Saturday, Aug 11

At 12:20 a.m., we boarded EVA Air #17, Evergreen Deluxe Class, bound for Taipei. As soon as we boarded and settled into our seats, the stewardesses brought everyone a warm, wet towel to refresh our face and hands. It felt like heaven. The video monitors ran a short tourism film featuring the most beautiful sights and sounds of Taiwan. Very cool. The stewardesses picked up the used towels and began preparing everyone for takeoff. We left at 1:10 a.m., right on time.

I've never flown in a 747 before; the thing creaks and squeaks on the ground making the turns necessary to position itself on the runway for takeoff but, once up in the air, she's smooth as silk! It felt odd to hear all the announcements in Chinese and then have to wait for the English translation! The video monitors immediately began showing us the position of the plane on a huge map, followed by all the flight stats, such as what altitude we were currently flying at, the temperature outisde of the plane, our groundspeed, how many miles we were from our departure point, how many miles to our destination, and an estimate of how long it would take to reach our destination. The next screen told you what time it was at the departure city, what time it was as the destination city and what time it was in the time zone we were currently flying in, etc. All the screens were displayed first in Chinese, and then in English. Although the pictures aren't great, I've included a couple of screen shots so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. When that map of Asia came up for the first time, it really made you realize just how far you were away from home! How very strange it was to realize that you were closer to China and India than to our own familiar North American continent!

Back to EVA Air -- our domestic airlines should take some lessons from these guys -- they provide incredible customer service! A pillow and quilted blanket was in every seat, along with a pair of "paper" slippers and an amenities pouch containing a travel toothbrush, toothpaste and hand/face cream. The stewardesses were all Taiwanese, and quite beautiful, I might add. They switched easily from speaking Chinese to English, depending on the passenger they were conversing with at the time. Our class had four stewardesses assigned to the 60-some seats. They were pleasant and efficient. Beverage and meal service was distributed shortly after take-off. Todd decided to sleep through "dinner," but Lauren and I had pork chop with rice. An appetizer of raw salmon and cucumber, along with fruit and a roll, rounded out the meal. I got a kick out of the stews asking us if we wanted, "tea/coffee?" I guess the "or" is unnecessary verbage. Cute.

Not long after the trays were cleared, the lights were dimmed and most folks settled in to sleep through the night. I discovered that I don't sleep well on planes, so I watched a couple of movies and got up from time to time to stretch my legs. Interestingly enough, about five hours into the flight, I began to smell the aroma of noodle soup and discovered that they serve a delicous spicy beef noodle soup in the middle of the night upon demand! It was so funny to watch (and hear!) the Chinese passengers slurp the noodles using their chopsticks, and then drink the broth out of the cup! Several men were standing by the stewardess station, yakking away a mile a minute in Chinese and slurping up their noodles! Well I had to try this for myself, and I found it to be an instant ramen-type noodle, but a WHOLE lot heartier and tastier! There were vegetable and beef slices in the soup, as well! Wish we could get that stuff here in the States -- it was really yummy!

Lauren woke up when we were flying over Japan and was truly disappointed to find that we still had four more hours to go until we arrived in Taipei! A couple of hours later, we flew over Okinawa, which was thrilling to me because my father had been stationed there in 1954 when he served in the Air Forced during the Korean Conflict.

When the stewardesses brought the lights up, I began to get excited because I knew we were getting close to our destination. Out came the refreshing warm, wet towels again to freshen up with, and then breakfast. Your choice of omelette or congee -- we all chose the omelette, served with potato, sausage, a small slice of cold chicken and potato salad (what?), a mini croissant, yogurt, juice and "tea/coffee." After the breakfast trays were cleared, the duty-free cart came around, and the next thing you know, we began our descent.

We watched the island become visible, and held our breath as the plane approached the runway. You could see the steam coming up off the tarmac, our first indication of just how hot and humid Taiwan is in August!

So, after nearly twelve hours of flight, having crossed the International Date Line, we arrived in Taiwan just a few minutes before 5 a.m. on Sunday morning. As we taxied to the terminal, I just broke into tears -- I was finally in here, coming to get our little girl and bring her home! Todd smiled that, "Oh, gee, my wife is so cute when she gets emotional" smile, and Lauren patted me and said, "It's o.k., Mom." She's so sweet! So we begin the adventure of our lives, 6000 miles from home and just that much closer to our Mia!

