Adoption Update!
There really isn't much to add right now. Finally February and part of March are out of the review room. As of now the CCAA has sent referrals through October 13th. What does this mean for us? Well it depends, if they keep this rate of referrals I'm thinking maybe September or October. I'm truly hoping that it won't be longer than that.
We actually have an appt. this Friday to get our physicals redone. We also have to get everything else updated for an updated Home Study and then an updated 171. Hopefully after that we are in the home stretch!
I'm so ready to get our daughter home. I was just thinking, I was 33 when I started this blog and now I'm 35. We never knew we would be waiting this long but it will be worth every second when we finally hold our daughter in our arms!!
If your reading this, please pray for us and Ariel-Grace. I know God kisses and hugs her for us and I know He has OUR daughter waiting on us which is why we are still waiting. We have to wait until our daughter, that God means for us to have is ready to come home!
So that's it for now!!!! Hopefully I'll update again soon with more! I can't wait to update with pictures of our daughter!
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Adoption Update!
Cruise Part 2.......The Cruise and Ports
Okay! Let's talk about the Cruise. As I posted before it was out of New Orleans. We were on board the Carnival Fantasy. Our room was a mini suite and our cabin number was V9. We had a great balcony! Here is a picture of the inside of the ship around the elevator! The elevators were funny though. You never knew when they would open and if you got on you really never knew where you were going to stop!
These next few pictures are in the Cat's Lounge on the Ship. Of course knowing me if something has cats, I'm there!! First is John in front of a huge Ritz Cracker display!
Next is John if front of his favorite thing. I guess I should have said Hazel huh! Anyway if it's something to clean with my husband is there! He loves to clean!
Of course I had to take pictures with all of the giant cat displays!
Awww another kitty!
I think this is my favorite one!
We left New Orleans at 4:00 on Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday we were at sea. The rocking and rolling was weird at first but you get used to it. Our first port of call was Costa Maya. Costa Maya is further south then Cancun and Cozumel. It is miles from the boarder of Belize. Costa Maya is just a small place that really has been taken over by the cruise lines. When you get off the ship you either walk or take a shuttle thingy down this huge pier to a little area that was built by the cruise ships.........here is the pier!
All around the pier is a giant shopping complex with mostly stores that the cruise lines will tell you to shop at. There is also a small beach with chairs set up all around as you can see below.
John and I decided to rent a golf cart and go to the little fishing village of Majahaul. The little fishing village was true Mexico. There are places set up with all kinds of Mexican things, sterling, gorgeous dresses etc. There was also a huge light house on the way and also hornets nest hanging from the trees. Here is a pic I took of the Gulf in the background.......or the ocean or whatever...LOL!
After exploring the village we came back to the little complex nearer the ship. They have a huge wrap around pool as you can see below. The pink building is a bar that you can swim up to.
Since John and I aren't drinkers we just got a few chairs on the beach and relaxed for an hour or so. There were only 3 ships in port as you can see in the picture below. Ours is the one facing ahead. The pool here is small and closer to the gulf then the wrap around pool.
Okay, we left Costa Maya at 8:00 that night and were in Cozumel the next day by 12:00! We had to tender into port because one of the main piers was destroyed by Hurricane Wilma and they are rebuilding. We decided to rent a jeep and drive around the island. We stopped at a beach club and there were thousands of these Conch Shells along the beach. Honestly when I say thousands they were everywhere and you had to wear your shoes into the water to keep from having them hurt your feet!
This is a picture I took from the Beach Club of a storm coming up. It rained a little and then cleared up just about as fast as the storm came up. It's gorgeous watching a storm cloud come up from the ocean!
We left the beach club and drove around the island! The funniest thing was a sign that where you could ride horses. It said, Come, Ride Horses, WE HAW! (Not Yee-Haw, WE-Haw) I so wish I had taken a picture of that. Cozumel is a huge shopping town and I wish I had had more $$$$$ to shop with. If you are interested in Caribbean Topaz or Tanzanite or STERLING SILVER you can have a blast here! Since we had the jeep we were able to drive aroudn the entire island. I loved this little house sitting out on a small cliff!
Overall I can say that for Shopping, Cozumel definitely topped Costa Maya but for beauty Costa Maya had Cozumel beat! I would love to go back to both places! As we left Cozumel you could see the Mayan Pyramid Tulum in the distance. We could have gone here but it would have taken our entire day because you have to travel from the island of Cozumel to the main land (Playa Del Carmen) and then travel to Tulum. I was surprised I could zoom in and get this picture.
