Where will Ariel be from?

Thought I would put up a large map of China to see where Ariel could be from. Because of the Earthquake we know she won't be from Sichuan or perhaps a few around there. So, where will our daughter be from?

China Earthquake so so sad

Yesterday China had one of the strongest earthquakes in their history. After being in the adoption process for so long I feel as if China is a part of my heart. My prayers have gone out to all of those in China. To record this historic event I thought I would copy and paste the updates from Rumor Queen from today,

Quake in ChinaMay 12th, 2008
Please scroll to the bottom of this post for updates.
A magnitued 7.4 or 7.6 or 7.8 (preliminary numbers at this point, but still big, no matter what) quake hit China last night, in Sichuan province. News reports say that there is no serious damage in the provincial capital of Chengdu.
They are reporting that cellular service has been disrupted. Knowing how communication channels work in China, I’m betting the land phones and internet are probably spotty as well. Which means that if you’ve got a friend or loved one there and you haven’t heard from them and can’t reach them, that is probably why.
The news reports say the quake struck 93 kilometers from Chengdu, which is around 58 miles, so anyone there likely got quite a ride from it.
Other news reports say that the Chengdu airport is closed, and flights are being rerouted to the Chongqing airport.
While there are reports of it being felt pretty strongly as far away as Beijing and Shanghai, so far I’ve only seen reports of damage in the Sichuan province and Chongqing municipality.
Here are some eyewitness reports from some of the surrounding provinces.
The sad news right now is that of the schools collapsing, and of the school that was buried by mud, and of the collapsing watertower. There will probably be more bad news as the news begins to find its way out of the area, but I really hope not.
I’m guessing that Half the Sky will have some sort of update at some point about the state of the orphanages in those areas, they seem to be pretty on the ball about that kind of thing. If anyone sees them reporting on it, please let me know.
Also, if we have any families in the area it would be nice to hear how they are. I doubt they can get to the internet, but if anyone hears from someone please let us know about it.
——————–
9:00 Update:
There are now damage reports in Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces as well as in the municipality of Chongqing
Chengdu has power and water outages as well as communication problems. An underground water pipe ruptured near the city’s southern railway station and the immediate area is flooded. There are report of buildings with cracks in their walls but so far no reports of collapses.
—————-10:45 Update
I’m trying to report the stuff that isn’t on the news. We all know of the school collapses and the mudslides, I’m trying to give information that isn’t hitting the mainstream news so much.
Reports now have the magnitude at 7.8 or 8.0.
There are some reports of cracked buildings that have been evacuated in Chongching municipality.
Estimates of a death toll are now at three to five thousand in some reports and as high as 10,000 in other reports.
The epicenter was in Wenchuan county in Sichuan province. There are some pictures out there of collapsed buildings in Wenchuan county. I won’t point to them here, as most of them show bodies.
The water tower that collapsed was in Mianyang, in Santai county
There have been 44 aftershocks so far, and rain is predicted for the area. Most people are staying outside right now, out of buildings that could be unsafe.
There are also reports of fatalities in Beichaun county, where it is reported 80% of the buildings have collapsed.
—————-
11:10 Update
Fatalities also reported in Dujiangyan City.
Wenchuan County, the epicenter, is home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, China’s leading research and breeding base for endangered giant pandas. (In case someone has been there, you’ll know that’s where this is.)
Public transportation in Chengdu is said to be operational.
Electricity and water are said to be fine in the city of Chongching.
Eyewitness report of Canadians from Chengdu, seems to be okay where they are: http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/424499
——–
11:30 Update
Two chemical plants were damaged and the areas around them have been evacuated. This is in Shifeng, about 30 miles from the epicenter of the quake.
It is also being reported that the trembling felt in Beijing was from a second 3.9 quake located in the eastern part of Beijing. I don’t believe that’s been decided for sure yet, though.
Death toll is now reported at 7,600 for Sichuan province.
USGS list of quakes and aftershocks: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/region/Asia_eqs.php
———-
12:50 Update
After the country was paralyzed by the snow storms in February the leadership was criticized for a Katrina-like slowness in dealing with the problem. There is now prominent coverage of officials responding immediately to this disaster. Premier Wen Jiabao is in Sichuan. He gave a televised speech as he was flying to Sichuan on Monday. He said the Central Committee of China’s ruling Communist Party and the state cabinet had ordered party members and officials at all levels ‘work on the front line’ of disaster relief.
Wen Jiaobao stated he will be in charge of the relief work headquarters that has been set up with eight State Council departments.
More than 5,000 PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) officers and soldiers, and 3,000 police are being rushed to effected areas to assist and lead the rescue efforts.
There are reports that five schools have collapsed in Deyang city in Sichuan.
Death toll is now reported as “more than 8,500 in Sichuan province.”
The only way into the epicenter areas are by helicopter at this point. Roads are not passable and bridges are gone.
Sichuan has about 40 percent of China’s natural gas reserves and produces about 22 percent of the nation’s output. PetroChina is not yet reporting damage to any of the fields in the earthquake zone, but it may be too early for that kind of information.
Ford, Honda, and Nissan all have factories in Sichuan. At this time none are reporting damage to their factories.
WalMart in Chengdu is closed and will be closed tomorrow as well (it’s midnight there now). Items were knocked off of the shelves and must be put back. Also, the power and water supply is out to the store.
Since it is the middle of the night now, I don’t expect we’ll get much more new information until later tonight (morning in China).
USGS Info:Map: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/10/105_30.phpList: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/10/105_30_eqs.php
————-
1:50 Update
Besides the “more than 8500″ deaths listed in Sichuan, the national disaster relief headquarters reports 48 killed in northwestern Gansu province, 50 in the municipality of Chongqing, 57 in Shaanxi province, and one in southwestern Yunnan, according to Xinhua.
At least one of the two chemical plants in Shifang city (that were mentioned above) completely collapsed. Estimates are that it sent more than 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia into the air.
The U.S. Consulate in Chengdu had no apparent damage. No one is injured and all are accounted for.
Wenchuan, the county where the epicenter is located, has a population of 111,800.
——————
6:00 pm Update
LWB (Love Without Boundaries) is reported to be checking on some schools that they work with in the earthquake areas. I haven’t heard any news yet, though.
HTS (Half the Sky) reports that they have had contact with the Chengdu, Chongqing and Yibin orphanages and that all is well. The children were all evacuated until the tremors passed, the buildings suffered no great damage, and no children were injured. Half the Sky will reach out to other orphanages in the area today (our tonight).


