she settled down and stopped crying after what seemed like forever. She allowed me to hold her tight, as I had been doing the whole time. She is so shy and timid even with Ms. Zhong. If anyone spoke to her she just lowered her head and turned her head to me. Daddy was a nono until about 5 minutes ago when he started playing cars with her and now he has her laughing. What an incredibly cute laugh she has.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the car ride to the store she got sick again, so we told the guide to take us and the other couple with us back to the hotel. So she has already christened me as her Momma by throwing up on me. :D</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">When we got back to the hotel we headed straight for the room so that I could get her soiled clothes and her incredibly stinky diaper off. I know that the last thing you should do right away is take them out of their clothes, but I did. I had to. They were extremely yucky! Next bad thing to do is the bath, and yep, I broke that rule too. Into the bath she went. She was amazed! Then Daddy added bubbles and she was in wonderland! She has obviously never been in a tub and has never seen bubbles. She stayed in for quite some time just playing away. Daddy went to do some paper work and I just watched her smiling and laughing away.</span> <span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;">After tubby we got some lotion on (another moment she loved) and then put our jammies on.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">She has been amazing ever since. She has played with her toys, laughed at cartoons and even danced to the songs. She has jumped because she was excited and she has discovered that she likes Cheerios. Oh, and Skittles too! Thanks for the heads up on that Angela. Although they brought some from the orphanage too. She has even learned how to drink out of a sippy cup. That was very humorous to watch. All this and she has only been with us for three and a half hours. She is actually doing better than even Ashlyn did when we met her. Praising God for answered prayers.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xr3NNx_9OHI/TxXIa409OaI/AAAAAAAACW0/VkrjNTagFl8/s1600/DSC_0875.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xr3NNx_9OHI/TxXIa409OaI/AAAAAAAACW0/VkrjNTagFl8/s320/DSC_0875.JPG" width="214" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Daddy waiting to meet Makinley </div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NdHyvbn9SKc/TxXI7QokGAI/AAAAAAAACX8/ohrRCFQiZZY/s1600/DSC_0902.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NdHyvbn9SKc/TxXI7QokGAI/AAAAAAAACX8/ohrRCFQiZZY/s320/DSC_0902.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-45286513264613398552012-01-04T06:20:00.011-05:002012-01-16T06:27:45.294-05:00Only Seven Hours<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It is very surreal to think that we will be meeting our sweet girl in only seven hours! We are very excited and just can not wait to see who she really is. Please pray for Makinley. This will be the scariest day of her life. She has lived at the orphanage all of her life and she knows nothing else. She will be traveling 2 hours to get here. Pray for God's protection and a peace to fill her. Let her just 'know' that we are her family. We prayed these things for Ashlyn when we adopted her and God was truly faithful. Praying for that same outcome today.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So, many of you have emailed me and asked where we are staying. We are at the China Hotel (Marriott). Last time we stayed at the White Swan. This hotel is only 10 years old so it is a lot newer and more modern than the White Swan was. The room is a little larger than our room at the WS, but it is prettier and we have a regular king size bed this time instead of two twin beds that were low to the floor. The bathroom is nicer too. However, the location is not as good. We would much rather be on the island again. Here you are in the city. There is a park across the street with a tunnel that runs from the hotel to the park. We have not seen it yet. I am sure once it warms up and is not raining (it is suppose to rain tomorrow and the next day) that we will go over there with Makinley. There is also a 7-11 attached to the back of the China Hotel, for those of you that will be staying here soon. We bought our water and snacks there.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So as soon as we get back to the room and get settled in I will try to post pictures of our Family Day! Then, of course, we will be skyping with our children back home so that they can meet their baby sister.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Love the emails!! Thank you all for praying for us and supporting us!</span></span>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-79977474819502348322012-01-03T06:17:00.003-05:002012-01-17T14:09:16.185-05:00Yun Tai Garden<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This morning we were able to visit Yuntai Gardens. It is a beautiful park with amazing flowers and trees from several different countries. We spent about an hour and a half walking around this peaceful park and enjoying the cool weather this morning.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Most of you know how much I love rose gardens. Well imagine my surprise when we turned the corner and saw the largest rose garden that I have ever seen. There were thousands of different kinds of roses. Most were as big as my hand! And the smell was absolutley amazing! Needless to say, we stayed at that part of the park for awhile.