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!!!!!

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.

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!

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!

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!

Happy New Year

Well it's 2007 and not much is different then it was in 2006. It was a hard year adoption related. New rules were introduced about a month ago of which the one that really worrys me is the anti-depressent one. It says that you can't be on anti-depressants and I have been on Paxil since John-Cole was born. I won't lie and say I'm not really scared about the unstableness of China right now. I pray about this so often that if I didn't know my God loves me I would think He's sick of hearing about it. I just want our daughter home.

I will say that yesterday was amazing though. We went to Memphis to look at John's new dog and when we got to the mall and got our of the van the first people we saw was a family with 2 Chinese daughters. Then it seems for the rest of the day there were little Asian girls everywhere we looked. John said there is your sign from God that our girl will be here this year. I hope so. I do have to admit it was amazing to see all those gorgeous girls everywhere you look.

Reflecting back on everything else for 2006, it was a great year for John-Cole. He's thriving as a teenager and loving school and church. He's really coming into his own and I'm so proud of the young man that he is becoming. He still has that wonderful sense of humor but he also has a good heart, just like his daddy. He loves the Florida Gators and wears Florida clothes all the time. He went to the Sub-Deb Debutante dance with Terri Beth at the Country Club a few weeks back. He was so handsome!

Oh I mentioned that we had gone to Memphis yesterday. John has wanted a Miniature Pinscher forever and I found one in Horn Lake. So off we went and I don't think I've ever seen John so excited. He feel head over heels in love with that puppy. We don't have a name for her yet but here is a picture. She is the black and brown baby girl in the middle,

Well I guess I'll end for now. I'll update soon.

Ladybugs Everywhere!!!!

Well today after chruch we went to Wal-Mart and came home. As we were putting up the groceries I glanced out the window and there were ladybugs everywhere! They were crawling on the window and all over the back porch. Then we went outside to get the recliner out of the van and one landed on John! I'm hoping that this is a great omen! Hopefully the CCAA will speed up and we will have our referral in March or April (one can dream!)

Screen Cap of CCAA

I'm going to try and post a screencap of the CCAA websight! Yay!!!! Out of review!!!!

We are OFFICIALLY OUT OF REVIEW!

Well I'm sitting here shaking and crying and my heart is racing. Tonight, November 3rd, 2006 the CCAA just updated their websight that January is officially out of the review room. So the way it looks we are approved. Everything is fine and we should expect our referral somtimes in the March-July time frame. I woke John up. I think I scared him to pieces. He hugged me and went back to sleep. I called and woke mama up and she was excited. I'm just shaking, I can't stand it. I want my baby girl home!

John-Cole is going to the Ohio State game at Illinois this weekend and he is so excited. He is going with Nathan Steritz. We took them, Matt McClelan, Kat, Nathan and John-Allen to a Haunted Corn Maze last Saturday and had a blast. On a sad note Kris Kelly passed away on John's birthday. It was such a long and sad fight for her. Mark is so stong. His faith is awesome!

Anyway Ariel we are one step closer to you! We love you so much and think about you constantly! We can't wait to hold you and love you. Referrals arrived today and were good through August 25th so we have less than 5 months until our referral. The sad thing is it is taking about 2 months to get through 1 month so 5 months could turn into 10 but we hope and pray it doesn't. If it is 10 more months that will be August. I hope it isn't that long but we know that this is God's timing and his Grace that is bringing us closer everyday to our daughter. I pray that God will take care of her and love her and hold her in his arms and just whisper in her ear that everything is okay! That we will be there soon to give her big bear hugs and butterfly kisses and love her and hold her. Until that time we put our trust in our Lord to take care of our daughter. Mommy, Daddy, Granny and Brother love you Ariel Grace!

Dream

I had the weirdest dream last night and I'm trying to remember what I can about it. I just remember bits and pieces. I remember being at a large get together. There were tons of people there and all of a sudden a group of little Chinese girls walked out and were dancing in a circle. I wish I could remember the song they were dancing to. One of them looked at me right in my eyes and I started crying. Then they went away. I remember crying and going to leave and this fairy or angel lady stopped me. I told her I had to go and she said, NO, don't you want to come with me and have a baby. So I took her hand and all of a sudden everything around me started turning into like a fairy land (WEIRD I KNOW). Flowers started blooming and people were singing. I remember everything turning into Christmas and to angels or fairies saying have a wonderful Christmas. Then everything started blooming into roses and all these red and pink and orange flowers. I don't know if this means spring or summer? Then there were pieces of satin coming down from the ceiling which obviously represented flying. I remember them talking about flying and how easy it would be (I'm scared to fly). Then coming home with my baby. Then it was over. So weird but so real. It was so so real. I don't know what it means. I don't know if it means that we will fly in spring or summer. I don't know if it means maybe our daughter was born last night or this morning actually because this dream was after 9:30 a.m. I don't know if October 15th is an important day. I just know that was the most real dream I have ever had. I know there was water flowing and just flowers everywhere. At the beginning though there were Christmas houses and snow. Anyway I wanted to write about it so I would never forget it.