I do know that Bethany does not have any families in this province but there are other agencies who do. God please be with these families and all of the people that this quake has effected.
As of now we haven't heard anything about the quake effecting the adoption. Of course I feel selfish for even thinking about it when so many thousands of people have lost their lifes or the lifes of loved ones. Beijing felt the quake but there has been little to no damage reported there. As of right now the CCAA has referred through January 12th. 3 whole days last month which was a real let down. We are still hoping and praying for a referral at the end of May or beginning of June but of course I'm guarding my heart for July. I just want our daughter home with us where we can do our best to try and protect her from any and everything.

On the name front we have been looking at the history of referrals and if possibly Ariel is born in late November to early January we are thinking of the name Noelle. It's a Christian name and not as common as Grace. Of course there is also Faith which is what we have had this entire time.

Anyway Lord please be with the many people in China as they are facing this devistation. Please keep them safe and help them to find a peace in their hearts. Lord be with our Ariel who we love so much. We are so ready to bring her home. Lord please let her little heart know that mommy and daddy love her and are coming just as soon as they will let us. Guard her for us Lord, keep her safe and warm and happy until we can get there. I love you Lord and I trust you and I know that you have our perfect daughter in mind and when Your time comes we will get her. I can't wait to hold and kiss her! Amen.

On the John-Cole front, 10th grade is over after the Awards Assembly tomorrow morning. My son is officially a Junior. Wow has time flown. I'm so proud of him and his grades! He is exempt from everything and was inducted into the Beta Club. I'm just so proud of him. This summer he is going back to Natural Resource Camp at Hinds Community College for a week and then he's taking the ACT. He says he's going to work on golf all summer and he also might go to a Football Camp for Kickers. He's so active in everything at the school and he's just such a danged good kid. I'm so so proud of him and love him so much!!!!!

Well I guess that's about it for now. I'm really hoping to be able to post pictures of our daughter soon!!!!

Copy of Rumor Queen's Predictions!

Rumor Queen made new predictions today and we are in!!!! I'm hoping and praying that we will have our referral in June but still guarding my heart for July. But here is a post of Rumor Queen's Predictions!!

John Cole and his request today!

So I pick John Cole up from school today and the first thing out of his mouth is,

"Oh mama, me, Dustin, Carver, Davis, Chris and Bryan are going to leave Saturday and spend the weekend in Helena and we will be home after the golf match on Monday."