Let's see, a bit about the cruise itself! The food was okay. It didn't stand up to Disney standards for me but it was good. They had Lobster, Steak, Escargot, Baked Alaska and some nice offerings and of course you could eat 24 Hours a Day if you wanted. They had two main dining rooms which served the same food just at different times. They also had a burger/hot dog/fry buffet on the Lido Deck. They had another buffet called Windows on the Sea that had different cuisine everyday.......like Mexican, Chinese, etc. It was okay but the burgers were really good. They also had a Pizza place and a Deli and both were really good. I think John and I both loved the 24 hour ice cream and frozen yogurt though. OUT OF THIS WORLD! The yogurt beat TCBY and thats hard to do. Room Service was also free. We ordered Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches one night and they came toasted. We ordered Chocolate Milk to go with them. We also had good sandwiches from room service. John decided to surprise me and have these delivered (Picture!) They were only $3 for all 6 of them and they were SUPER YUMMY!!!!
Shopping on the boat was fun too. I saw some HUGE and I do mean HUGE bottles of alcohol. We played Bingo some and decided that we just aren't good at bingo at all. The shows were really good. They had a salute to Broadway, then a Salute to different decades, a Magician and 2 adult comedians. I would say the shows themselves were actually the best. The drinks were good but they were really to strong for me. We also went to an art auction which was interesting. Probably the funniest thing was after we left Cozumel that night the ocean was ROCKING. No one could keep their balance. It was something else! Oh we also played some deck games like Name That Tune and The Match Game. I won a ship on a stick and a medallion. Really cute! Overall we would take a cruise again! I have got to get my mother to Cozumel and the sterling shops!!!!!
These next few pictures are in the Cat's Lounge on the Ship. Of course knowing me if something has cats, I'm there!! First is John in front of a huge Ritz Cracker display!
Next is John if front of his favorite thing. I guess I should have said Hazel huh! Anyway if it's something to clean with my husband is there! He loves to clean!
Of course I had to take pictures with all of the giant cat displays!
Awww another kitty!
I think this is my favorite one!
We left New Orleans at 4:00 on Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday we were at sea. The rocking and rolling was weird at first but you get used to it. Our first port of call was Costa Maya. Costa Maya is further south then Cancun and Cozumel. It is miles from the boarder of Belize. Costa Maya is just a small place that really has been taken over by the cruise lines. When you get off the ship you either walk or take a shuttle thingy down this huge pier to a little area that was built by the cruise ships.........here is the pier!All around the pier is a giant shopping complex with mostly stores that the cruise lines will tell you to shop at. There is also a small beach with chairs set up all around as you can see below.
John and I decided to rent a golf cart and go to the little fishing village of Majahaul. The little fishing village was true Mexico. There are places set up with all kinds of Mexican things, sterling, gorgeous dresses etc. There was also a huge light house on the way and also hornets nest hanging from the trees. Here is a pic I took of the Gulf in the background.......or the ocean or whatever...LOL!
After exploring the village we came back to the little complex nearer the ship. They have a huge wrap around pool as you can see below. The pink building is a bar that you can swim up to.
Since John and I aren't drinkers we just got a few chairs on the beach and relaxed for an hour or so. There were only 3 ships in port as you can see in the picture below. Ours is the one facing ahead. The pool here is small and closer to the gulf then the wrap around pool.
Okay, we left Costa Maya at 8:00 that night and were in Cozumel the next day by 12:00! We had to tender into port because one of the main piers was destroyed by Hurricane Wilma and they are rebuilding. We decided to rent a jeep and drive around the island. We stopped at a beach club and there were thousands of these Conch Shells along the beach. Honestly when I say thousands they were everywhere and you had to wear your shoes into the water to keep from having them hurt your feet!
This is a picture I took from the Beach Club of a storm coming up. It rained a little and then cleared up just about as fast as the storm came up. It's gorgeous watching a storm cloud come up from the ocean!
