Life With Emilia

GOTCHA DAY ANNIVERSARY!!!

2007-12-18T21:05:00.000-06:00

I cannot believe it's been a year today (yesterday in China) that our sweet little girl came into our lives!!!

We love this little "Peanut" so much, and in the words of Jerry Maguire - "She completes us!!!"

We went to Bo Ling's tonight to celebrate - and although it's Chinese - it wasn't China. lol

1 Year Ago Today We Were Off To China

2007-12-14T19:51:00.000-06:00

One year ago today we were on our way to China to meet little Emily. It was a very LOOOOOONG trip....but SOOOOOO worth it.

I can't believe it's been a year already - but some days it feels just like yesterday.

Beginning of Emily Month!! :)

2007-12-12T21:58:00.001-06:00

Baby Girl's 1st Turkey Day

2007-12-12T21:14:00.001-06:00

Here I am....playing catch up again!! :)

Cute November Pics

2007-12-12T21:03:00.001-06:00

Road Trip To Chicago (11/9 - 11/11)

2007-11-21T23:06:00.000-06:00

We have been meaning to get up to Chicago for years (and especially since Emily came home) and the opportunity finally presented itself at a good time.

About 10 - 11 years ago, while John was still running Chicago, he met someone that has become very special to us. Her name is Elvira (a.k.a. Emily) and she owned/ran a restaurant by the motel that John stayed in whenever he was there. She has kept in touch with us over the years - and like I said, has become very special to us. In fact - our Emily got her name from Elvira. So, we knew that these two must meet.

Elvira just turned 90 this past October - so now was as good a time as any. :)

So off we go......................................................

You can just read her thoughts by the look on her face: "Don't tell me she's going to be having that camera going off in my face all weekend!!!" LOL

I love this picture!!! LOL

We're trying to get her away from the Bink (which she's not having any part of) so in our first attempt, we cut the tip off of this one - and she thought it was pretty funny to stick it on her finger and wave it around.

Riding with her new friend Snoopy

Enjoying our time with Emily at Mama Luigi's Italian Restaurant

The 2 Emily's sharing a laugh

Wake up sleepy head!!! :)

Somebody doesn't look quite ready to take in the sights

First glimpse of the Sears Tower

I thought this looked like something out of the movies :)

This was at one time (in fact for 40 years) the restaurant that Emily owned (and this is where John met her when he went in for breakfast one day - and we've been friends with her ever since)

This is the hotel that John used to stay in when he ran Chicago

Getting some Chicago pizza (we must not have gone to the right place - cause I wasn't impressed)

Baby Girl catching some z's (all that riding around can get tiring)

I think this is a cool picture of the Sears Tower

Navy Pier - we're going back in the Spring - so hopefully we'll get to go here when it is in full swing

And again, this looks like something out of the movies (and I'm sure a lot of stuff has been filmed here). If you know me - you know I'm a movie freak. :)

My favorite sound in the world!!!!

We saw signs for the new Cabela's store that opened in Hammond, Indiana - so we cruised over so we could check it out. We still think our store in KS is way better.

People have a tendancy to honk A LOT in Chicago - and John was making me a nervous wreck...cause he was just having too much fun joining in the honking!!!!

Baby Girl has a fascination with remote controls............

And very large shoes!! LOL

Heading back home - and it's time for a Scooby Snack

The "Mad" Musician - LOL

This just cracks me up...watch her fingers

Beautiful fall colors in Hannibal, MO

Are we home YET?!?!?!?

Emmy "Simply" loves apple juice :)

Sleeping Beauty

We had a lot of fun on this trip - and Emily is such a wonderful little traveler. Like I said previously, we have plans to go back for a visit in the Spring (one of several road trips we have planned). Maybe even take in a Cubs game. :)

GARTH!!!! (11/5/2007)

2007-11-21T22:20:00.000-06:00

WHAT A SHOW!!!! Night one of a nine show gig - and it was so fun!! We were initially suppose to go the 5th & 6th, but decided we didn't want to be away from Emmy two nights in a row, so we did night one and had a great time.

The Momma & Da Poppa

Trisha Yearwood (one lucky woman!!!) :)

The Main Man Himself!!!

Misc. November Pics

2007-11-21T22:07:00.000-06:00

Just a cute picture!! :)

Visit from a little ladybug (actually - we had a visit from a TON of ladybugs!!)

What's HE doing there?!?!?!? lol

Actually, Tony was a bday gift from JJ (he's been trying to get this for me for about 4 months). I think he looks really good in the living room. (hee hee)

One Year Ago.....

2007-11-03T20:25:00.000-05:00

It was one year ago yesterday (11/02/06) that we saw the beautiful face of our little girl for the first time. The comment was made last night that it doesn't seem like it's been a year - and yet at the same time it feels like she's always been with us. We love this little girl so much, and we can't imagine what our lives would be like without her. We thank GOD for her everyday!!!

ONE YEAR AGO WE SAW THIS FACE, AND FELL INSTANTLY IN LOVE!!!

WHAT JOY THIS BABY GIRL HAS BROUGHT TO OUR LIVES!!!

Our little book worm. :)

Happy Halloweenie!!! (From the Land of Oz)

2007-10-31T19:02:00.000-05:00

The cutest Dorothy EVER!!!

Little friend Walker!! Too cute!!

We hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween!!

Rascal Flatts 10/25/07

2007-10-26T21:42:00.001-05:00

WooHoo!! I got to meet the boys before the show and thank God the picture came out good. They were very nice and I had a great time.

As usual - they put on a great show (even John had fun!!) and already I can't wait for them to come back!

Baby Blues Brother

2007-10-26T19:57:00.000-05:00

She's running away to "put the band back together" - cause she's "on a mission from God". (hee hee)

She loaded up her car with her piano, monkey, pen and a beverage.

She actually had the music going on the piano (see/hear video below)

Trying to hit the road - but not getting very far. :)

Mighty Big Shoes For Such A Small Girl

2007-10-26T19:35:00.001-05:00

The other night, Munchkin got the inkling to wear Mommy's shoes around the house!! lol

Emmy's Cousins in the Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-26T19:15:00.000-05:00

Tis the season for visiting the pumpkin patch, and Emmy's cousins did just that!!

Baby Rylee attempting to "blend in" at a patch in Gardner, KS.

Chapin visiting the Peltzer Pumpkin Farm in California. Lil Man is getting so big!!

These little guys are just too cute!!!

Party at the Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-21T16:31:00.001-05:00

Saturday the 20th we went to our friend Walker's 1st birthday party at Deanna Rose Farms, and we had a great time. It was Emily's first trip to the pumpkin patch too!

Tidy Tilly strikes at the pumpkin patch!!! ROFL

The balls laying on the ground at the Pumpkin Skee Ball game drove her nuts - so she proceeded to pick them all up!!! :)

30+ Years & It's Still Rockin!!!

2007-10-21T08:43:00.001-05:00

Pops - I thought you would enjoy this one. :)

Dawn (showing some attitude) 30+ years ago in her little rocking chair

Emilia (refusing to look at the camera) sitting in the exact same chair 10/19/07

She loves this little chair!!!

Too cute!!!!

2007-10-13T22:18:00.000-05:00

Friends of ours (David & Shelley) who we met while in China, made a video of their little girls Ali & Lili that is too precious!!

Check it out:

If you would like to check out their blog (and see some other hilarious clips) their link is: http://www.wildnoodles.blogspot.com/

Shelley - that "Mao Chip" is in overdrive girl!!! ROFL ;)

My favorite commercial

2007-10-13T21:33:00.000-05:00

I love this commercial!!!! (Wonder why that is?!?!?? LOL)

http://www.truveo.com/Sunoco-Tony-Stewart/id/1770798601

I'd take Tony to the grocery store - looks like fun to me. :)

Meeting Great Aunt Sheila and Cousin Madison

2007-10-13T18:32:00.000-05:00

My dad's sister and her granddaughter came into town from Georgia for a vist - and they stopped by last night to meet Emily. Emily was a bit shy when they first arrived, but she eventually loosend up (as you can tell by the pictures).

Madison is 11 years old, and before coming for the visit had already decided that wants to adopt from China when she's older. After playing with Emilia - she tried to steal her!!! ROFL

It was great seeing Aunt Sheila and meeting Madison. Madison is adorable girl - and we'll have to make a visit to Georgia in the future so Emmy can meet the rest of the cousins.

Emmy & Madison getting to know each other

Emmy busting a move (and making Papa bust one too!)

"Sometimes you just gotta march!!"

Cousin Madison just couldn't get enough of Emmy

Driving her car in the house

Madison reading to The Princess

Papa, Emmy and Great Aunt Sheila

Introducing the New Spice Girl

2007-10-13T17:18:00.000-05:00

Ladies and Gentlemen....introducing Emmy Spice!!! LOL (1/2 Sporty Spice + 1/2 Baby Spice) Actually - that should probably be Spicy Emmy. :)

We have had a week that I hope we don't repeat anytime soon. The poor little thing has been sick for over a week and I feel so bad for her. Fever, a nose that will NOT stop running - and now her poor little chest is congested. She has been a good sport about it - but the cabin fever has definately set in. We haven't been out of the house since last Friday (she's ventured out on the deck a couple times for a few minutes) but yesterday I layered her up and she ventured out in the yard for a few minutes. Got some great pictures and great videos.

One serious little girl

Cheese!!!

My new favorite picture!!!!

Emmy and Bo

Princess

One show turns into NINE!!

2007-10-10T23:39:00.000-05:00

On a previous post, I mentioned that Garth is coming to KC. It was to be "One Show - One Night".....well, that one night has turned into nine!!! (November 5th-12th & the 14th)

Tickets went on sale this past Saturday at 10:00 am - and it was total Garth Mania in KC. Tickets were going so fast on Ticketmaster that by 10:01 I couldn't get tickets. I was so frustrated - but Garth called into Q104 a couple days earlier and told people to sit tight - he'd do everything possible to make sure people got tickets. Well, I sat in front of my computer for almost 2 hours trying to get tickets watching as the shows were added.....and it finally happened. SCORE!!!