Me,

"Oh really where did I hear an adult in there?"

Him,

"I don't think Logan is going, it's just going to be us."

Me

"And you would think I would be okay with this in WHAT WORLD?"

Just thought it was an interesting conversation and shows how the teenage mind works!

Update for April

Well let's see, referrals are into JANUARY, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! As of today the CCAA has referred through January 9th. ONLY 8 DAYS AWAY!!!!!!!! The sad news is that it will probably take China until June to get to the 17th. We are so close though. We have never ever been this close! We are still up in the air about Ariel's middle name. When we see her face we will know though. I just finished reading a post on Bethany's Blog and thought that in years to come it might be interesting to have this information. It's about a referral. I just copied and pasted the information,

Several comments have come in requesting that we talk about “what is a referral”, the process, what to expect, etc. Although lengthy, we hope this blog post helps answer some of your questions. If you have more specific questions, we encourage you to talk with your social worker.Q: What is a "referral" and what is the process? A: A referral is the much anticipated answer to all of our prayers. It is the matching of an orphaned child with their forever family. Once your dossier is received and LID ("logged-in") at CCAA (China Center of Adoption Affairs), it gets translated. The dossier is then placed in the holding area until it enters the Review room. The Review room is where your dossier is closely reviewed to ensure 1) eligibility and 2) appropriateness. The dossier then travels into another holding area until it is ready to enter the Matching room. When it is time, the referral is made by matching families' dossiers with children's paperwork. God's Plan for your family is already in the works! The "referral" itself is the child's identifying information on paper.What's next?Note: Each branch may operate slightly differently in order to better serve the needs of their families. Depending on your branch office/social worker, your referral process may vary slightly from the process below. Please check with your social worker as to "what to expect."The referral process: When a referral arrives at Bethany-International from CCAA, it is a celebration of joy! The referral typically arrives among a group of referrals for Bethany families across the U.S. whom all share the same LID (log-in date).1. International sends an email to all the branches and social workers whose families are in the "batch of referrals." We notify them with your family name, the child's given name, gender, given date of birth, and the orphanage & province your child calls home. You then get "the call".... we hope you are ready!!! :o) 2. We review the paperwork and the referral is overnighted to your local branch office/social worker. You will then schedule a time in the next day or so to meet with your social worker to review the referral... and see your child's face for the first time!!!3. The original referral documents are yours to keep. Within a couple days, the English translation of the medical and social history section are emailed to your worker, who in turn, gets them to you! The Hague Convention states that a family can have up to two weeks to make a determination of acceptance. Families are not required to use the full two weeks, but are encouraged to have the referral reviewed by a medical professional.4. The acceptance documents are then overnighted back to Bethany-International.5. Once Bethany-International has received all of the families’ acceptance documents, they are forwarded back to CCAA. This prompts the preparation process for travel invitations and then travel.The referral presentation:When you meet with your social worker to meet your child "on paper," please bring the following:1) The name(s) you have picked out. Your child's new given name will officially be written on the acceptance document at this time.2) A check for the acceptance & referral processing fee. 3) A list of any significant changes that have occurred in your household since the home study has been approved. These changes may include but are not limited to; new employer, new job, decrease in annual income, criminal, health, moved to a new home, additional persons in the home, etc... your social worker will also ensure that your fingerprints and USCIS approval will be valid through travel. 4) A camera; some families like to document this long awaited moment!*Tip: In preparation for your referral and travel, please check your I-171H/I-1797C for the expiration date of your fingerprints. This date is located at the bottom of your I-171H/I-797C form. Fingerprints are valid for 15 months out from the date you were printed. These prints must be valid through your travel dates! With lengthening referral and travel timeframes, most families are re-fingerprinting at least once and renewing the I-600A at least once. Please check with your social worker for specifics.

We just got back from a bowling trip to Albuquerque New Mexico and had a blast. We went up Sandia Peak and went on a Ghost Tour. Just had an overall wonderful time!

Oh and the Mississippi River is at it's highest point in years. We are going to try and get some pictures this weekend. It's really high! For the first time that I can remember in my life they have actually closed the hard top levee down. You can't even go up there anymore.

John Cole is almost finished with 10th grade! It has been a great year for him. He won class favorite again and also most spirited or something like that. His class ring (almost 700 dollars) should be in soon and he got his letterman's jacket! Wow, he's growing up so fast. Their team made it to the State Playoffs in Basketball although they didn't win it was still an awesome experience. They also have made it to North State in Golf!