We left the beach club and drove around the island! The funniest thing was a sign that where you could ride horses. It said, Come, Ride Horses, WE HAW! (Not Yee-Haw, WE-Haw) I so wish I had taken a picture of that. Cozumel is a huge shopping town and I wish I had had more $$$$$ to shop with. If you are interested in Caribbean Topaz or Tanzanite or STERLING SILVER you can have a blast here! Since we had the jeep we were able to drive aroudn the entire island. I loved this little house sitting out on a small cliff!Overall I can say that for Shopping, Cozumel definitely topped Costa Maya but for beauty Costa Maya had Cozumel beat! I would love to go back to both places! As we left Cozumel you could see the Mayan Pyramid Tulum in the distance. We could have gone here but it would have taken our entire day because you have to travel from the island of Cozumel to the main land (Playa Del Carmen) and then travel to Tulum. I was surprised I could zoom in and get this picture.
Let's see, a bit about the cruise itself! The food was okay. It didn't stand up to Disney standards for me but it was good. They had Lobster, Steak, Escargot, Baked Alaska and some nice offerings and of course you could eat 24 Hours a Day if you wanted. They had two main dining rooms which served the same food just at different times. They also had a burger/hot dog/fry buffet on the Lido Deck. They had another buffet called Windows on the Sea that had different cuisine everyday.......like Mexican, Chinese, etc. It was okay but the burgers were really good. They also had a Pizza place and a Deli and both were really good. I think John and I both loved the 24 hour ice cream and frozen yogurt though. OUT OF THIS WORLD! The yogurt beat TCBY and thats hard to do. Room Service was also free. We ordered Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches one night and they came toasted. We ordered Chocolate Milk to go with them. We also had good sandwiches from room service. John decided to surprise me and have these delivered (Picture!) They were only $3 for all 6 of them and they were SUPER YUMMY!!!!Shopping on the boat was fun too. I saw some HUGE and I do mean HUGE bottles of alcohol. We played Bingo some and decided that we just aren't good at bingo at all. The shows were really good. They had a salute to Broadway, then a Salute to different decades, a Magician and 2 adult comedians. I would say the shows themselves were actually the best. The drinks were good but they were really to strong for me. We also went to an art auction which was interesting. Probably the funniest thing was after we left Cozumel that night the ocean was ROCKING. No one could keep their balance. It was something else! Oh we also played some deck games like Name That Tune and The Match Game. I won a ship on a stick and a medallion. Really cute! Overall we would take a cruise again! I have got to get my mother to Cozumel and the sterling shops!!!!! Okay last but not least are my pictures. Every night they had different backgrounds set up and you could take as many pictures as you wanted. Of course we took about a zillion but I couldn't afford that many. Here are some of my favorites though!
I like this one with the ship in the background!
This is really the only one where you can see my entire dress. It was so much fun getting all dressed up and formal!
As you can tell I liked all the weird poses. John-Cole said he could have taken the one below, all I would have had to do is lay on the couch, ROTFLOL!
This is John's favorite!! He loved the black and white ones!
Same picture as above but in color! I like the colored ones better!
I can't believe I actually bought the one below. This was on our Costa Maya day and I had been out in the wind and Gulf all day long and just did my hair different.
Okay this last one is my absolute FAVORITE picture! I think it just shows how much my husband and I love each other. Here is the story behind it. Most all of the staff of the cruiseline are foreign so they speak with an accent. So the phtographer keeps telling us to MOVE CLOSER, MOVE CLOSER to each other. Finally I'm so close to John that I lean up to kiss him. The photographer says, "No, NO KISSY, NO KISSY!" I busted out laughing and so did John and here is the picture!!!!!!!
So.......overall we had a great time. Oh wait I forgot to post the picture of Cruella! Okay so if you know me you know I love Disney! Well as soon as we walked on the ship John saw this lady! He kind of pointed her out to me and of course when I saw the black and white hair the first thing I thought of was CRUELLA!!!!!! So everytime we saw her I would laugh and tell John "There is your friend!" So I had to get a picture of that hair. So here she is, the real Cruella! Honestly she might have been the nicest lady ever but that hair and my love of Disney just screamed Cruella!
Okay so where was I........we had a great time. It isn't Disney because you don't go and do 24 hours a day! You definitely have some relaxation time on a cruise. Alot of people drank and gambled and if you don't do those you might be a little bored. We always managed to find something to do like playing bingo or just going back to our cabin and setting on the balcony. We did take a nap almost everyday! The ports were awesome and I would love to go back there! It was nice that we left from New Orleans which is only a 4 hour drive. So I think we will go back soon, I have to take mama shopping.
I like this one with the ship in the background!
This is really the only one where you can see my entire dress. It was so much fun getting all dressed up and formal!