I'll be going to nights one and two....and if I could - I'd go to all 9. I'm so excited though to be seeing him on the first night. He is going to be so jazzed - it's going to be crazy!!!!

Watch out NASCAR - the future #20?!?!?

2007-10-10T23:20:00.000-05:00

VROOM!!! VROOM!!!

9/30/07 Nextel Cup Race - Kansas Speedway

2007-10-10T22:36:00.001-05:00

John and I had a great time at the race on Sunday the 30th. We stayed for the whole event - through the rain, the rain delays, and the finish that I was NOT happy about. My boy (Tony) wrecked (thanks a lot Kurt) and I was so upset. Obviously, not as upset as Tony (if you saw the footage on tv - LOL).

We were 7 rows from the track - I didn't wear my ear plugs (smart)....and I paid for it. I had a hard time hearing for the next couple days!! :) Here's a sampling of the action:

Steven Curtis Chapman Concert 9/28/07

2007-10-10T21:10:00.001-05:00

On Friday the 29th - John, Emily & I went to see Steve Curtis Chapman in concert over in Raytown. He had Bethany Dillon and Sanctus Real with him, and it was a great show!!

Steven and his family are very involved in adoption and supporting orphans. The Chapman family includes 3 little Chinese girls - and they were with him (along with the rest of the family). The little girls are adorable, hysterical, and I bet they keep Steve and his wife hopping. LOL

9/28/07 Micky D Run

2007-10-10T20:32:00.001-05:00

SAD DAY - HAPPY DAY

2007-09-27T17:09:00.000-05:00

SAD NEWS FIRST: Today is a day I've been waiting a long time for - Becks was coming to KC with the LA Galaxy!!! I had in my hands the "Golden Ticket" (which means I have/had seats right behind the Galaxy bench), and now that ticket is not so "Golden".

I knew he wasn't going to play (because of his injured knee), but I was holding out hope that he would at least warm the bench - but that's not going to happen. David's father had a heart attack yesterday, and he went back home to London to be with him....which of course if the right thing to do. My prayers are with the Beckham family for a healthy and speedy recovery. Get better Daddy Beckham!!!

So --- I'll just have to renew my season tickets and try again next year. :)

NOW FOR THE HAPPY NEWS: A VERY VERY bright spot for the day is that it was announced that GARTH IS COMING TO KC!!!!!

Garth is one of my absolute favorites (I've seen him several times) and you can bet your bottom dollar I'll be there November 14th with bells on!!!!

Now.....If I could only meet him!!!! (hee hee)

GARTH IS COMING!!! GARTH IS COMING!!!

I'M SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!

2007-09-25T19:04:00.000-05:00

Rascal Flatts are coming back to KC this year (actually - 1 month from today) and I got my tickets a couple weeks ago. We'll be up front (fan club tickets)....and yes I'll be dragging John along again this year---LOL!!!

Well....for the BIG news....today I found out that I get to meet them!!!!

To say I'm totally siked would be an understatement. :)

The best sound in the world

2007-09-12T20:05:00.000-05:00

Tah Dah!!! All caught up finally!!!

2007-09-12T19:38:00.000-05:00

To family and friends - I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to blogging.....but we're baaaack!!! :)

And to show you just how up to date we are around here now, this picture was taken just today. Emmy rockin' the piggies!!! LOL

I found a cool program that makes slides and that's what I've done to catch up so you can see what we've been up to the past few months and so you can see just how much our little girl is changing.

I go back and look at the older pictures quite often - and I can't believe how fast she is growing. She gets more beautiful every day - and we thank GOD for her every day.

I can't imagine our lives without her.

I hope you enjoy a little catching up (ok - a lot!!) and I promise to do better. My next task is to try and get some videos up on the site. Keep your fingers crossed. :)

Big Boy Rylee

2007-09-12T19:17:00.001-05:00

September Part 1

2007-09-12T19:11:00.001-05:00

RTL Day 2 Headliner - TOBY MAC!! (9/1/07)

2007-09-12T18:58:00.001-05:00

Rock The Light VII Day 2 (9/1/07)

2007-09-12T18:29:00.001-05:00

Rock the Light VIII Day 1 (8/31/07)

2007-09-12T17:09:00.001-05:00

Labor day weekend John and I went to the Midwest's largest Christian festival at Starlight Theatre and had an awesome time!!!

Every artist we saw on Friday night was great, and if you ever get a chance to see Chris Tomlin live.....DO IT!!! It will be a time of worship you won't soon forget.

August

2007-09-12T16:22:00.001-05:00

10-Year Anniversary (8/2/07)

2007-09-12T15:20:00.000-05:00

On August 2nd, John and I celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary and he sent me these amazing roses at work (with Papa John's pizza).

If it looks like a lot of roses, it's because there was a lot....120!!! (a dozen for every year we've been married). Is he incredible or what?!?!!?

Later that evening we went to dinner at the Herferd House (where we held our wedding reception). It was a great meal, and it was even more special with Emily there.

Spud has arrived!!! (7/24/07)

2007-09-12T14:51:00.001-05:00

July 24th our nephew Rylee John Patrick made his arrival...and he is absolutely adorable!!!

Congrats Brent & Angee!!!

July Part 3

2007-09-12T14:39:00.001-05:00

Meeting Dierks Bentley (7/20/07)

2007-09-12T14:32:00.001-05:00

July Part 2

2007-09-12T14:26:00.001-05:00

July Part 1

2007-09-12T14:13:00.001-05:00

June Part 4

2007-09-12T13:53:00.001-05:00

KC T-Bones Game (6/20/07)

2007-09-12T13:15:00.001-05:00

Emily's Dedication - Father's Day

2007-09-12T13:03:00.001-05:00

June Part 3

2007-09-12T12:34:00.001-05:00

Party Party Party (6/16/07)

2007-09-12T12:10:00.001-05:00

Chapin's 1st Birthday (6/15/07)

2007-09-12T11:30:00.001-05:00

June Part 2

2007-09-12T10:52:00.001-05:00

Love's of my life :)

2007-09-11T22:02:00.000-05:00

Aunt Angee's Baby Shower (6/10/07)

2007-09-11T22:00:00.001-05:00

June Part 1

2007-09-11T21:44:00.001-05:00

May 2007

2007-09-11T21:20:00.001-05:00

Lookie who I saw last night!!!

2007-05-19T15:29:00.000-05:00

I took a road trip to Columbia, MO (Mizzou Arena) last night and saw The Man himself - Kenny Chesney!! It was AWESOME!!!

I met my friend Sandy, her sister and daughter in Columbia, and our seats were pretty good - not the sandbar (where I hope to be in August) but good non-the-less.

Update ---- FINALLY!!!!!

2007-05-15T19:20:00.000-05:00

Wow!! It's been awhile since I updated (and believe me....I've heard about it - LOL). I apologize for the delay, but when we get home, Baby Girl does not tolerate me sitting at the computer very long. LOL

So....sit back and take a gander at how our little girl has grown (and her hair too) since I last posted. (It's hard to believe she's been home almost 5 months now!!!!)

NOTE: I've broke the posts up by months - starting with the most current first.

ENJOY!!!!!!

MAY 2007

TAA DAA - Our little show off :)
Cheese!!!
Wild Child
I've started calling her Linus because she's taken up dragging her blanket behind her now
Taking an important call on her Nemo phone
1st experience with nana's and peanut butter

She cracks me up when she sits like this. A mini-teenager

We got to meet money guru (and our mentor) Dave Ramsey

Gave this picture to Dave. If you're a Dave Ramsey fan - you'll understand :)

APRIL2007

Meeting Elmo & Cookie Monster for the first time

It's a stare down

This is my screen saver at work - ROFL

Pretty girl

Someone likes Cheerios

Emmy wearing her "My Daddy Rocks!" shirt

She looks so grown-up in this picture

1st ice cream sandwich

Look at those legs!!! I tell her she's my future gymnastics gold medal winner. :) What's really funny is (and John reminds me of this all the time) I always said I would never allow my child to run around in their diaper - but I can't help it - she's just too darn cute!!!

Simply put - just too cute for words

Caught red-handed diggin' in Mommy's purse

Strike a pose

A case of the morning sillies

Easter baby

The cutest Easter bunny EVER!!!!

Emmy & Aunt Angee

Emmy with Nana, Papa, and Max

Nana gave Emily her first taste of Jello. She thought it was pretty funny, but didn't eat anymore after the taste test

Enjoying the Bug Bites that Aunt Amy sent

ABSOLUTELY THE CUTEST!!!

I didn't get the chance to be Anne Geddes at Christmas - but better late then never

The shirt speaks the truth - LOL

The poor thing is probably thinking - "What has she got on my head now?!?!?"

I don't know what it is about this picture - but everytime I look at it I bust out laughing. I can be having a bad day - look at it, and instantly crack up!!!

Telling me what's what

MARCH 2007

Getting ready for Easter :)

1st trip to visit the Easter Bunny

Emily's 2nd concert - The Gaither Homecoming (hee hee). Everyone around us was so complimentary of how good she was throughout the show. Baby girl loves music - so she was having a blast!

A hearty breakfast: Milk, eggs, and toast. It was the first, and last, time she ate this meal. (She is the pickiest little thing)

Jack waiting for his share - LOL

Cute piggies

Emily's first concert - Toby Mac. We listen to him on our commute all the time, so she was rockin' out :)

Hangin' with Daddy at the concert. Notice the hands - she was clapping (and dancing) right along with the music

Love this!!!!!

Emmy Lou Who (all you Grinch fans will get that one-lol)

Future American Idol??? (and not one of the sucky ones!!!)

Where's Emmy??? Hiding behind the couch - looking out the window

One food Emily truly loves - CHEETOS!!! (just like Momma)

Enjoying some McDonald's fries

FEBRUARY 2007

Big cheeser. NOTE: That's a bag of deli Pastrami in her hand. She love's her some Pastrami - LOL

FREEZE! (hee hee)

Must have M & M's NOW!!!!

Precious girl

Trying on Cousin Chapin's Easter gift :)

ROFL!!!