Friday, August 10

Alrighty then, where did we leave off? Ah yes, Todd made it home from work only slightly later than we anticipated, and I took off to go pick up Lauren from her first day of sixth grade and middle school (what we used to call "junior high"). Here's a picture of Lauren with our luggage – so the amount of luggage wasn't really as bad as it seemed like it would be, huh?

We checked in at the airport two hours early for our flight, and went to grab some lunch. Funny how expensive mediocre airport food can be! (That's funny, as in really unbelievable, not funny ha-ha.) As we waited for our flight to Houston, we met a lovely woman from San Antonio who had adopted her sixteen-year-old daughter from Russia when she was about 2 years old. Sharing our adoption stories with each other made the time pass quickly until they called our flight. As we our plane took off, I remember thinking, "I can't believe this day has finally arrived! I've dreamed of it for so long!" Todd must have read my mind, because he said almost the same thing!

Our flight to Houston was smooth and arrived right on time, so we proceeded to the gate where our flight to San Francisco was supposed to be departing from only to find there had been a gate change. We had plenty of time, so that was no big deal. Our flight to San Francisco left on time so we settled in for the nearly four-hour flight. On board was a co-ed high school athletic team returning to SF from some sort of international tournament. They were wound up, to say the least, so it was a bit of a noisy flight. I wrote thank you notes for the gifts received at my baby shower the previous week, so the time passed quickly. Next thing you know, we're landing in San Francisco.

We claimed our baggage (only to find out that we could have checked it straight through to Taipei in Baton Rouge!) and proceeded to the International terminal to check-in for our EVA Air flight to Taipei. We had plenty of time, and we were starved (our Houston/SF flight was beverage service only), so we found another outrageously expensive café – thankfully, the food at this one was much tastier! Still having a couple of hours to burn before our next flight, we settled in at the gate and waited. Todd took a nap, and Lauren and I people-watched. Nearly everyone at the gate was Chinese, so we began to get the first taste of what it felt like to be in the minority for a change!

I watched them load the luggage and cargo on our 747-Airbus – everything was piled on these huge pallets and shrink-wrapped, then hoisted up onto a platform and loaded onto the plane through these incredibly large cargo doors. I found it interesting, but then there's not a whole lot else to find interesting at midnight while you're waiting for a flight!

Turn back the hands of time …

Okay, by now most of you know that we've been back from Taiwan for almost a month now. You've also probably heard that the blog-thing didn't work out so well because we never could get an internet connection at our hotel in Taipei. Also, we were kept pretty busy every day until we went to St Lucy to pick up Mia and, after we got her, time was a blur until it was time to leave for home. And since we've been home, it's been pretty crazy! We're just now getting back to "normal," although "normal" for us is still pretty crazy!

There's so much to tell about our trip, and I really do what to share it with y'all so, with your permission, we're going to turn back the hands of time and blog our trip memories! I'm going to do my best to make fairly regular posts to catch you up as quickly as possible to-date.

Are you ready? Here we go …

Last Post Stateside

Todd will be home from work in just a few minutes. I'll be leaving shortly to go get Lauren from school. The bags are packed and ready. There's not much left to do but shut down the computer and pack it up.

Sally, your package for Frankie Tru is packed in Lauren's suitcase. We LOVED the SLC onesies, and thank you so much for Mia's shirts. But our favorite is the onesie featuring Max-Min's artwork! How very adorable! Please give him a big hug and thank you from us!

So, we're off and on our way. Please keep us in your prayers! We love y'all!

We Leave Tomorrow!

Today was my last day of work until before our trip - Yippee! Tonight, we're working through the final checklist of things to be done before we leave town. Todd mowed the yard, I was in charge of installing Mia's car seat in the car. Easier said than done. Apparently, there is a car seat system in newer cars called LATCH. Our 1999 Honda Accord doesn't have that. I couldn't make heads or tails out of the seat installation instructions. So I called our local fire department and they told me to come on up and they would install it for me. An hour later, we still weren't satisfied on how the seat was fitting in the car in the rear-facing position. This LATCH deal apparently makes all the difference. So, I guess we'll have to see what we can do about making the proper adjustments when we get back from our trip. Hmmm.