There is really nothing new. We are still in the review room. The wait is still predicted to get longer. I have seen the name Ariel everywhere lately. There was an Ariel at the Drs. office the other day, then I saw a baby named Ariel. It's just pretty obvious that our baby is supposed to be Ariel.

Oh, complete change of subject but we had our Freshman pep ralley last Thursday. It's all about the 9th graders since this was their last game and last pep ralley of Jr. High. It was cute. They blindfolded them and then had the moms come out and kiss them on the cheeks and told them it was the cheerleaders. They had to guess which cheerleader it was. John-Cole guessed Abbie....LOL! It was really cute. They got gifts. Then that night we played North Sunflower at Ruleville. The game was great! We were losing in the last 30 seconds and Nathan Steritz ran the ball on kickoff all the way for a touchdown. John ran the entire way with him....LOL! I'm so proud for him. We parents acted like crazy people! So our boys won the game, the first Jr. High game won in over 3 years in the last 30 seconds and a 9th grader won it. How great for them to go out of their 9th grade year knowing they broke that losing streak! The score was 26-22! I've got some great pictures that I need to upload and post. I'm so proud of them.

Humm can't really think of anything else. Just once again pray to God to keep Ariel-Grace safe and hold him in her arms until we can get there. Just tell her how much she is loved!

Dreams and Name Change

I didn't post about Ariel's name change and the two dreams that I had that led me to changing her name.

The first dream had to do with her name, Ariel. If anyone knows me they know that I love Walt Disney World. We try to go at least twice a year and I can't wait to take Ariel there. Well one night I dreamed that we were at Disney. Ariel was with us and about 2 years old. We were in a store shopping and there was an Ariel doll. I looked at my baby girl and said
"Who is that?"
She said in her little voice "Ariel!"
And I said, "Who is Ariel?"
She said "I am mommy!"
Well that sealed the name Ariel!

The second dream had more to do with the wait times. For any of you going through this process of adopting from China you know how horrible the wait times are now and that the predictions are even worse. What turned out to be a six month wait has turned into a possibly 14-18-24 month or longer wait. It's really frustrating to not have our daughter and to not really know when we will get her.

For those of you who read my blog and know me you will know that I love my Lord Jesus very much and that I pray to him often. Well with this wait we pray daily for the Lord to help us get through this. To protect Ariel until we can get to her and to give us a peace about this wait. Well one night I was just frustrated and when I talked to God I was frustrated. I just begged God to tell me how I was supposed to handle this wait. How I needed my baby girl and she needed me. Well that night I heard God's voice so clearly in my dreams.
He said,

It is by my GRACE that you will get your baby girl!

When I woke up I knew that our baby was to be Ariel-Grace. It was a clear as the sky that she was meant to have the name Grace. Because it is through HIS GRACE that we will have our daughter.

So the name Jadeyn is gone. I'm still thinking of whether to hypen her name or not. Our daughter will be Ariel Grace Barbara Kirksey. Or Ariel-Grace Barbara Kirksey. I personally like the hypen but don't know how many people will call her the entire Ariel-Grace and how many people will call her simply Ariel.

Humm I guess that's it for today. Nothing really new on the adoption front. The rumors are all over the place like always. Some say the wait is going to speed up, some say it will slow down even more so we have no idea. John did get a pension from Cox which will end up being close to $5,000 dollars. That's great and will go a long way with more expenses that are being incured because of the wait. We still have to have our last set of shots and we also have to redo our fingerprints. From that point on we may have to update our home study which would mean more physicals and more background checks and then possibly redo the I600 to get another 171. It really gets frustrating that China won't give us a straight answer on anything. If they would just come out and say the wait will be 20 months or whatever then we could prepare. With everything up in the air we have no idea. We just wait month to month to see what the CCAA says. At least we are in the review room. I so want to see January out of the review room. That will be one giant step!!!!

Oh, I wanted to tell a cute story I heard on one of the adoption groups so that I can put it in Ariel's lifebook later on. To think the wait is frustrating for us is one thing but thinking of little children who are waiting on their brother or sister is another. They are so confused. They know they are supposed to have a baby brother or sister but that brother or sister NEVER seems to get here.