How future supermodels sleep

1st (and last) experience with Mac & Cheese

This one is for Doug, Amy & Chapin (aka - Cupcake) :)

In awe of Mommy's "special" blue shoes - lol

OOOOOO!!!! Those cheeks!!!!
Playing dominos with Papa on his birthday

Waiting for some breakfast

1st time rockin' the headband (simply put - didn't really care for it)

Love that face - "The Face"

Sideways view of "The Face"

Dinner at Burger King for Papa's birthday - it's his favorite

Chillin' with Papa

The Up-Do :)

EXTREME Close-Up

Doing a little light reading - yes, the book is upside down - but like a said, just a little light reading :)

Mary Poppins HAS to be on tv for her to look that intent (lol)

Watching some tv. I try to tell her not to sit so close - but she just won't listen to me :)

Too cute - and too funny. Yes, she is laying sideways in her bed (she actually does this quite often)

JANUARY 2007

Happy baby

"THE FACE"

And that's all for now folks!!!!

Goodbye Old Friend

2007-03-10T20:19:00.000-06:00

Bailey "Jane" 05/96 - 03/07

Some goodbyes are hard to say - and today has been one of the worst!!!

_________________

We said goodbye to our little buddy Bailey today, and it has just hit me right now that I will never see him again.

_________________

I can't stop crying!!! I know he's in a better place - but I sure do miss him!!!

_________________

John is having a time with this too - but Bailey was my little boy.

_________________

I will miss you Bailey Jane (and so will Daddy)!!!

Happy New Year!!

2007-02-18T20:07:00.000-06:00

Happy Chinese New Year - the year of the Pig.

We celebrated last night by going to Bo Ling's....and boy was it good.

Happy Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T15:08:00.000-06:00

Love, Princess

Prince Phillip never looked so good!!!!!

2007-01-27T12:44:00.000-06:00

Yes.....that is my beloved Beckham!!!

As part of the ad campaign for Disney Parks "Year of a Million Dreams", David plays the part of the gallant Prince Phillip from "Sleeping Beauty," atop his trusted steed fighting the evil dragon. The tagline reads, "Where imagination saves the day."

(And in case you were wondering - YES!!! I'm very excited that Beckham will be moving to the states to play soccer...and even more excited that the LA Galaxy actually plays the KC Wizards - so Becks will be coming here sometime in the near future--- SWEET!!!!)

The Good, The Bad & The Truly Disgusting

2007-01-20T20:01:00.000-06:00

Actually, there's no "The Bad".......but there is definately "The Good & The Truly Disgusting"

"THE GOOD"

First frozen fruit bar - YUMMY!!!

_______________________________________________________________

Watching her favorite movie Mary Poppins (at least I say it is - because when I put it on for her, she becomes glued to the tv and dances to all the songs - LOL)

_______________________________________________________________

Just being too cute!!!!

_______________________________________________________________
And now for "The Truly Disgusting"

*******************************************************************

WARNING WARNING WARNING - The following is being posted as a parental warning, and not to embarrase my daughter (at lease not until her wedding day). LOL

********************************************************************

BE WARNED: DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES GIVE YOUR CHILD PRUNE JUICE TRYING TO GET POOP - AND THEN PLACE THEM IN THE FISHER PRICE JUMPEROO!!!!! THE OUTCOME IS "TRULY DISGUSTING"

Needless to say, we got poop.....and Emily got her 2nd bath of the day. ROFL

**********************************************************************

I hope this public service announcement helps, and if it saves one family from this disgustingness, then my post has not been in vain. :)

Shangrao Children's Welfare Center

2007-01-20T17:01:00.000-06:00

I've had quite a few people contact me about our orphanage visit (I stated in my post from China that I would email pictures of the children that we got), but getting the pictures together to email has became too time consuming and I don't want people waiting any longer - so I decided to make an entry regarding the orphanage.

Workers from the orphanage met us in Shangrao (because we were lost - LOL) and we followed them to our destination.

Following the van. Shangrao is doing a lot of construction as a city, but once you get on the road leading back to the orphanage - you'd swear you were on a bombed out road.

View of the road leading back to the orphanage

Entrance to Shangrao CWC

Notice the big windows on the building? Just to let you know - the large middle section of those did not have any glass in them. It was about 45 degrees outside - and even colder inside. It was really a sad sight to behold.

The entrance area. And there's the referral picture chairs. :)

__________________________________________________________

The following pictures are of the children we saw. As I stated in a previous post - I forgot the list of names of children I knew were being adopted from this orphanage at the hotel, so if you see your child.....I would love to hear from you.

Orphanage workers and some of the children. I had made Emilia's foster mom a photo album showing her where she'll be living, who her relatives will be, pets, etc - and the staff went wild over it. They had so much fun looking through it and hearing about where we live.

NOTE: The pretty young lady in the middle is one of the workers that found Emilia - and she is the person that named her. :) Cool huh?

______________________________________________________________

(Before I forget - many have asked about the care package I sent....and the answer we got was that they never received it. I was kinda bummed when I found that out - but I didn't focus on it too much because Emily was finally with us.)

______________________________________________________________

I personally feel the orphanage workers do the best with what they have. I think they care about the kids, but I'll be glad when the orphanage moves to it's new facility (our guide told us a new one was under construction). John and I pray that each of these children (and also the ones we didn't see) are joined with their forever families ASAP.

Cannot wait to see this!!!! ROFL

2007-01-19T19:47:00.000-06:00

I saw this trailer today and laughed so hard!!! Can't wait for 3/30/07

1 Month Forever Family Anniversary

2007-01-18T16:56:00.000-06:00

Today is the 1-month anniversary of us becoming a family of 3!!! At times it seems like just yesterday that Emily was put into my arms, but most of the time it feels like she has always been with us.

Emily is truly a blessing!! She is so funny, loving, and good natured. We love her to pieces, and she is our little angel. Baby girl definitely knows she’s loved.

Here are some pictures of Emily that have been taken since we've returned home.

Happy Gram and Happy Pappy

Uncle Doug and Aunt Amy

Bailey and Emily watching Baby Einstein (thanks Uncle Doug & Aunt Amy)

The braid hat we bought for her in China - LOL

My first trip to Wal-Mart (in the States anyway)

Emily the Cable Baby :)

Opening 1st birthday gifts from Grandma and Grandpa

Making Grandpa laugh with "The Face"

Pastor Joe introducing Emily on her first Sunday to church

This child is just too much fun!!!!

Little bear cub's first trip to Home Depot

Aunt Angee - I sure do like my rain boots!!! LOL

"My future's so bright I gotta wear shades"

Beautiful baby girl

Emily loves to "read"

Wild Child

The pink abominable snowbear!!!

Daddy loves this picture

The hat says it all!!!! :)

Laundry day

Emily loves her Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo

I’m going to attempt to return to our trip to China and describe the 21st - 28th. I feel bad I haven’t posted in so long (mainly because I’m saving this blog for Emily to read when she is older) but the days seem to go so fast that when I have some free time - the computer is not where I want to be. My how things have changed …I used to live on this thing - LOL.

Getting to know each other

2007-01-18T16:24:00.000-06:00

Cute pictures of Emilia and Chapin getting to know each other

Hannibal Chapin

Mr. & Mrs. Claus

Chapin wearing his gift from China

Chapin trying out Emilia's hat that we got her in China - LOL

Home! Home! We're finally HOME!!!!!

2007-01-18T15:28:00.000-06:00

We made it!!!! We made it!!!! Back on American soil!!!!

Emily was an absolute trooper on the flight from China to LA (actually the whole trip). It was 13 hours and the only time she fussed was when I changed her. She is just a little angel.

We were blessed enough to have all 3 seats to ourselves (nobody beside us) and we had bulk head seating with a bassinet - which allowed Emily to get some sleep, but John and I had a hard time getting much rest.

Emily's first picture in the United States. Taken outside the International Airport terminal at LAX.

Catching some zzzzzz's on the floor of LAX waiting for our connecting flight. The first thing we did after landing (and after buying some diapers....we were down to 1!!!) was get some Burger King. It's John's favorite - so we went with the Whoppers. LOL
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December 28th - HOME TO KC!!!! FINALLY!!!!

After a short layover in Chicago we finally landed in KC to the greetings of family and friends!! It was wonderful.

Our plane coming in (Thanks to my bro and SIL for the following few pictures). :)

Here we come!!!!

And we have reached the family

Meeting my cousin Chapin for the first time. :)

Family picture

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It was so neat to have everyone greet us. My brother and SIL (with Chapin) were in from San Diego for the holidays, so they got to be there, John's sister and BIL were there, our parents were there, and my cousin John from Boston was in for the holidays so he got to be there also. Friends were there (Bill, Alice, Pastor Joe & Sharon - and even the Cubbage family was able to stop by while they were picking up relatives coming in on another flight). It was so great to see all those friendly faces after being away for almost 2 weeks.

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We all went to Cracker Barrell after leaving the airport - and it was nice to get some American food in our systems. The sad part is, John and I were so exhausted that we could hardly enjoy the food. LOL

Happy Grandma

Chapin checking out the new toy his Mommy bought him

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We all headed back to our house to visit - but on the way Emilia crashed out. With her mouth open no less. LOL

Guangzhou - the final leg of the trip

2007-01-18T10:51:00.000-06:00

December 22nd (Friday Evening) - On our flight from Nanchang to Guangzhou we were seated right behind Shelley, David, and their clan - and we had a good time (considering we were flying in a tin can-LOL).

Emily did outstanding on the 1 1/2 hour flight....her first ever plane ride. She didn't cry once!!

We unfortunately had to say goodbye to our friends at the airport as they were staying at another hotel in Guangzhou....we met our guide, and off to the White Swan we went.

The first room they gave us faced the city, and that just wasn't going to work. John marched right back to the check-in counter and got us switched to the Pearl River side. We are so glad that we were able to switch rooms, as the river view is quite something.

1st night in Guangzhou

Nice Mohawk - lol

One sleepy baby

Sleeping Beauty. The pretty pink floral comforter came with us from Nanchang. We purchased it from the Lake View Hotel, and Emily still sleeps with it.