As you can tell I liked all the weird poses. John-Cole said he could have taken the one below, all I would have had to do is lay on the couch, ROTFLOL!
This is John's favorite!! He loved the black and white ones!
Same picture as above but in color! I like the colored ones better!
I can't believe I actually bought the one below. This was on our Costa Maya day and I had been out in the wind and Gulf all day long and just did my hair different.
Okay this last one is my absolute FAVORITE picture! I think it just shows how much my husband and I love each other. Here is the story behind it. Most all of the staff of the cruiseline are foreign so they speak with an accent. So the phtographer keeps telling us to MOVE CLOSER, MOVE CLOSER to each other. Finally I'm so close to John that I lean up to kiss him. The photographer says, "No, NO KISSY, NO KISSY!" I busted out laughing and so did John and here is the picture!!!!!!!
So.......overall we had a great time. Oh wait I forgot to post the picture of Cruella! Okay so if you know me you know I love Disney! Well as soon as we walked on the ship John saw this lady! He kind of pointed her out to me and of course when I saw the black and white hair the first thing I thought of was CRUELLA!!!!!! So everytime we saw her I would laugh and tell John "There is your friend!" So I had to get a picture of that hair. So here she is, the real Cruella! Honestly she might have been the nicest lady ever but that hair and my love of Disney just screamed Cruella!Okay so where was I........we had a great time. It isn't Disney because you don't go and do 24 hours a day! You definitely have some relaxation time on a cruise. Alot of people drank and gambled and if you don't do those you might be a little bored. We always managed to find something to do like playing bingo or just going back to our cabin and setting on the balcony. We did take a nap almost everyday! The ports were awesome and I would love to go back there! It was nice that we left from New Orleans which is only a 4 hour drive. So I think we will go back soon, I have to take mama shopping.
Now for the end and the funny story. We had plenty of money on our bank card but we weren't going to use it unless we absolutely had to. So when we got off the ship (After my 200 dollar picture shopping spree) we didn't have a lot of cash money left. We had promised John-Cole beads from New Orleans with Indianapolis and of course Florida Gators so we stopped by the French Market. Well there stood a man with a booth of FAKE Coach, Gucci, Dooney, Louis Vuitton and other knock off purses. Again if you know me purses bring me to a HALT!!!! So I find the cutest Gucci and asked the man how much. He told me $50 dollars. I asked John how much cash he had left. John had exactly $29 dollars......so I offered exactly $29 dollars and the guy took it. So back to the car we go. Me thrilled to get a knock off for under $30 dollars, John shaking his head because of me and my purses. So we still had more than a quarter of a tank of gas in the Bug (Volkswagon) and John said we will stop later and fill up and get something to eat. So we drive into Brookhaven Mississippi and are almost on empty. We pull to the first ATM, put our card in and it says "Can't process transaction." So I tell John that's probably because the ATM is out of money. We go to another ATM and it says the same thing. Okay I'm starting to panic. We go to the gas station, put our card in and it doesn't WORK! So now I'm in full panic mode. I call the 1-800 number because I know we have plenty of money. I was told, didn't you know you aren't our customer anymore. Well yes I knew the bank was being bought out but shouldn't our ATM card still work, I mean it is a credit card. Well no because we stopped all of those YESTERDAY! Okay wait a minute, why haven't I gotten a new card? Well you should have gotten those LAST WEEK! WE WERE ON A CRUISE IN MEXICO LAST WEEK!!!!! So we knew our bank was being bought out but there was NO notice that the Debit Card wasn't going to work and there was no notice that we would have a new card this soon! So here we sit, 200 miles away from home, NO CASH and our Debit Card won't work and it's SUNDAY! So we start scrounging money and come up with exactly $5.00. Thank goodness we decided to take mama's bug instead of our big hoopty van! $5.00 got us from Brookhaven to Vicksburg Mississippi where John-Cole and mama met us with gas money.
John says it's all my fault because I just HAD to have the fake Gucci Purse.......but I mean HELLO, a good knock off for under $30 Dollars!!!! No purse loving American Girl could have passed that up!!!!!!
So that was our trip......turned into a pretty long trip report! Those are just a few of the pictures I took! We had a great time!
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Our Vacation Part One New Orleans!
Okay part One of our Cruise Vacation! We left on Sunday and spent the day in New Orleans! Of course, the picture below is the beautiful St. Louis Cathedral!