Humm, I can't think of much else right now. I just hope that CCAA has a large months worth of referrals this month and that we finally see Ariel's face in June!

Lord please keep her strong and healthy and let her know it's not long now. Please be with her birth mother and give her a peace that her baby girl will be loved and cared for and will have everything possible. Please be with John and I and John Cole and Mama as we prepare ourselves for this joyous addition to our family. Give me the strength to get on that airplane and not panic. Show me the true reason why I am flying which is our gorgeous daughter. Give me peace and calm while in China. Lord also be with the matching room at CCAA. Be with them as they choose the daughter that you meant especially for us! Thank you Lord for giving us the strength and endurance to wait 3 years for the perfect child that is your will for us. We love YOU and give you all the praise Lord. This is all because or You! Please help me remember that YOU would not take me where YOU would not protect me if we are fulfilling YOUR will in our lives. Amen.

Breath IN, Breath OUT

Well I'm officially freaking out! There are rumors that they have made it at least through January 4th but possibly as far as the 6th. Wow, FINALLY they are in our month. After 3 years we are so close to seeing our baby girl! We have started seriously saving money and think that we will finally see her face in April or early May.

We have finally decided on a name and it will stick. Her name is going to be Ariel-Alayna Barbara Kirksey. Ariel after my love of Disney, Alayna after my daddy, Wayne and then of course Barbara after Dootsie. I'm so nervous. I'm a little afriad of flying but I'll be okay. God will protect us all!

I thought writing would calm me down but I'm so anxious. I just want her home!

Let's see, basketball season is over, our boys made it all the way to State before losing. How cool is that! John-Cole made pitcher on the baseball team. We are so proud. He hates baseball but had a great time pitching. He also made the Golf Team which he loves. Oh and he is serving at Prom. Gosh to be so popular, LOL!

I don't really know what else to say, just pray to the Lord that he is watching over our baby girl. That somehow he is telling her that mommy and daddy will be there VERY soon to be with her!

Compromise.......Possibly!

So I think John and I have a name compromise. I wasn't and still am not crazy about Tessa Leigh so I think we are going to compromise with Ariel Tessa. She may be called both or just Ariel or maybe Ariel Tess. I really like the name Tessa and to me she has always been Ariel so joining the two makes sense.

On the Chirstmas front John bought John-Cole a laptop so he should be happy. He and Landi broke up so I'm not sure who he's liking now. Could be Emily or Charlie or who knows. He's such a good kid. He deserves someone who knows what they have when they have him.

I'm hoping to save enough money to get John a membership at the Municipal Golf Course. I just have to stop spending money on Ariel. I've found myself getting back interested in dolls and have bought three more for our collection. They are all 3 Middleton's and are so cute.

Thanksgiving 2007 is almost here and I hope and pray that by this time next year we will be having Thanksgiving with one more member of our family. As always we are praying for our baby girl and can't wait to go and get her!

More later....

Pictures of John-Cole and School 2007 10th grade 1st Half.

Pictures from John Cole's Sophomore Year! I so freakin love these kids! First is John Cole and his gorgeous girlfriend Landi. I just love her! They are so good for each other. This is Homecoming 2007!

Next we have some of our Sophomore Girls. Chelsea, Abbie, Kaitlyn, Allison and Sam!

Here is John and our cousin Holly looking gorgeous just like always. She had the most gorgeous dress I have ever seen. She also made court her first year to be eligible and I have no doubt she will be back on her senior year! Gorgeous Girl!

John Cole at his 16th birthday party. Three of his best friends, Charlie, Morgan and Mallory trying to give him a kiss.

John Cole and one of his BFF's Chelsea. They have been together forever! I think this was Rock Star day which explains the red or pink haircolor and the stars.

John Cole and Jared on the Golf Course. Their team came in 2nd and Jared said it was all because of John Cole. He loves golf!

Finally the 3 most awesome 10th grade football players ever! John Cole, Nathan and Matt. These boys are super amazing!

John and John-Cole have lost their mind about our baby girl's name!

Here is a pic of the doll I bought our baby girl for Christmas. Isn't she gorgeous!! Her name is Shu Ning and she is by artist Ping Lau.