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December 23rd (Saturday) - Today we headed out to get Emily's Visa picture taken and have her medical exam done.

Arriving at the clinic for the med exam

Hambone making "The Face"

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Upon returning to the hotel, there was additional paperwork to be done.

This is Emily's Visa picture. ROFL - Isn't that just the most pathetic look you've ever seen. LOL

The Christmas tree in the lobby of the Swan

Waterfall in the lobby of the Swan

Still working on paperwork

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When the paperwork was FINALLY done - we headed over to Lucy's to eat lunch.

Emily's first french fry
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After lunch we walked around all the shops, bought some gifts, and headed back to the room to hang out. John had been dealing with a sour stomach, so we decided to take it easy.

Looking at the book I made for her

Talking to Grandpa back in KC

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December 24th (Sunday) - Christmas Eve. Today we set out checking out the hotel and then going on a tour of Guangzhou with our guide Peter and a group of other adopting families.

But first....breakfast!!!

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We got one of these hats for both Emilia and Chapin - but John just had to try one out. LOL

Visiting Christmas village at the White Swan

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Tour time. Peter our guide first took us to what I believe is called Guangdong Folk Arts Museum.

These guys were making a stone/pebble terrace - and they were placing each pebble by hand!!! Peter told us it was therapeutic. I don't see how that could be - my knees and back were hurting just watching them.

The Chen Palace

These bad boys are on the front of the doors to the Palace. I think they're cool looking. I'm thinking about getting our front door redone. LOL

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Once we left the Chen's place, we went to see the 5-Goat statue. This is the Guangzhou city's symbol.

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Like a moth to a flame. LOL

The Guangzhou Lamborghini dealership

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Peter took us to this porcelain shop. It was cool because we got to see some workers actually painting the designs on the porcelain.

I think this is the coolest vase I've ever seen.

Caught her in action. Baby girl learned how to blow raspberries, and she was doing it so much and with such force I actually had to hold my hand up against her mouth because she was splattering the display glass. LOL

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Returning from our outing, we orderd Danny's for dinner. It had been told to us that Christmas Eve is a huge thing at the White Swan. People flock there to see the decorations on that day, and that if we took a cab anywhere, they wouldn't bring us back due to the crowds. So - we stayed in the room, watched some tv and called it a day.

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December 25th (Monday) CHRISTmas Day - Today was Emily's 1st birthday and the birthday of our Saviour. It felt strange not going to church on CHRISTmas or being with our families, but it was a great day nontheless. We took it easy today. In fact, we all went down to breakfast - and then Emily and I went back to the room to take a nap. John went shopping - and boy did he come back with some good presents!!!

He brought baby girl a little birthday cake - and the momma a piece of chocolate cake

The daddy got himself a treat too - LOL

The staple of my diet while in China :) I've loved these since I was a little older then Emily.

Daddy bought baby girl her first pair of squeeky shoes. Too cute.

And the best of all - he brought us a tree!!! He bought it from one of the stores in the hotel. It was one of their decorations. LOL (notice we're watching Polar Express). :)

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CHRISTmas pictures with the Princess

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Birthday girl with her crown. LOL It was too chilly to take Emily out in her Christmas dress - so we dressed up warm and headed out to take a cruise on the Pearl River.

Momma Kangaroo and Baby Roo

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The boat we took our cruise on. It was a tad bit on the chilly side, but we had a great time and saw many beautiful sites. Guangzhou has a beautiful river front area. They have really done it up with the neon, and it was well worth the outing.

The White Swan Hotel

This is a picture of John's head hitting the ceiling of the boat. LOL

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When we got off the boat - we headed to get something to eat. MCDONALD'S!!!!!!

Emily's first McDonald's experience - and boy was it just a little slice of heaven in China. It wasn't exactly like home - but it did the job.

Hee hee. Another "Who is this dude?" picture.

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Returning to the Swan, we retired to our room for the night.

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December 26th (Tuesday) - Consulate appointment day. Usually the consulate appointment is scheduled for the day you leave, but for some reason they got us and a bunch of other adopting families in a day early.

We meet up with David & Shelley at the Embassy and were able to do some catching up with them. It was fun to see how Lili and Emilia had blossomed in just the few short days they had been with us.

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We didn't do a whole lot once we returned to the hotel - but we did enjoy a fine dinner of noodles that we brought from home - and some wonderful ice delivered from room service. :)

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View of the Pearl River and the neon lightshow from our room

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December 27th (Wednesday) FINAL DAY IN CHINA!!!!!

Our flight home wasn't scheduled until 9:00pm - so we spent the day walking around the shopping areas outside the hotel, got some last minute goodies, and took the 'Red Couch' pictures.

Now that's tired - and our day hadn't even begun yet. LOL
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"Why am I sitting on this couch again?"

"What up?!?!?!" (LOL)

"Cheese!!!!" :)

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Peter picked us up at around 5:30pm to take us to the airport - and our time in China had come to a close.

I have to say, we enjoyed China, but we were ready to come home!!!!

Bring on the 13 hour flight to LA!!!! (UGGG!!!!)

Last 2 days in Nanchang

2007-01-18T07:12:00.000-06:00

December 21st (Thursday) - Today was a shopping/tourist day.

The day started off by what I am now referring to as the "Mater Photo Session". These are some of my favorite pictures of baby girl.

I put Emily down to do something - and you can tell by the pool of tears in the eyes that she was not happy with my decision.

Kleenex shredding to the rescue

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We went down to the hotel restaurant and were able to join our new friends and hotel neighbors for breakfast.

Princess Lili

Princess Lili and Daddy David

Princess Aly and Mommy Shelley. We enjoyed spending time with this couple, their children, and their travel mate Babs so much. They are a fun bunch. :)

Visiting with Santa in the lobby of the hotel. Emily looks like she's thinking, "Who the heck is this dude?!" LOL

Daddy's turn to pose with the jolly guy

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We headed out for the day with Bruce (our guide) and Mr. Wong (our driver) to again experience Nanchang traffic. I can't remember if I mentioned this in my previous post - but I have never in my life experienced anything like Nanchang traffic.

As an example - notice the sign above? It clearly states that there is an area for cars and an area for bikes......do you see what side of the median we're on?!?!?!? YES---THE BIKE SIDE!!! ROFL

I imagine you’ve all heard the expression “Bull in a China shop”?….well, on this trip I turned into the Bull in China!!! In general, I am not a very clumsy person - and I don’t know if it was all the flying/travel or what, but I had a couple of bloopers on our trip. One of those bloopers occurred at the orphanage yesterday, I almost fell out of my chair (which was really embarrassing because everybody came running towards me like they were going to catch me - LOL) and another happened today while we were out shopping.

Bruce (our guide - who was an absolute riot and is now referred to as Uncle Bruce to Emilia - hee hee) took us shopping for the day, and took us to a porcelain store (Jiangxi Province is known for their porcelain) and when we had checked out (at least I thought we were done) I went outside to get a picture of the store front. I didn’t know John and Bruce had gone back into the store, and I was outside taking pictures. I wasn’t getting the whole picture like I wanted, so I backed up….backed up again….and all of a sudden there’s a crash!!!. I knocked over someone’s bicycle!!!! I looked around helplessly because I had Emilia in the pouch on the front of me and I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to get the bike back to the standing position - and before I knew it Bruce came flying out of the store. I kept apologizing and was so glad the owner didn’t come out and slam me. It’s probably this persons only means of transportation - and I knocked it to the ground!!!! LOL I was really thanking GOD that it was only 1 bike and not the line of 20-30 that I saw lined up elsewhere. :)

Me, Emilia, and "The Bike"

Well don't you just know I had to get a picture of the bus with David Beckham on it!!!

We went shopping at the Pedestrian Mall

Anorexic Santa hanging out at the shopping center. I don't know what happened to Santa's waist - but it wasn't there. LOL

Wishing well

Split pants. The part that got me is the clothing police would constantly tell us Emilia wasn't dressed warm enough in the arctic suit she wore (the poor child was always sweating) and they'll let their kids walk around with their privates totally exposed. I just don't get it.

We saw a lot of Chinese people wearing puffy clothes, and when I saw this store it made me laugh. It's the puffy coat store.

After leaving the Pedestrian Mall, we went to this huge department store

Here is a wonderful picture of Nanchang traffic. LOL

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Back from shopping and in for the night.

I love this picture

Eating prunes trying to get poopy :)

AAAAAAHHHHHH!!! This was the best. We had been told the we wouldn't have any ice while in China, but our little fridge at the hotel had a freezer - and we made some ice. It was glorious. :)

The view from our hotel room. This is some sort of nightclub. At night the neon comes on and it is quite pretty.

The little white structure is the entrance to the nightclub, and in the background is Nanchang

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December 22nd (Friday) - FINAL DAY IN NANCHANG - Bruce and Mr. Wong took us out again in the morning to pick up Emily's passport, to do a bit more siteseeing, and Bruce wanted to take us to lunch before we had to leave for the airport for our trip to Guangzhou.

This is a very common site in Nanchang. Laundry hung out to dry? Check. Meat hung out next to laundry? Check. LOL Yummy huh?!?!?!?

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Bruce took us to this beautiful park, and we truly got to experience daily Chinese culture. It was really neat, and I'm thankful we got the opportunity. We got to interact with quite a lot of people, and we truly enjoyed ourselves.

Older folks getting their daily exercise

Playing music in the park

In the middle of the park was a reptile exhibit. We went through it - and all I could think was these things will probably be on someone's plate before long. LOL

The park was truly beautiful

Bruce took us to a restaurant he frequents quite a bit (he lives nearby), and he had his wife meet us for lunch. She was very sweet. Lunch was very good.

The lunch group

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After lunch we went back to the hotel to finish packing and head to the airport. We had a 4:20pm flight to Guangzhou.

We really enjoyed Nanchang - and we look forward to bringing Emilia back someday.

