Our Travel Plans

Well, our flight leaves in the morning at 6:00 a.m. That means we have to get to the airport at around 4:15. I am so not a morning person. I don't know if there is air outside before 7:00. I also have to have my sleep. I am telling myself over and over this morning not to be grumpy with Joel during our trip. Here's our itenary. And yes, we will be taking our laptop and posting during our travels. Hopefully, Kara and her class will be able to see too.

Memphis to Chicago - 6:00 a.m. to 7:45 (1hr 46min)
Chicago to Japan - 12:00 noon to 4:20 p.m (that's Japan time) (13hrs 19min)
Japan to Bangkok - 6:45P to 11:55P (7hrs 10min)

For you math challenged folks like myself that is over 27 hours travel time. That includes waiting in airports.

We arrive in Bangkok at midnight but it will be 11:00 Friday morning here. We sleep in Saturday and try to get adjusted.

Here's some dates to remember: (Memphis is 13 hours behind)
Sunday - Meet Seth in lobby and play, or meet his foster family
Monday - Meet Seth in lobby and shop/lunch or meet his foster family
Tuesday - Forever ours
Wednesday - Formal board meeting with Thai Adoption board
Thursday - Apply for Seth's visa at US Embassy
Friday - US Embassy closed on last Friday of month so we have to stay the weekend. We fly to Chiang Mai to sight see.
Sunday - Go to church with missionary relatives of friends at church
Monday - Fly back to Bangkok and pick up Seth's visa
Tuesday - Flight leaves at 6:30 a.m. for Mempho Town
Arrive Memphis - 5:17 p.m. on Tuesday March 4th to KISS my babies!!

A Tour of Seth's Room

This is a close up of the elephant mobile that we have hanging from Seth's ceiling fan. Debbie C. brought it back to him from her mission trip to Thailand in Nov. I am so happy with his room and love all of the Thai elephant touches. Thank you to everyone for your contribution. Jamie, thanks for helping me tie it all together.

Our Shower

We had a wonderful time last Saturday night. My mom and dad wanted to do something extra special for us. Around 85 of our friends and family joined us to celebrate Seth's arrival to our family. The mayor of our city graciously let us use a local house turned into a beautiful place for parties. He let us us his once a year spot. Our food was catered by a local man that is also a family friend. Everyone raved about the food. Our friend Tina designed and printed our invitations as our gift. God has truly had his hand in every aspect of Seth joining our family. We have had favor in so many areas.
Our dear friends Ben and Lisa MC'd the shower. They are so funny and everyone said they made the shower so much fun. Joel and I played the "Newlywed Game." I did better than Joel at guessing answers. Of course, Joel is easy to read as everything is football, football, and football. They also read famous people who were adopted. That was interesting. They finished by having people say the names of nursery rhymes.
It certainly was not your traditional shower. We loved it. Thanks Bebe and Roro.

MOPS is Tops!

At our MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) meeting Friday the girls surprised me with a diaper and wipes shower. I was so surprised. It really meant a lot to me. I have been the coordinator for my church's group for almost 5 years. I don't know where the time has gone. I love these ladies. They have become wonderful friends and sisters in Christ to me.
THANK YOU, GIRLS!!

Valentine's Day

What a great day!

Both Kara and Will sent Valentine's to school today. In turn they brought home lots of sweet cards and goodies. As room mother I sent snacks to Kara's class. It always makes Kara proud and I love doing it for her.

Jamie came over this morning and we got Seth's room all set. It looks really cute. I will post pictures later. Jamie has been a life send!

Will's furniture was delivered today. It looks great. He loved coming home today from school and seeing his new bed. His dresser has 9 drawers so we had lots of room for his things. He also has a night stand that we can use for storage too. This will grow with him and I can see him as a teenager using this furniture. We bought it at Ashley's Furniture. They will give us the furniture for free if The University of Memphis wins the NCAA basketball tournament. Go Tigers!!

Tonight we had steaks for dinner and went swimming at our local gym. Before bed the kids ate cookies and milk. An end to a perfect day.

The Aftermath

Following are pictures taken during the tornado the other night. The first five pictures are of a warehouse about 8 miles from my house. Our dear friends, Alan and Carrie, parent's (Carrie's mom and dad) live across the street from this warehouse. They were fine just shook up. Trees were down in their yard. A large tree was across their driveway so they were not able to leave. Alan and Carrie's daughter, Evie, who is Kara's age, was staying with them at the time. Joel and Alan went to get Evie and the police would not let them down that part of the street. The police went to the M's house and picked up Evie and drove her to Joel and Alan. She thought it was pretty cool riding in the back of a police car. She also told her grandparents that God was in the house with them and that's why they were saved. Out of the mouth of babes.













This is our local hospital. We live about 6 miles from the hospital. The area around here suffered a lot of damage. No injuries though.



This is the Walgreens that is close to the warehouse that was damaged.

Tornado

A tornado came through our city tonight. As far as we have heard no one has been injured. There has been a lot of damage though. We are all blessed. A mall in Memphis was damaged and a entire wall came down in the Sears store. I will say that tornados are an insurance man's nightmare! Although, that's what insurance is for.