I was reading the name boards night before last and saw a name I liked, Tessa. It's feminine, cute and beautiful at the same time. I really like it. So I mentioned it to John. I said something like Tessa, I really like that. You know like Tessa Beth or Tessa Leigh. John screams, "THAT'S IT!!!!!!" I said "What?" "Tessa Leigh, that's our baby, that's her name, that's her." Well John-Cole feel in love with it too and now they won't even hear of another name. It's Tessa Leigh or nothing. Now I love Tessa, I really, really like it. Leigh, however I don't like. I never liked my name being Leigh. It's to masculine for me. Tessa Leigh is cute but I just haven't given up on Ariel. Or even Arielle! So what about Ariel-Tessa, it's cute! It compromises both names! Nope John won't hear of it, his baby is Tessa Leigh. I think he's been around Emily Mobley's daughter Chrislee to long. So I don't know how this is going to turn out. I do really like Tessa so I'm hoping for Ariel Tessa. Then as she gets older if she would rather be one or the other then she could choose.

Of course John has all the kids at the school loving Tessa Leigh too. So we shall see.

John Cole had their first high school basketball game tonight. The Jr. High and High School Girls both won but the Jr. High and High School boys both lost by all of 3 points each. I think if they will slow down and take their time we could really have a good boy's team this year.

Coach Stompes said tonight that he was really going to start working with John Cole with kicking in football. John Cole loves Coach Stompes and it's so great that he is taking the time with the kids that he does. He also is going to put John Cole on a weight program and some protein to help him gain some muscle and some weight. He honestly is about the best thing that has happened to GCS in a long time.

I got to watch Coach Morgan tonight too and I'm impressed. He's very intense but there isn't a doubt that he knows what he's doing and that's great for our boys. I haven't heard him say anything about staying for a long time but I'm really hoping that he makes the boys the kind of promise that Coach Stompes did that he isn't going to be here a year and then leave them. They really seem to like him too! It almost seems to good to be true that we have a SUPER respected football coach and now the basketball coach seems good too. Heck I even like Mr. O'Rear the new headmaster! So I will say GCS seems to really be going in an upward direction and I'm so so happy. It's really the only thing that I'm going to hate to leave when we move. I would love to take the school with me and have the baby girl go to GCS. I know God will provide a good school for her though wherever we end up.

No new news on the adoption front in the last few days since December 8th was referred. It looks like we will be looking for referrals again at the end of the month or maybe the first few days of December. I am going to pay for one of her Christmas Presents tomorrow. It's an Asian doll and it's so cute. I added a pic at the top of this post.

So as always I'll close with a small prayer. Dear Lord please watch over our baby girl. Please watch over our family and keep us healthy. Please be with John Cole as he goes through these tough teenage years. We love you and thank you for giving us this wonderful family.

Oh I forgot to add.....

Oh I forgot to add that Kevie, our social worker in Oxford retired in order to Home School her kids so we have been moved to Jackson. Peggy is our new social worker and she is great! John and I both really like her! It's been great having two great Social Workers in Kevie and now Peggy.

We do like traveling to Jackson better since it is about an hour closer to us then Oxford was. Of course anything for our baby girl!!

We will have to go have our fingerprints done again in December in Memphis for hopefully the last time! I don't think we will have to redo our 171 thank goodness! Anyway wanted to add this!

November

Well it's November! Referrels finally made it into December! Yay!! Right now the CCAA has referred families through December 8th. Thank goodness November is over! It took 5 months to finish November. Praying that it won't take that long with December or January!

Let's see whats going on with us. Football season is over! We had a terrific year and Coach Stomps is just the best! We scored more this year then we have in years and years. Now we are moving on to Basketball which starts this Thursday! I can't wait!

We are still up in the air about names. Our baby girl has been named about 3 times but we are revisiting all the names just to make sure we have the right name. Of course like John says we probably won't know exactly what to name her until we see her beautiful face! Right now some of the names in the running are,
Keira-Beth
Katey-Beth
Karleigh-Beth
Kara-Beth
Ariel-Beth
Alayna or Laney-Beth
Savannah
We just don't know! I found myself looking and browsing name sights. Just anything to do to help deal with the wait.

Of course we know God has our daughter and she isn't ready yet. He has the perfect little girl for our family picked out and in HIS time we will have our referrel.