TTFN Jiangxi Provice - see ya in some years. :)

Ni Hao from China

2006-12-20T07:17:00.000-06:00

It's official - we are the extremely proud and blessed parents of a bouncing BABY GIRL!!!! She is the most beautiful baby - and we are madly in love with her.

I know many of you have been checking and checking to see how we are doing, and we so appreciate the kind comments, wishes, and prayers you have sent our way. We have been going pretty much nonstop since we left Kansas City, and I apologize for taking so long to get this post on here. I have to admit though - our priorities have changed quite a bit over the past 48 hours. :) John and the Princess are asleep - so I'm going to attempt to get this done.

I will warn you now that this is going to be a rather long post, but if I don't get it on here now, I'm afraid I'll forget some things - so grab a cup of joe and join us for a slight rundown of our journey so far. I'm extremely tired, so please bare with any typos. :)

December 16th - We left the house around 12:00pm to catch our flight out of KC. Uncle Brent and Aunt Angee came to take us to the airport where we were met by John's mom and my parents. We waited and waited for the check-in of our international flight, and when it was our turn to weigh our luggage - one was overweight. Technically it wasn't, but the ticket agent couldn't get in touch with anyone from China Southern - so we had to make a quick shift in the bag (taking a pack of diapers out of one and putting them in the other checked bag) and then we were off to wait for our flight.

Delay #1: Our flight was delayed 25 minutes. We didn't worry too much at this point because we still had quite a bit of time in Chicago to make our connecting flight to LA. When it came time to go through security to the boarding area - we had another problem with the luggage. This time I had forgot that I packed a "normal" size Aveno lotion and bath gel for Emily - and by "normal" I mean they were larger then the 3oz size the airlines allow on the plane in carry on bags. So - they confiscated it. We were able to get these items to my Mom to bring home with her, so we really weren't out anything. We then board the plane - and here comes Delay #2.

Parents to be awaiting departure. This picture could also be captioned, "Amazing Race" contestants. :)

Grandma and Grandpa hanging out with us before the big journey.

Uncle Brent bonding with John (LOL) ;)

Aunt Angee and Grandma waiting with us before this amazing journey.

Delay #2: We boarded the plane, and waited and waited. There were apparently high winds in Chicago and planes were delayed coming and going. We didn't get too worried because we knew we would make our connection because all flights were delayed, but we were bummed because these delays were cutting in to our Chapin time!!!!!

"Chapin Time" is the time we planned on spending in LA with my brother, sister-in-law, and baby nephew Chapin. They had made plans to come up from San Diego to spend some time with us at the airport seeing that we were scheduled to have a 5 hour layover. Unfortunately that time decressed considerably, and we were only able to visit with them for maybe an hour. We were so sad that we didn't get to enjoy their company more - and guys we thank you so much for keeping our little buddy up so late so we could see him, and for making time and that journey for us.

I think we were more excited to see Chapin then he was to see us!!! ROFL (Of course it was around 11:00pm - so we'll just say that he was sleepy). :)

Our little buddy helped us out tremendously. We were all standing in the security line visting while waiting for our turn to get screened, and a comment was made to one of the security officers about letting us skip ahead in line. We were being ornery - and seeing that there was close to 100 people in front of us, we laughed it off, but the security officer said, "Is the baby with you?" I told him no, and he looked at me and said, "Oh well, pretend he is - come on, come with me." And Praise GOD he took us to a VIP lane where no one was waiting, and with rushed hugs and goodbyes to Doug, Amy, and Chapin we were through security and headed to the gate.

We boarded the flight from LA to Guangzhou - and all I can really say is that we are sooooooo glad we booked Premium Economy (even though it rocked our finances) because we would not have made it 15 hours in the peanut sized seats and absolutely no leg room seats they have in Economy. The flight was pretty uneventful. The flight crew was awesome, the food was interesting, we actually were able to get some much needed sleep, and we lost a whole Sunday - but overall it went well. I can't say that I'm excited about doing it all over again, but we'll get through it.

We landed in Guangzhou at around 7:30 am China time, and we tried to catch an earlier flight to Nanchang, but the language barrier was HUGE and let's just say we didn't leave until our scheduled 2:05pm flight. Probably much to John's surprise, I'll confess here that I had a mini meltdown at the Guangzhou airport. I don't know if it was the hours we'd been traveling, the failure of being able to communicate, the longing for a Big Mac (lol) or what - but I became a tad stressed out and had a tiny hissy fight. I didn't make a fool out of myself or anything - but I wasn't happy. We ate at this restaurant at the airport, and I'll just say that McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, somebody needs to open their doors at this place. We then tried to obtain a calling card, because the one I bought in the states wasn't working on their phones - and nobody could help us or understand us to get one. STRESS!!!!

After the long long wait - it was time to head the the secured area for our flight, and the Military Police stopped us and told us our carryon bags were too heavy and that we'd have to check them. So we headed back to the ticket counter and had to pay for two bags to get checked because we already had two checked earlier. STRESS!!!!

Back to the secured area....we get in line, the lady asks, "Passports, boarding pass, tickets." "I say, "What tickets - all we have is boarding passes, that's all the lady gave us." Her, "No ticket? You need ticket, go back to counter." STRESS!!!! We plod back over to the ticket counter, and we did have tickets afterall, they were attached BEHIND our return tickets!!!!!! ??????? Back to the secure area. We finally made it through this time and went to wait for our flight. While there we met up with another couple and their little girl who were also on our flight from LA to Guangzhou, and they were going to be on the same flight with us again. We sat and talked with them until the flight, and had a fun time. I was nice to be able to speak to someone who understood what you were saying. LOL

It finally became time for our flight, and we boarded the Peanut Plane (aka Tin Can) and made the 1 1/2 journey to Nanchang.

After going through much traffic (I'll have to address the traffic on a later post) we made it to the CAB. We rushed up 26 floors I think it was, and walked down a couple hallways, walked through a doorway.......and there she was. We were the only couple and child there - but I would have known her anywhere. Those eyes. They brought her right over to me and she didn't cry at all. This kind of freaked us out that she didn't become upset - but John and I have been praying for so long that there would be no attachment issues that we truly believe GOD answered our prayers. She has bonded so wonderfully with both of us. She won't let a stranger take her - and she hates when either of us put her down. :) Some people may say that's spoiling a child - but that's the way they're suppose to smell. :) Actually, we are in the throws of attaching and her wish is our command.

We love this baby so much - and it already feels like she's always been with us. We are just loving and enjoying her so much.

Proud Daddy!!! (Isn't her outfit too cute. Many of the children that meet their forever families at this time of year go to their families in these outfits. We will keep it for her always.)

After signing necessary paperwork, we headed to the hotel. We are staying at the Lakeview, and it is very nice.

In the van headed to the hotel. Poor babies cheeks were so chapped, but Mommy and Daddy took care of that with some TLC and some good lotion.

Daddy feeding Emily for the first time.

Isn't she just too cute!?!?!?!?? And look at those piggies!!!!

Miss Thang and her FAVORITE treat....Cheerios!!!

Sweet baby girl

Tummy time with Mommy.

Once we got to the hotel, we hung out and concentrated on bonding with Emily, and tried to relax a bit. We were both exhausted - but so happy to finally have our girl. Once we got baby girl to sleep for the night, John ordered us some room service. He ordered us hamburgers - but I don't know if that's what I'd call them. The fries were good though. End of December 18th.

Tummy time with Daddy.

December 19th - Today we had to go back to the CAB and notary to make our adoption official and final, and besides that running and a trip to Walmart and KFC, we staying in the hotel. I have to make mention of the funniest KFC moment of my life here (before I forget about it). While we were in KFC placing and order to go, Emily and I were waiting at one of the little tables and I looked across the table at this lady and here little boy eating dinner. I smiled at them, she smiled back and then I notice that the little boy is wearing split pants, and his little member is just casually resting on the chair he's sitting one. It took everything in me to keep from laughing. He was only about 3 maybe, and just the cutest little guy, and it struck me so funny. When she stood him up to leave it was even funnier - let me tell you. I did get to talk to him and his mom, and he was a doll baby. The split pants thing I just don't understand - but that's what they put on the little ones here. I'm really surprised Emily came to us in a diaper and full pants.

Before heading out for our appointments. Love the tongue.

Our little fashion diva. LOL

In for the night - chillin' with Daddy

We had a bit of an episode this night. Emily had had little crying spells here and there - mainly when she was tired or put down, about this night she wailed for about 1 1/2 and we couldn't get her to calm down. We didn't know if she had realized that her life had now really changed, if she was constipated, or what - and thank GOD for the neighbors in the next room. They are hear adopting their second child, and the first night here their baby wailed pretty much all night. John and I prayed for her and them several times, and when Emily was having her episode, Shelly (the neighbor) came over to see if there was anything she could do. With her help, we kinda came to the conclusion that Emily's congestion, running yucky nose, and fever (all which we discovered once returning to the hotel the 1st night and got to work on right away) were/are probably related to teething. Baby girl has 4 top teeth and is working on getting her 3rd bottom one. She gave us some teeting pills that seemed to help.....but the most awesome thing - and what really did the number we that they are Christians, and we all layed hands on Emily and prayed for her. It was so amazingly awesome!!! They are a wonderful couple with 2 little girls who are just adorable. Their oldest daughter they came over and got this time 2 years ago, and they are now hear getting Lilly -who is just adorable. This couple and their friend who is traveling with them have been such a blessing to us.

Emily quieted down, and was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the night. She went down to bed about 8:00pm, I went down about 9:00pm and I'm not sure what time John went to bed. He was playing on his computer when I went unconscience. :) End of December 19.

Sleeping Beauty (Notice - with some TLC and a little lotion, those cheeks are getting better all the time - and I kiss them constantly). :)

December 20th - Today is Wednesday, and we were very blessed to make a trip to the orphanage where Emily spent some of her life up to know. It was not an easy journey (#1 - it took quite a bit of money to get this day trip accomplished, #2 - it was a long trip, 3 hours each way, #3 - it was heartbreaking to see the babies living where they do).