When we got to our Hotel our room wasn't ready yet so we spent the day wandering around the French Quarter. We had been to New Orleans before Hurrican Katrina and the only difference I noticed in the French Quarter was a few less people and a few scaffoldings here and there. Katrina may have tried to take New Orleans but it certainly didn't kill her spirit! I love New Orleans! I love the history and the folklore and most of all the GHOSTS!
When we got to our Hotel our room wasn't ready yet so we spent the day wandering around the French Quarter. We had been to New Orleans before Hurrican Katrina and the only difference I noticed in the French Quarter was a few less people and a few scaffoldings here and there. Katrina may have tried to take New Orleans but it certainly didn't kill her spirit! I love New Orleans! I love the history and the folklore and most of all the GHOSTS!We stayed at the Place D'Armes which in on St. Anne Street in the Heart of the French Quarter. It is supposedly haunted and was the sight of the first school. It is supposedly haunted by a child who died in a fire. Unfortunately we didn't experience any hauntings except for the lights flickering a few times but I'm afraid if they had flickered once more that John would have left me there! We had a great room with a balcony looking out over St. Anne street! The Cathedral was right there on the corner! Awesome hotel and I would stay there again in a heartbeat. Here are a few pictures, including our balcony..
Our Hotel, The Place D'Armes,
Our Balcony!
For Supper we went to Muriel's which is attached to the Hotel. It is also supposedly haunted. The food was fantastic and the decor was even better. They had a room (see below) that is called the Seance. It is decorated in deep reds and velvet. It reminds me of what a bordello must have looked like back in the early days of New Orleans. It was deserted and we were able to wander.
Muriel's is home to three ghost. They set this table up for their ghosts everynight with breat and wine! It is by stairs and always is under candlelight. Awesome! I would recommend eating here to anyone. The turnip greens were out of this world as was the Praline Bread Pudding!
It wouldn't have been a trip to New Orleans without stopping by the MOST HAUNTED HOUSE IN NEW ORLEANS! The Lalaurie House! If you want to be freaked out google it and read the story. Anyway I made John find the house and here is a picture in the daytime. This is the same house where I took the ghost pictures before......I've included those pics as well.
Here is a picture of the LaLaurie House that I took when we were in New Orleans before Katrina. Now some peopel will argue that orbs are dust particles or moisture or even bugs but this orb is so huge and has so much detail that I think it's the real thing. What convinces me even more you will see in the next picture!
This is my ghost picture from the LaLaurie Mansion. If you will look on the left side, near the ground you will see the arms and legs of a person falling. They look to almost be hitting the ground. In reading the history of the LaLaurie Mansion it is well known that someone (a maid) jumped to their death running from Madame LaLaurie. Since this is the most haunted house in New Orleans and the history is true I can't help but think that I got a residual haunting on film. The one arm is so obvious and upon closer look the legs and body can clearly be seen!
So that's New Orlenas, all the grace and charm and Ghosts!!!! I would love to go back and just spend time in the city! It's awesome!
Our Hotel, The Place D'Armes, Our Balcony! For Supper we went to Muriel's which is attached to the Hotel. It is also supposedly haunted. The food was fantastic and the decor was even better. They had a room (see below) that is called the Seance. It is decorated in deep reds and velvet. It reminds me of what a bordello must have looked like back in the early days of New Orleans. It was deserted and we were able to wander. It wouldn't have been a trip to New Orleans without stopping by the MOST HAUNTED HOUSE IN NEW ORLEANS! The Lalaurie House! If you want to be freaked out google it and read the story. Anyway I made John find the house and here is a picture in the daytime. This is the same house where I took the ghost pictures before......I've included those pics as well. Here is a picture of the LaLaurie House that I took when we were in New Orleans before Katrina. Now some peopel will argue that orbs are dust particles or moisture or even bugs but this orb is so huge and has so much detail that I think it's the real thing. What convinces me even more you will see in the next picture!This is my ghost picture from the LaLaurie Mansion. If you will look on the left side, near the ground you will see the arms and legs of a person falling. They look to almost be hitting the ground. In reading the history of the LaLaurie Mansion it is well known that someone (a maid) jumped to their death running from Madame LaLaurie. Since this is the most haunted house in New Orleans and the history is true I can't help but think that I got a residual haunting on film. The one arm is so obvious and upon closer look the legs and body can clearly be seen!So that's New Orlenas, all the grace and charm and Ghosts!!!! I would love to go back and just spend time in the city! It's awesome!
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