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">As far as sleep goes, that has not improved. I woke up this morning at 2am and never was able to go back to sleep. Donny, however, did sleep better. He slept until 6am this morning. The night before I think he only slept a total of 2 hours. So we are hopeing that tonight we will both get a good amount of sleep since it will be our last night without the baby!!!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The two little girls asked me to take their pictures. They were so cute and giggling the whole time. They practiced a couple of english words with me.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Hope you all enjoy the pictures!</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YQfOwVxfv0E/TxXHJlyUtvI/AAAAAAAACWk/Rokl0xwDSJU/s1600/DSC_0858.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YQfOwVxfv0E/TxXHJlyUtvI/AAAAAAAACWk/Rokl0xwDSJU/s320/DSC_0858.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RZTDwyzs1jY/TxXHNxi2BPI/AAAAAAAACWs/lezVvdbUmX8/s1600/DSC_0861.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RZTDwyzs1jY/TxXHNxi2BPI/AAAAAAAACWs/lezVvdbUmX8/s320/DSC_0861.JPG" width="214" /></a></div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-19519577000978698402012-01-02T06:13:00.002-05:002012-01-16T06:17:25.215-05:00Our Trip So Far<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the first, we ended up spending most of the day in our room. We had a very relaxing day just catching up on some reading and watching tv. We headed out to find some lunch and walked around the city for a while. We ended up coming back to the McDonald's next door to the hotel for lunch. It actually tasted just like McDonald's to our surprise. We do not typically eat at McDonald's but it was a decent lunch, none the less.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">After lunch we realized that we definitely need to find some restaurants around the hotel because we did not want to end up eating McDonald's for two weeks! Unfortunately there are no other restaurants that we would eat at around our hotel. There are a couple of local restaurants, but we have learned in the past that if the guide does not recommend it, you should</span> n</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">ot go there. We ended up eating dinner at one of the restaurants in the hotel. Our dinner, which consisted of a not so good club sandwich and a not so good hamburger, both with fries and a drink, ended up costing us $40 (US). That was rediculous and now we are back to only having McDonald's.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Today we met up with our group and headed over to Shamain Island for some shopping. It is our favorite place in Guangzhou. Last trip, our hotel was actually on the island so there was a nice place to walk and a handful of good western restaurants to eat at. We could not wait to get to eat at Lucy's again. The food was great and the atmosphere is</span> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">wonderful. We sat outside to eat lunch and watch all the people in the park. This was one of the things that we have missed about our last trip to China.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">On the way back to the hotel our guide told us that Papa John's delivers to the hotel and the delivery charge is only about $1(US). So guess what we ordered for dinner tonight :D</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Tomorrow we will be sight seeing and we will post some pictures. Donny did not remember to upload the pictures from yesterday, so sorry, no pictures for this post.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Sleep has been our problem. We have not yet adjusted to the time difference. On the first day we were tired by 3:00pm and finally went to bed at 9:00pm. We only stayed up that late because we had to wait until 8:00am to call back home. There is a 13 hour time difference. </span></span><span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Hopefully we will do better tonight.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Comic Sans MS;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Thank you for all of the emails. We read them a couple of times a day. We are so excited when we see one in our inbox. Keep them coming. They make our day!</span></span>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-14450792270862015402011-12-31T06:04:00.009-05:002012-01-16T06:11:44.044-05:00We Made It and Happy New Year!<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">After 24 hours of flying yesterday we finally made it to Guangzhou at 8:45p (China time). We were really looking forward to celebrating the New Year China style only to find out that they do NOTHING for New Year's Eve. Nothing...nada...zip!!! They only celebrate Chinese New Year which will be in a few weeks for them. So we were a little disappointed. We had hoped to see one spectacular fireworks show. But in the end it was ok because after we skyped the children at home it was 10:30pm and I was going to bed.<br />
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We actually slept very well last night. I made it to 5 am and Donny some how made it to 7 am. We have just been hanging around the room this morning. We are looking forward to celebrating New Year's with our kids in a little while. We are going to skype so we can all be together for the countdown. That's better than any fireworks display!<br />