I'm not exactly sure why we were allowed to visit the orphanage (except by the grace of GOD), because from what I am told, many many families have been denied access to the orphanages here in Jiangxi Province, but our guide told us he was in good relations with the adoption officials - so maybe that's what it was.

Isn't shee too funny? The tongue just kills me. I call it her Air Jordan.

Street sign to Shangrao City (where the Shangrao Children's Welfare Center is)

Beautiful girl

Santa making a quick stop in China before the big day coming up. LOL

LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!!!

This sign cracks me up. If you notice the circular sign with the crossed off horn. In China, everybody honks the horns on their cars, and if you saw the way they drive you would understand why - but they are not supposed to honk their horns in the downtown areas. If they get caught doing so, they will be fined. LOL They still do it though.

These are sticks of sugar can. This man was selling them. He cuts the bark of them, then the people eat them by tearing of a huge chunk, they chew it, then spit it out. It was quite the site to see someone walking along chewing on what looked like a stick. I think John wanted to buy one, but we didn't stop long enough. LOL

The enterance to the Shangrao Children's Welfare Center

Upon are arrival, we were met by the orphange staff and were lead to the dining area where they had prepared lunch for us. I was not thrilled about this at first - but once we sat down I realized that it was smelling pretty good. John and I both ate or tried mostly everything - but we passed on the fish soup. It had the head and everything in it. LOL PASS!!! The food was really good though.

John, Emily, and I with members of the staff.

The staff was very pleasant and very eager to please us. They took us on a tour and we were allowed to take many pictures and videos. I'm not going to go into explaing about the orphanage here - but I would like to tell those families that are awaiting to make the trip over to get their Ling baby, that if you want to contact me I would love to share the photos with you to see if we got a picture of your child. I forgot the sheet I made with the names of the kids I know that have been referred at the hotel, but we got pictures of many many children.

One great blessing we received (along with getting many questions about Emily answered) we were provided a picture of Emily with her foster mother. Her foster mother lives far from the orphange and has another small child, so she was not able to come meet us - but it's such a blessing to have this picture for Emily to show here when and as she grows up.

Daddy, Mommy, and Princess outside the orphanage.

Emily rocking her Trumpettes socks.

A very very good thing happened not once....but TWICE on the trip back to the hotel....WE GOT POOP!!!! Emily hadn't had a bowel movement from the time we got her until today (and we tried to get this child to poop with laxatives, prunes, juice, fruit) and as weird as it sounds - we were so happy with the poop. John even said we should save it!!! ROFL

Once funny thing too - once we left the orphange and little miss had her BM, she became chatty cathy. She was talking up a storm. LOL She also stands with help. She pushed herself up on me, and was standing leaning on me for quite a long time. She has some strong little ol' legs. In fact - she is a strong little girl. When she gets a grasp on something - she's got it.

This picture is adorable!!!!

We made it back from the orphanage day trip around 7:00pm, feed Emily again, put her in her jammies, got her to bed, John went to bed - and it is now a little after midnight China time - and it's my turn to get some sleep. My eyes are crossing, but I'm so glad I got this done.

End of December 20th.

Our love to all. Night Night. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Got TA, CA, & We're Leaving Saturday

2006-12-14T19:40:00.000-06:00

I can't believe the time has finally come!!! On Tuesday we received word that we got our TA (travel approval) and today we were confirmed a CA (consulate appointment)....and long story short - we leave for China on Saturday!!! Our CA is the 26th.

The big news is we get Emilia on Monday!!!!!

We were going to leave tomorrow, but something happened with the seating arrangments, so we pushed it back to Saturday. We both about fell out of our chairs when we were told how much the airfare was going to be (and let's just say it's a good thing we didn't...because we were both driving at the time - LOL). I'll just say that the fare for us to get there and back is almost double what we had budgeted for airfare (and we budgeted on the high side). Oh well - it will be totally worth it. :)

I am totally drained - John is totally drained, and the stress of this day has totally wiped us out!!!

For those of you that pray - please, please, please, keep us in your prayers. And we greatly appreciate those prayers.

We'll be blogging while in China, so check back often.

I'm going to go veg now, watch a movie, and TRY to relax.

Until next time. :)

(Hang on baby girl.....we're coming!!!!!)

A new little angel in heaven

2006-12-09T19:32:00.000-06:00

A piece of my heart broke today, but I also know that she is with GOD above and no longer has to deal with med withdrawals, breathing tubes, feeding tubes, or further surgeries.

Little Ellie Crane passed away late last night after having her 2nd open heart surgery last month. We Ellieheads were all excited and praying that she would be able to come back to Kansas possibly next week (they have been in California for her surgery), but GOD had (and has) a different plan for her.

I am so honored to have had the privilege to know this little baby, and to have her smile at me - well, it melted my heart. :) Such a sweet baby.

Steph, Bob, Luke, and the entire Crane and Brown family - please know John and I are so sorry for your loss. At a time like this, words just don't work - but know that you are in our prayers, and may JESUS envelope you with a peace and a strength that surpasses all understanding.

Trying to get the boys in the Christmas spirit!!!

2006-11-13T19:28:00.000-06:00

Ummmm....I don't think Bailey is too full of Christmas joy just yet. (ROFL)

Here he looks just plain disgusted (He actually looks like the dog on The Grinch). :)

Jack refused to look at the camera.

It's Rein-Bo

Either he ate more berries....or he's waiting for Santa

Emilia's Care Package

2006-11-12T18:05:00.000-06:00

Emilia's care package is all packed and ready to leave for China tomorrow. I had so much fun putting this together, but when I was finished - and it really sunk in what I had just put together, I balled like a baby. This package is going to OUR child!!! Man, there I go again getting all teary eyed.

Here's a picture of the gifts we are sending our princess. The little orange thing on the bottom is a phone that I recorded: "We love you Ling Cha Ni" (in Chinese) and I taped a small picture of us where the sound comes out. :)

Gifts for the Orphanage Director, Nannies and/or Foster Parent(s)

Picture of the letter we sent to the Orphanage Director thanking her and the nannies and/or foster parents for caring for our child, and asking that the camera be used to take pictures of her, her living arrangements, and the people in her life.

I even wrote Emilia's name in Chinese!!! See - those Chinese classes did pay off (hee hee).

Sweet new ladybug ride, cool new slippers, & HOW am I going to pack that?!?!?

2006-11-12T17:47:00.000-06:00

Isn't this just the cutest?!?!?! Doug, Amy, & Baby Chapin sent Emilia this precious little ladybug ride. I never saw one of these before - and I just love it!!!

John wanted to ride it - but I put my foot down on that one. ROFL!!! :)

I just HAD to have these!!! John says I look like a dork wearing them - but I think they're cool!! (And they are soooo comfortable)

I have been picking up stuff that we need to take to China for months, and yesterday I took everything out of their respective Walmart, Target, Kmart, Babies R Us, etc. bags....and my what a pile it all made. Now keep in mind, this is not everything, and there are no clothes here yet!!! I probably have things here that we don't necessarily need - but I'd rather have it and leave it when we get there, then get there and wish we had it. :)

I tend to be a slight overpacker, but I'm not as bad as my mother....yet. :)

Playing catch up

2006-11-08T18:50:00.000-06:00

WOW!! The days since "THE CALL" have just flown by. I don't know if it's because I have so much I want/need to get done, but on one hand time is going fast....on the other hand though, it's not going fast enough because I want to get to China and get our girl!!!!

We have decided on Emilia's full name, and here it is: Emilia Dawn ChaNi (our last name here).

On previous posts I failed to translate her Chinese name, and it means:

Ling - a family surname; means clever, effective, quick

Cha - means tea (I love this because I drink tea every morning!!)

Ni - means feminine; a cute name for a little girl

Emily is going to be our Little Tea Girl!!! (is that too cute or what?!)

__________________________________________________________________

Here are pictures from our dinner at Bo Ling's on 11/02/06 where the Grandparents and Aunt Angee got to see Emilia's picture for the first time.

The happy parents (prior to the unveiling)

Grandma H. seeing Emilia for the first time (Grandpa was taking the pics so we didn't get his reaction)

Grandma S. and Aunt Angee seeing Emilia for the first time

The happy parents (after the unveiling)

_________________________________________________________________

ROAD TRIP

We were suppose to go to Wichita on Friday (11/3) to sign the adoption papers, but something got mixed up with Fedex, so we weren't able to go until Saturday (11/4). It was all good though, it was a beautiful day and we had an enjoyable trip.

Emilia went with us - and Daddy made sure she was buckeled in :)

We received this from Kim at our agency. She presented the Chinese takeout box to us, and inside it was the panda bear and an overly large fortune cookie. I opened the cookie and written on the ribbon was Emilia's information: name, DOB, where she is, etc. It was the best fortune cookie I've ever gotten in my life!!! :)

John (aka Daddy) signing the adoption acceptance letter

Dawn (aka Mommy) signing the adoption acceptance letter

The long ride home

________________________________________________________________

How do we disciple in our household??? HUMILIATION!!! ROFL (just the dogs - and just this once, but boy was it funny).

Two weekends ago I started putting out the Christmas decorations, and unfortunately we have a dog that likes/liked to destroy my pretties. Well, we came home the other day to find that Bo had decided to use my NEW wreath as a chew toy and eat/tear off the holly berries, and I had had enough. I told him that if he wanted it he could have it, but he was going to wear it. I put it around his neck and he looked so humiliated - John and I were laughing so hard, I just had to get a picture. I only left it on him long enough to get the picture, but you know what???? I haven't had any more problems with my decorations. LOL :)

He looks like he's auditioning for the Broadway play 'Lion King' :)

SO IN LOVE

2006-11-04T07:47:00.000-06:00

I cannot stop looking at or thinking about this beautiful child!!! I want to be with her NOW!!!

Last night John and I went out for Chinese again (hey - we're still celebrating, LOL) and had a wonderful time. We went to Bo Ling's (the North location - where as on Thursday we had been at the Bo Ling's South location) and when our waiter Kevin brought us our check, I held out the keychain I'd made with Emily's pictures and said, "See our daughter?!" He grabbed that thing out of my hand and had the biggest grin on his face. Then another waiter (Devin) came over to see what was going on and he too broke out in a big grin and started firing away with the questions. Well...I pulled out the untranslated medical and personal info that I just happed to have with us (LOL) and they were more than excited to help us understand what it said.