Oh we added another pet to the family. One night I noticed something black near John's shop and it was a kitten. It was so funny, John rigged the cage for me and I put food and water in there and then we ran a rope into the den and when she went in we caught her. That's been quite a few months ago and she is now part of the family. Her name is Isabelle and she is so mischevious! She can be so mean but then at night she is so loving. We made the mistake of letting her out the other day and she went under the fence next door. Well the neighbor's sheepdog was out and chased her about 40 feet up a pine tree. Of course once she was up that high she was terrified and had no intentions of coming back down. So John had to pull the bucket truck into the backyard and go up and get her.

Back to the adoption, I've had so many dreams of travel lately. I am still so scared of flying for 17+ hours but I know God will get me through it. I'm so ready just to get her and get home and start her life here. I can't wait to see her at the football and basketball games.

I guess thats it for now. As always I thank God so much for leading us to our babygirl! We love her so much and think about her constantly. I know God is watching over her until we can get there to get her. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Costa Maya

Oh,
I meant to add that Costa Maya, the place where John and I went on our cruise and also Mama and John-Cole and us in May was destroyed by a hurricane. It's really sad as you can see in the pictures in my other posts below it was a gorgeous place! The sad part was that the entire port of Costa Maya and the little fishing village of Majahual were dependent on cruise ship trade so when the hurricane came it wiped out almost everything. Thankfully it was more wind damage and not the absolute ahnialation that the Mississippi Coast got from Katrina which was from storm surge.

John said we went to New Orleans and the Mississippi Coast (Biloxi and Gulfport) a few months before Katrina hit and then we went to Coasta Maya and Majahaul a few months before a hurricane hit. So it looks like when we go on vacation the place gets destroyed a few months later.........well we went to Branson in August so lets hope that nothing happens there!!!!

Update

Wow, it's been such a long time since I posted. The sad thing is there really isn't anything to update. As of today China has referred through November 25th. That's right, it has taken 5 months and they aren't through November yet! There are times when it gets so hard that I want to scream but then I remember God is in charge of this, not me or John. I'm just so ready for our baby girl to get here. John-Cole turns 16 today! We started this journey when he was 13. I feel like he's not going to get to spend much time with her because he is growing up so fast. I can't believe my baby is 16. He has grown into such a wonderful young man. I'm so proud of him. He's just so all around good. He doesn't give us any problems and everything to him is funny. I'm so so proud of the person he is!

We did have a ladybug sighting yesterday. We were getting ready to go to Wal-Mart and John was standing in the door to the van and I was going to drive and a ladybug landed on John's shirt right in front of me. I watched John in the rear view mirror and the lady bug stayed on his shirt until he opened the back door of the van and then she flew off. Maybe that means good things are to come. I'm hoping that December referrals will go much quicker than November. According to everything I have read online December is much much smaller than November. So if they hurry with December there is a small possibility we could have our baby girl's picture by Christmas. That would be so awesome!

We are still up in the air about her name. Right now we are flip flopping between Ariel-Grace, Ariel-Beth and Keira-Beth. Her middle name is Barbara, that isn't changing it's just the first name. So we shall see.

Oh, John-Cole won President of his 10th grade class. After getting all the awards he got in 9th grade (Mr. Junior High GCS, Funniest Freshman, and Nicest) I'm just so proud of him. I think I've said that before, ha ha! I just love him so much!

I'll end as I have in the past just with a small prayer asking God to hold our baby girl in His arms until we can get there for her. God please shower her with the kisses and hugs that we can't give her yet and whisper in her ear that her mommy, daddy, big brother and granny will be there soon and we love her and miss her!

More Name Considerations!

Well we are thinking again about changing names. We thought Ariel Grace was going to stick but now we are liking Keira. So as of right now we are thinking,

Ariel Grace
Keira Grace
Keria Elizabeth (Called Keira Beth)
Keira Beth
Ariel Keira
Keira Ariel

So............????

I think when I finally get to see my daughter I will just know who she is if that makes sense.

Nothing really new on the adoption front except that the CCAA is moving slower than Christmas. They are still referring early November so we aren't even sure if we will travel this year which stinks. I am so ready to have our daughter home!

We just got back from a crusie from New Orleans to Mexico. Had a blast. John-Cole is finished with 9th grade and is an official Sophmore now, wow that's hard to believe! He won Friendliest, Funniest, Class Favorite and Mr. Junior High G.C.S. this year. He is such a great child! He makes everyone laugh. I'm so proud of him.

Well I guess that's it. Just wanted to write about the name possibilities and the time frame which is as slow as ever! Still praying daily! God please hold our angel in your arms and tell her we wish we could be there NOW!

Adoption Update!

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!

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!!!!