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Our schedule is all out of whack since they changed the holiday days around, so we don't know what we will be doing on what day. We do know that we meet Makinley on January 4th, but the rest is still being determined. I think our guide said tomorrow we would be going to Shaiman Island to shop, but we still have not heard what time yet. When we know, I will post it. (My daughter likes to follow along and know what we are doing and when). <br />
Hope you all have a wonderful New Year's!!</span>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-88140805972713758332011-12-29T11:24:00.000-05:002011-12-29T11:24:40.206-05:00The Number of the Day is......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PXzqUM_jq2w/TvyTz-qCeNI/AAAAAAAACVM/jyITBMp_EpE/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PXzqUM_jq2w/TvyTz-qCeNI/AAAAAAAACVM/jyITBMp_EpE/s1600/1.jpg" /></a></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Tomorrow we will be on a plane to China!!</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">This will be my last post until I return after the 14th of January.</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">If you would like to follow our trip please click on the link below:</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.journeytome.com/journal_view.cfm?journalid=3438">http://www.journeytome.com/journal_view.cfm?journalid=3438</a></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Thanks so much for your support and prayers.</div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-32050777399919839152011-12-28T19:33:00.002-05:002011-12-28T19:33:43.395-05:00Update: Change of PlansWe just received word as to why our Gotcha Day was pushed back a day. It seems that the Civil Affairs office decided not to reopen from the holiday until January 4th. Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-1318883131796777282011-12-28T16:13:00.000-05:002011-12-28T16:13:12.239-05:00Change of PlansI just received our final itinerary at it seems that the day we meet Makinley has been moved to January 4th.<br />
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Feeling very sad right now.<br />
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I hate leaving my children and knowing that I will be sitting in China for three days before I can even meet her (when I could be home with my children) is kinda yanking at my heart.<br />
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I know that God has a plan. And I will enjoy the time alone with my husband. It is just a long time to be away when you have littles and bigs at home.<br />
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Good news is, we do leave in two days. I know I will feel better when I get there. I am just already missing my children and I haven't even left.Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-86726612537370675692011-12-28T09:15:00.001-05:002011-12-28T09:17:43.758-05:00The Number of the Day is......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JoZz6RBrcvg/TvsjgRiln1I/AAAAAAAACVA/ziXJVg9ZFfo/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JoZz6RBrcvg/TvsjgRiln1I/AAAAAAAACVA/ziXJVg9ZFfo/s1600/2.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">And the plan for the day is packing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Well, at least to finish packing.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I will be shopping for food for those we are leaving here and then I will be washing clothes and finally finishing up the packing process.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I have to say that as excited as I am to get Makinley, I am also so very sad to leave my children here for such a long period of time...AGAIN!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I know I will feel better once we actually get there.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">The 25 hour flight is not helping in the excitement area.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">You all know how much I LOVE planes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I still can not believe that we only have two more days!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Don't forget to follow us here:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.journeytome.com/journal_view.cfm?journalid=3438">http://www.journeytome.com/journal_view.cfm?journalid=3438</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-12103993741424183092011-12-27T08:24:00.000-05:002011-12-27T08:24:26.529-05:00The Number of the Day is......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RKic1e0ukyk/TvnG9TCe3kI/AAAAAAAACUo/0TGrSMJsARg/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RKic1e0ukyk/TvnG9TCe3kI/AAAAAAAACUo/0TGrSMJsARg/s1600/3.jpg" /></a></div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-88957504928240405122011-12-26T10:33:00.000-05:002011-12-26T10:33:18.124-05:00The Number of the Day is......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QyAilk2et8g/TviTe3-SQZI/AAAAAAAACUc/AyS9ns2sTA8/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QyAilk2et8g/TviTe3-SQZI/AAAAAAAACUc/AyS9ns2sTA8/s1600/4.jpg" /></a></div><div align="center">Can you believe it??</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Only four more days and we will be on a plane!!