Kevin and Devin confirmed some things we already knew, but told us many other things - and we are so greatful to them for that.

Confirmation and new info we learned:

1) Confirmation = Her name is Ling Cha Ni
2) Confirmation = She is in the Jiangxi Province, Shangrao SWI
3) Confirmation = DOB 12/25/05 (They loved this - "She Christmas Baby!!")
4) New = All health issues are marked normal on her medical report
5) New = The boo boo on her cheek is/was a mosquito bite
6) New = She was found 12/27/05 outside a building with a half bottle of milk
7) Confirmation = Her favorite toy is/was a doll

The guys were/are so excited for us - and made us promise to bring her in. Of course, we told them we would have absolutely no problem with that request seeing that it is our FAVORITE place. :)

I would like to thank everyone who has stopped by and left such wonderful comments and/or sent an email. They are appreciated and received by a heart that is overflowing with joy and love for a little girl so many miles away - but soon will be home with Mommy and Daddy!!

Happy 43 Brother!!!

2006-11-03T10:42:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Doug!!! We hope you have a wonderful birthday (and don't forget to give Tony a kiss for Dawn - hee hee). (Doug is in Dallas for the NASCAR races this weekend just in case you were wondering how he'd get to give Tony a kiss. LOL)

Love you,
John, Dawn & Emilia :)

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD!!!!

2006-11-02T22:31:00.000-06:00

It is with the utmost praise and thanksgiving that we introduce you to Ling Cha Ni (soon to be known as Emilia Dawn Ni - we think). :) We think she is the most beautiful girl in the world - and can't wait to get her in our arms!!!!

At the time of her last medical (7/18/06) she weighed 13.64 pounds, was 25 inches long, had no teeth at the time, and her birthdate is......CHRISTMAS DAY!!!! 12/25/05!!!!

She is in an orphanage in the Jiangxi Province (and months ago I told John that I had a feeling our girl would be from that province). Did I mention that we think she is the most beautiful girl in the world?!?!?!

In her picture - she appears to have a little boo boo on her cheek, and I think she needs her mommy there stat to give her all kinds of healing kisses. :)

WE ARE SOOOOOO IN LOVE!!!!

We celebrated with our families tonight eating Chinese (we missed you Doug, Amy & Chapin), and the grandparents, Aunt Angee, and cousin Anna went wild for her. The waiter and waitresses were excited for us too. They even translated some of her info for us (we don't have all the translated info on her just yet).

We're off to Wichita tomorrow (road trip) to pick up her file and sign papers. I can't remember if I mentioned that we love her so and think she is absolutely beautiful. :)

OH MY WORD - IT'S REALLY HAPPENING!!

2006-11-02T07:52:00.000-06:00

Last night (or actually very early this morning) I had my first dream regarding LID's, but it wasn't a good one. I practically woke up in tears at 2:30 am because in my dream China only got through 8/13!!! UGGGG!!! I forced myself to stay in bed and not run to the computer - but you know what I did as soon as my alarm clock went off this morning?!?!? Yup, ran to the computer and was so overjoyed to see that CCAA had finally updated their site with the awesome news that in fact our date is included in the new batch of referrals that should be arriving at agencies today.

I GOT GOOSEBUMPS ON TOP OF GOOSEBUMPS!!!

The stork is flying!!! The stork is flying!!!

2006-11-01T17:16:00.000-06:00

Word on the street is that referrals are on their way. I've had so many ups & downs the past 2 weeks I don't know whether to be happy, anxious, cautious, or just plain sick to my stomach!!!

I'm going to gorge myself with Mexican tonight -and pray that CCAA updates their site and gives us some good news!!!

BRING ON THE TACOS & CHEESE DIP!!! :)

The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

2006-10-31T08:17:00.000-06:00

My nephew is just too darn cute!!!

New baby, great finds, and yummy pics

2006-10-26T19:10:00.000-05:00

Nope, still no referral news...but I have other fun and exciting things to share:

1) My friend Hilary and her husband Kelly welcomed their first child to the world yesterday, and I went by and saw them today. Little Walker Grant is an absolute doll, and I could barely take my eyes off of him. He was making the cutest faces. :)

Congratulations Hilary and Kelly & welcome to the world Walker!!!!

2) Some of you long time followers may remember that in February '06 I found the softest teddy bear (dressed as a bunny) at Hallmark (picture of said bear below) - well, I have been mulling over that fact that depending on her size it may be a tad too big for her to handle very well, but I don't have to worry about that anymore because.....................

I FOUND AN ITTY BITTY ONE!!!! Now I know for sure that this one is going with us.

(Isn't it too cute?!?!)

I also found this really soft mini blanket for her (now if I could find one of these bad boys in a king size, I'd be in hog heaven)

Then, because I just HAVE to go into hospital gift shops when I'm by one, I popped in after visiting the little family...and by golly look what I found for Emily - Trumpette socks!! I love these little socks. They look little ballerina shoes. Needless to say I got her 6 pairs!!

AND #3) These aren't pictures of my baby (the ones I really would have liked to have gotten today) - but I sure do enjoy them (hee hee). My pal Sandy brought these to me and boy o boy!!

In case you don't know who this fine looking gentleman is...it's Dierks Bentley. He's one of my favorite country singers, and he's pretty much all I've been listening to for a couple months. John affectionately calls him Jerks, but he says it in love (hee hee).

Well, that's about it for my excitement. Oh, I hit some kind of bug on the way home - and I have never seen anything like it. I didn't see what exactly it was, but judging by the carnage the thing had to be the size of a small bird. I literally almost lost my Taco Bell. It was sooooo gross!!! YUCK!!!

Tomorrow is the big 37 for me - and I'm really hoping for news of our girl. I don't know how much longer my stomach can stand these knots!!!

Ain't nobody gonna grab these by mistake

2006-10-26T07:22:00.000-05:00

To start off with - NO - no word yet on our girl. My stomach has been in knots, I haven't been able to sleep worth a darn...but boy have I been in a good mood!!! LOL

John on the other hand has had his share of...well, let's just say tension filled moments. It has struck me funny, because this whole time he has basically been Mr. Mellow Man ("It'll happen when it happens") but the past 2 weeks he's been kinda nutty. LOL!! I knew the wait would get to him eventually. :)

Check out these bad babies!! Yesterday I bought what will hopefully be the luggage that nobody will grab but us. I don't think there will be too many people with neon lime green luggage at the luggage-go-round in China (at least I hope not). LOL

I am not the type of gal that likes to check luggage (I like to get on the plane, get to where I'm going, grab my bag from the overhead compartment, and be on my way) but on my return trip from San Diego a couple months ago, I had checked my bag (my black bag) and swore at the luggage carousel that I would never go through that again, "Is that my bag....NO....is that my bag!??!?!" Considering that we need to pack for 2 weeks for 3 people, we will be checking bags --- so here' s hoping that our lovely luggage will stick out like a sore thumb!!! :)

__________________________________________________________

Today marks the 2-year anniversary of our "officially" starting the Journey to Emilia. It was 10/26/04 that I requested information from the agency that we would wind up using - HIS Kids Adoptions International.

It has been a long journey, but we are in the home stretch now, and to know that we are so close to our baby - well, it brings tears to my eyes.

HANG ON BABY GIRL....WE'RE COMING!!!!

I'M SO EXCITED I CAN HARDLY STAND IT!!!!

2006-10-17T14:22:00.000-05:00

Word is hitting the adoption boards that the cutoff is 8/23!!!! We just spoke with our agency and a package is on it's way from China!!!!

OH MY WORD!!! WE'RE GOING TO FIND OUT ABOUT OUR GIRL (HOPEFULLY) NEXT WEEK!!!! (My insides are doing flippies off the dock here!!!!)

WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!

9/30/06 Busch Race Day

2006-10-03T16:57:00.000-05:00

Mom and I arrived at the track around 9:30 am and headed for the garage/pit area. Dad was going to join us later, because with his terrible back problems he wouldn't be able to stand all day. John was suppose to be there with us too - but he's been off work for several weeks already with severe back problems, and wouldn't have been able to do all the standing and walking so he opted to stay home. (Note: In case you are wondering, besides the pit boxes, there is no place to sit in the garage/pit area.)

When we got there the Cup guys were getting in their final practice before Sunday, and the Busch drivers were awaiting qualifying.

Here are some of my favorite pics from Saturday:

I love this picture. Ashton's #25 car awaiting qualifying while Tony zooms by in the background practicing.

Here comes TTTTTTTTony!!!!

Now I know I'm one to be talking, but this picture just cracks me up. Tony's belt is pooching a bit, and looks as though it may be a tad snug. ROFL!!! I did hear he's got a personal trainer now though - so good on him. Wish I could have one of those!!! :)

Reed Sorenson with a dude that has a Tom Cruise profile. Now I don't throw that comparison around lightly (cause you know I love my Tommy) but he does have a T.C. profile. :)

Asthon Lewis Jr.

I just cannot say enough nice things about Ashton. He is an absolute doll and so sweet.

Mom and I were trying to figure out if the guy hanging with Aston was Gary Weisbaum (Co-owner/partner Team Rensi Motorsports) who we were to meet. Mom catches Asthon's eye and starts mouthing, "Is that Gary Weisbaum??" It was so funny. You could tell Ashton had no idea what she was saying....I started laughing....and here he comes. Mom asked him again if the man with him was Gary, and he said, "No - that's my dad." We introduced ourselves to him, and he stayed and talked with us for quite a bit. I have to just reiterate here that he is a doll!!! So nice!!!

Mom and Ashton

Me and Ashton

WOW!!! Do I have nerve. I picked on Tony and then I look at this picture and I make up almost 2 Ashton's!!!! Where's my personal trainer?!?!?!? :)

#35 McDonald's driver Regan Smith (Team Rensi Motorsports)

At last...Gary Weisbaum (dark blue shirt) with Ashton, and Ashton's dad (LOL)

Gary is peeps with my brother, and he is such a nice man. He treated us so well, and I can't thank him enough for his hospitality.