So a mother said the doorbell rang and it was UPS with a package of something she had ordered off the internet. She said she brought it in, layed it on the table, opened it and looked at it, put it up and went back to doing what she was doing. Well her 4 year old was watching the entire time and she looked at him and he was just shaking his head. She said "What's wrong?" He looked at her and said,

"MOMMY IS THAT BABY GIRL WE ORDERD FROM CHINA EVER GOING TO COME IN?"

I thought that was hillarious and so true of the way a child would think!

Anyway I do want to ask the Lord to watch over Ariel-Grace and to wrap her in his arms and love her and let her know that her mommy and daddy will be there as soon as we possibly can!

We love you our baby girl!!!!

To long!

It's been far to long since I've written. I have to admit to being depressed about the long wait and all the possible questions that could be coming from the CCAA. Rumors have run rampant about weight restrictions and I am scared to death.

We just got back from Disney World and I'm down 43 pounds. We had a blast there but I just couldn't stop thinking about how Ariel should have been there with us. We have decided on the name Ariel-Grace Barbara Kirksey. I had a dream where I realized that it's by God's grace that Ariel will come home to us. In that dream I knew that I had to include the name Grace. It was as if God was giving me her name.

As of right now December is out of the review room so we should officially be in the review room. Everytime I get an email alert or the phone rings my heart flutters a little thinking it could be Kevie with questions from the CCAA. I will breath such a sigh of relief when we see that January is out of reveiw.

On the home front John-Cole is having a super 9th grade year! He is playing both Jr. High and High School Football. He was elected to the Homecoming Court and will be escorting Halea Brown and Matt McClelan will be escorting Chelsea Stevenson. I can't wait to see him dressed up! He has grown so much over the past few months. He's turning into such a handsome young man. He still has his sense of humor though.

Its been a while again

Well its been awile again since I posted. We have heard nothing new. CCAA seems to be slowing down and I'm afraid that what we thought would be September travel may very well be well after the beginning of the year. Of course we pray and we try to keep positive thoughts but sometimes its hard. Again I know that God has our baby girl waiting and that all of this is in His time but being human I can't help but mourn the missing link in our family at times. I just want our daughter.

There have been some concerns about weight so I'm still trying to lose weight so that if anything is said I can have proof that I've lost a good deal of weight before travel.

Lets see on the school front John-Cole only has a bit over a week left. We had the Athletic Banquet the other night and John-Cole won the track award along with a certificate for all sports and also a basketball medal. I'll try and post a picture.

What else......not much really. We have planned another trip to Disney in September and will be staying at The Wilderness Lodge. This may be the only time we'll ever be able to stay here. I'm really looking forward to it.

Just wanted to tell Ariel that I love her and am praying for her every single day!

Its been a while

Well its been a while because there really isn't anything new to report from China. The rumors go up and down and can get to you sometimes. I read one last week that said CCAA said there is no way it will go past 12 months LID which would have us traveling probably February at the latest. I still hope we have our baby girl by Christmas.

Ariel's quilt top is finished. I'll add pictures of it. Its really gorgeous! I need to get it quilted and have to decide on a person to quilt it. Isn't it pretty!! I love the hearts, plus it has the little Asian girls as the boarder. Its queen size.

We got back from Disney. Had a wonderful time. Came home and found out they are offering Free Dining again in September so we will be going back. Hopefully staying at Coronado Springs! We will be there for John-Cole's 15th birthday. Seems appropriate since we always seem to go for his birthday. I'll add some pictures from Disney.

We also had the Beauty Revies. Jamie Luke won Jr. High with Sara McDaniel, Taylor Dobbins, Emily Newton and Morgan McGaugh being beauties. For high school Mary Lemonis won and the beauties were Jessica Stokes, Jennifer Seymour, Nicole McAdory and Kaylee Wilson. John-Cole was an escort. Here are a few pictures.


I've seen quite a few ladybugs lately. We actually rescued one last night from the ceiling of the bathroom. I also dreamed about a little Chinese Girl with pig tails jumping up and down on our bed. I hope she was our girl. John was cutting on some of the trees this weekend and talking about building Ariel a tree house with a slide and swing in the big climbing tree. We are so ready for our baby girl!

Oh heres something funny, I'm going to get my ears stapled tonight. Its supposed to help with weight loss and your hunger. Its supposed to work by pressure points. I hope so. I hope it doesn't hurt....LOL! So we will see. I've been on and off the diet since getting back from Disney but I am going to re-join Weight Watchers next Tuesday. So if the ear thingy works at all hopefully along with Weight Watchers it will be good!

A message to my baby girl. We can't wait to get you here. We pray for your comfort every night. We pray that God looks down on you and that he loves and comforts you until we can get there. I love you Ariel. Mommy and daddy can't wait to come and get you! Hopefully it will be soon!