</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">I am so ready to meet my baby girl.</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">China, here we come!!</div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-62899491033548622322011-12-25T10:33:00.002-05:002011-12-25T10:33:48.832-05:00The Number of the Day is......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4HDpY5WeEtA/TvdCRgL9KxI/AAAAAAAACUQ/JsAh6nF_zNA/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4HDpY5WeEtA/TvdCRgL9KxI/AAAAAAAACUQ/JsAh6nF_zNA/s1600/5.jpg" /></a></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Merry Christmas!!</div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-75229365947661264032011-12-24T12:35:00.000-05:002011-12-24T12:35:24.186-05:00The Number of the Day is......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6wmn9YzMQeY/TvYNOZU1GXI/AAAAAAAACT4/oExeHR52GEc/s1600/6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6wmn9YzMQeY/TvYNOZU1GXI/AAAAAAAACT4/oExeHR52GEc/s1600/6.jpg" /></a></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Praying you all have a wonderful Christmas Eve with your family and friends!</div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-41354365267379228662011-12-23T17:55:00.001-05:002011-12-23T17:56:39.214-05:00One More Week!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N8YXzfY68UI/TvUFZfyM6MI/AAAAAAAACTs/7ab9qieh67s/s1600/7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N8YXzfY68UI/TvUFZfyM6MI/AAAAAAAACTs/7ab9qieh67s/s1600/7.jpg" /></a></div><div align="center"><br />
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</div><div align="center">One more week!</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">I can not believe that there is only a week left!</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">More importantly, I can not believe that our Makinley will be home in three weeks!!!</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">So if you want to follow our journey while we are in China, we will be using this site:</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.journeytome.com/journal_view.cfm?journalid=3438">http://www.journeytome.com/journal_view.cfm?journalid=3438</a></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Just click on the link above and it will take you to our page.</div><div align="center">Or you can go to Journey to Me and click on adoption journals. Then you just click on Journey to Makinley and it will take you to our page.<br />
</div><div align="center">We will be posting every day so try to keep up with us...</div><div align="center">We do appreciate your prayers and support. PLEASE email and comment on our posts. It gets pretty lonely there, even when you are busy all day long. We loved all of the emails and responses last time and we look forward to seeing who is following along with us. We read EVERY ONE OF THEM!!!</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Also, please pray for us as we will be meeting Makinley on January 3rd at 2:30pm China time. That would be 1:30am at home (eastern time zone).</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Love you all and have a very Merry Christmas!!</div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-47637206172929909062011-12-22T09:20:00.000-05:002011-12-22T09:20:56.437-05:00The Number of the Day is......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eH7O0nHL8_g/TvM8FpY3EaI/AAAAAAAACTg/50YQGxraysE/s1600/8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eH7O0nHL8_g/TvM8FpY3EaI/AAAAAAAACTg/50YQGxraysE/s1600/8.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div align="center">I had a very hard time sleeping last night.</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">I kept waking up and lists would start running through my head.</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Things to do for my business.</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Things to remember to pack.</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">But mostly, I kept dreaming/thinking about the day I will meet my sweet baby girl.</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Praying that God wraps her in peace and security that day.</div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">Praying for an easy transition for our family.</div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-84705956131620863162011-12-21T09:57:00.002-05:002011-12-21T09:58:01.809-05:00The Number of the Day is......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3GXgd7uiEAI/TvHzolQ7c2I/AAAAAAAACTU/jMRP5b8murk/s1600/9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3GXgd7uiEAI/TvHzolQ7c2I/AAAAAAAACTU/jMRP5b8murk/s1600/9.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div align="center">Single digit!!!</div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6551519488351612807.post-53520066785414392732011-12-20T08:13:00.000-05:002011-12-20T08:13:34.704-05:00The Number of the Day is......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bMtRFTcmUhI/TvCJo2RJL6I/AAAAAAAACTM/xJhkOcTx2lw/s1600/10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bMtRFTcmUhI/TvCJo2RJL6I/AAAAAAAACTM/xJhkOcTx2lw/s1600/10.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">And with only five days until Christmas it has been a bit busy around here!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">I am missing my sweet cheeks. I so can not wait to meet her!!</div>Gretchenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14423770936344845558noreply@blogger.com0