Now those are some gas cans!!!

Pops enjoying some BBQ in front of the McDonald's hauler before we head out for driver introductions

Rob Winchester

I don't know what's up with the look on Rob's face, but now knowing his personality (ornery), I could put a few captions - but I'll refrain. (How about you Doug?!?!?) LOL

Rob is also friends with my brother and was the man responsible for getting us our admission passes. He is a super nice guy (did I mention ornery?) and he also treated us so well. He took us out so we could watch the driver introductions from the track, and hooked us up with scanners during the race.

Gary, Rob and Ashton are 3 definate assets to the racing community. Great guys!!!

Ashton and his dad walking through the garage area

Rob getting us hooked up with scanners

The flaggy guy's stand :)

A view of the stands from the track, and the Mustangs that will take the drivers to their cars after they're introduced.

Mom and Pops

This picture cracks me up because it's like 'Where's Waldo?' In this picture is Tony Stewart and Kasey Kahne. I took the picture because of Tony (of course) but didn't notice Kasey was even there until I downloaded the pictures.

DRIVER INTRODUCTIONS

Greg Biffle BIFFLE!!!!

J.J. Yeley

Tony

Belts not wantn' to stay tight on this one either!!! ROFL (what is with me tonight?!?!)

Regan Smith

Asthon

Kasey Kahne

Local favorite Clint Bowyer (I used to watch him race at Lakeside here in KC)

Kevin Harvick

Carl Edwards

Kyle Busch

Reed Sorenson

Denny Hamlin

Jeff Burton

Matt Kenseth

View of the crowd from the infield

Mom and Pops waiting for the race to start (we're in the Marine's pit area here)

Fly over (I always love these!!!)

Ed Rensi (Rensi Motorsports)

View of the start/finish line from the pit area

I like this picture HOORAH!!!

Team Marine ready for Ashton to pit

Mom and I were able to get up on the pit box for most of the race. Pops back started hurting, so he decided to leave. That's Lloyd Wideman with us who does sports management and works with Team Rensi.

The pit box. It was really cool being able to sit up there. The scary part was we were told that if the #25 car crashed (thank GOD it didn't - I was praying) we were to drop everything from our hands and get off the cart pronto. Let's just say that when I first got up there I was figuring out where I could jump. LOL

View of Team Marine from the pit box

Picture of Tony (#33) and Ashton (#25) as they pass by

Asthon coming in for a pit

Ashton tearing out after a pit

Where Harvick takes the lead from Kyle Busch and holds on to win the race

Gotta hate it when pieces of your car just fall off. LOL

And the winning #'s are:

1. Harvick
2. Kenseth
3. Busch (Kyle)
4. Stewart
5. Bowyer
6. Edwards
7. Sorenson
8. Biffle (BIFFLE!!!!)
9. Labonte
10. Menard
11. Yeley
12. Leicht
13. Reutimann
14. Lewis Jr.
15. Jon Wood

Now that's one heck of a souvenier!!! (and yes - that is the actual hood off the wrecked Kingsford car) ROFL!!!

On my way home from dropping off the Momma - I saw the McDonald's hauler getting ready to get on the highway to head out.

And right in front of it was the Marine's hauler.

Well, in case you couldn't tell - I had a wonderful time at the Kansas Speedway (from Wednesday right on thru to Saturday).

My SIL Angee called me Sunday morning and said she could get us in to see the Cup race - but that we wouldn't have a seat - and because my feet were still screaming and John's back being as it is, I passed - but boy did I miss a race. AND MY BOY WON!!!!

I would just like to thank everyone again who made all this possible. You all are all awesome - and you definately helped make some memories that will last forever!!

Friday (9/29) Qualifying

2006-10-02T20:21:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my brother Doug and his friendship with the Team Rensi owner/partner Gary Weisbaum, my mom and I were fortunate enough to get to spend Friday (and Saturday) in the Pits with Team Marine/Rensi Motorsports. It was absolutely amazing, and an experience I will never forget.

I think I took around 500 pictures between both days, and I am posting ones I really like - but if you have a favorite driver/car you're more than welcome to email me and I just might have a picture for you.

Here's some of my favorites from Friday's Cup qualifying and Busch practice:

Kansas Speedway early Friday morning - before the rush of NASCAR fans

Tony's Old Spice #33 Busch car

Kasey Kahne's #9 Ragu Busch car

Ashton Lewis' #25 Marine car getting inspected

Believe it or not this picture is not on zoom. This is Tony practicing on Friday - and I was actually this close to his car as he left to get on pit road from the garage.

Kasey Kahne as he was signing an autograph for me. (I'm surprised this came out because my hands were shaking so bad.)

Kasey's autograph

Kevin Harvick's autograph

I about peed my pants when I turned around and saw this waking towards me!!!!

I didn't ask for an autograph from Tony (already have a couple - and I know better then to come between a boy and his sandwich - hee hee) but I did say "Yeah Tony" and got a smile out of him.

Ashton Lewis coming in from practice (Busch)

Kevin Harvick coming in from practice (Busch)

Tony (aka Smoke) and Kasey during practice (Busch)

No explanation needed :)

Carl Edwards

Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears

And although this is against my religion (wink wink) I will be kind enough to post this and the next picture for my pal Linda. :) (Ya know I have to love ya for doing this Wee Wee!!!)

Smoke and his cool helmet

David Stremme (looks like he's posing for me doesn't it???)

Reed Sorenson

Jr.

Ryan Newman looking like he's doing a Jerry Lewis impression. (Along the lines of my BIFFLE rant - everytime I hear Newman, I think of Jerry Seinfeld and how he said "Newman").

Bill Elliott

The Little Brown Truck :)

Elliott Sadler (for my SIL Amy) and Dale Jarrett (for my SIL Angee)

Another shot of Elliott and Dale

Elliott and the backside of Robby Gordon

Kurt Busch

Kyle Busch

Jimmy Johnson

Carl Edwards (again)

Bill Elliott (again)

JJ Yeley

Friday was a very full day, and as my feet can attest to, a long day - but I had an absolute blast!! I had such a great time seeing all the drivers and playing paparazzi.

That's about it for Friday's excitment...now it's on to the races!!!

More drivers....and Josh Turner (9/28)

2006-10-02T19:49:00.000-05:00

Thursday night my friend Sandy and I headed to see Josh Turner at Harrah's, and it just so happened that they were having some of the drivers there that night too - so we headed over a little early to see who was going to be there, and there was......

Lone Star Steakhouse driver #40 David Stremme

BIFFLE!!! :) (see previous post about my Biffle radar)

Robby Gordon (#7) (Sandy is not a NASCAR fan, but she was VERY impressed with Robby, and actually went up to him and whispered, "I'm don't know if you're the best driver, but you're the best looking.") At the time I had no idea what she said to him, but the look on his face was hysterical, and he told her thank you and that he appreciated that. ROFL (Did I mention that Sandy is not shy?!?! LOL)

AND THEN, ON TO THE REASON WHY WE WERE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE......

We were front row center, and had a wonderful time. Josh put on an excellent concert, and I can't wait for him to come back. He is an absolute doll - and I believe he's going to be around for a long time.

"I Wanna Go Fast!!!"

2006-10-02T19:18:00.000-05:00

My racing "weekend" began on Wednesday the 27th with a Sprint employee evening at the Kansas Speedway. Thanks to my SIL and BIL - Angee & Brent - we were able to go and hang out at the track and see a couple of the drivers. My boy Tony was suppose to be there - but he got stuck in Detroit and didn't make it, but it was fun all the same.

John and I with Ricky Bobby :)

This guy was hysterical to watch in this contraption. Walking for him was quite the chore, and we were rolling just watching him. So of course I made John and I get a picture with him.

Greg Biffle. Now the funny thing about Greg Biffle - and the thing that will stay with me forever is that everytime I hear his name - I have the urge to shout "BIFFLE!!!".... and the reason for this is that last year my mom and I were headed back from Wisconsin, and we were listening to the race on the radio. I think I was just trying to keep myself awake, but everytime the announcer would say his name, I would shout at the top of my lungs "BIFFLE!!!" It's now just something I do. Granted, I behave myself when I'm out in public (most of the time) but on the inside....I'm screaming "BIFFLE!!!" LOL (Let me just add here that I saw this man 4 days in a row up close - and my Biffle radar was working overtime.) :)

My niece Anna, Kyle Busch, and me.

John went up to him and said, "I'm not a NASCAR fan, but I need you to beat Porky". Kyle laughed, looked at me and said, "Yeah - I noticed her shirt." LOL Leave it to my husband. :)

Kyle was great and stayed a long time signing autographs. I got a hat signed, but for some reason I can't get the picture to post.

One day down - several more to go...................

Little Stud Muffin

2006-10-02T19:13:00.000-05:00

Now this is one little stud in the making right here!!! :)

I have a 5x7 of this on my desk at work - and everytime I look at it I laugh. He is just so cool..... and I just don't understand how they got a 2 month old baby to lay like that!!! ROFL!!!

Could we be next?!?!?!?

2006-09-26T19:36:00.000-05:00

As you can see - CCAA has placed through 8/9.....and I am being cautiously optimistic that we will be next!!! Referrals usually appear towards the end of the month...and my birthday is at the end of next month...and I couldn't think of a better present...so come on CCAA----make it happen!!! :)

IF we get our referral in October, I believe we could/will be traveling mid to late December. Could mean Christmas in China???

NEVER FORGET

2006-09-11T12:24:00.000-05:00

My prayers are with those that lost loved ones on this day 5 years ago, and they are also with all the servicemen and women around the world who are serving to protect us day and night. Thank you, and may GOD bless you all - and may we NEVER FORGET.

Look who's here!!!!

2006-09-05T18:01:00.000-05:00

MY BUDDY IS IN TOWN!!!

I just love this little guy

Meeting Uncle John

Bonding with Grandpa