Lauren 's first day of school is tomorrow; it is also her first day of middle school (sixth grade). She's growing up so fast! She's excited about going off to what we used to call "junior high," but mostly she's just excited about leaving tomorrow to go get her new little sister!

We're all counting down the hours until we get on the plane to wing our way to Mia! This afternoon, I glanced over my journal entries for the past couple of years. Although it's been less than a year since we filed our application to adopt from Taiwan through Journeys of the Heart, those of you know know us well know that we have been waiting years for this adoption to happen! I am amazed at the journey God has taken us on and how far we’ve come. I know that we are always growing in Christ, but He surely has brought us a long way in our faith and our level of trust in Him. I remember how very discouraged I was when we cancelled our first home study. It seemed like we would never begin our adoption process. Then, after the breast cancer when all the agencies turned us down to adopt from China, I was in the depths of despair. It is nothing short of miraculous that we are now just a few short hours away from leaving to go get our Mia. God has blessed us with the perfect little girl for our family. Everyone says what a lucky little girl she is to be taken out of an orphanage and placed in a Christian family, but we know that we truly are the lucky ones!

I believe that God will continue to reveal more of His nature to us through our relationship with Mia. God’s love for us--His adopted children--is a mystery, but I feel like parents who choose to adopt here on this earth get the “inside scoop” on that mystery, and God lets us in on the secret of how He feels about us and just how much He loves us! It is one thing to love your biological offspring – it comes naturally and it isn’t much of a stretch for most people. But to choose to love a total stranger, to take them into your family and make them equal to your own flesh and blood – to make them joint-heirs and give them the same rights, privileges and love as you do your “own” children – that is a perfect picture of God’s love for us, isn’t it? Selah.

So tonight, just a few short hours before we are about to embark on this remarkable journey, I want to take a moment to share with you, my friends and family, just how grateful we are to God for the incredible privilege of becoming Mia Ju-Hsuan's parents. It is a humbling thing to have the God who created the very universe move on our behalf to bring about such a blessing as this for our little family! It is nothing short of remarkable to think about how He knew Mia before she was even formed in her mother's womb, and how He orchestrated events to make this little girl a part of our family. To Him be all the thanks and the glory!

Ten Hours Later ...

Why is it that everytime you try to download new software on your computer, what should take just a few minutes turns into an ordeal? Remember I told you yesterday that Todd's brother came over last night to finish helping him download music to his phone? Copying the music into iTunes was the easy part. The trouble started when they tried to download the music to the phone. The phone software required MS-Windows Service Pack 2. (Apparently, our Windows XP hadn't been updated since we bought that computer!) The service pack took two hours to download. Then, the system went looking for critical system upgrades and found 80 (!!) that needed to be downloaded and installed! When I went to bed last night at 10 pm, they still had about 15 more to go! To make a long story short, they finally got the music loaded on his phone, but it took two nights and a total of ten hours to get the job done! Thank goodness for Chuck, my brother-in-law, who is a computer whiz! Without him, Todd would be "tuneless!" Chuck, you are a genius! And apparently you have quite a bit more patience than I have! BTW, our system is now set to automatically check for and download operating system updates!! Duh.

We had to have our pest control professional out to the house today because I found Black Widow spiders in our garage yesterday. Todd killed one in our mailbox the day before that. The thought of having those nasty critters even close to my family makes my skin crawl! We live in a new subdivision and all the construction has brought them out, I guess. You can bet I won't be letting my pest control contract lapse any time soon! I'd never seen one of those things before in my life, and I wouldn't be too upset if I never saw another one. Gross!

The packing is nearly done - Todd is working through his "honey-do" list tonight. Just a few more things to cross off the list and we'll be ready to go! Tomorrow is my last day of work before we leave. Yippee! My co-worker's birthday is tomorrow, so the girls in the office are taking her out to lunch. That means that not only is tomorrow my "Friday," but a longer lunch means a shorter work day! Happy 35th, Alicia!

Amazing, the stuff you have on your to-do-list ...

... before a big trip. Todd's "honey-do" list includes vacuuming out the car (because my sister-in-law is driving us to the airport and I can't BEAR the thought of her thinking we never clean out our car!), mowing the lawn, and laying out his clothes so I can pack them. So, what is he doing tonight? He and his brother are downloading music to his phone so he has something to listen to on our trip! Everything is a matter of priorities, you know. Well, there are two more nights before we leave, so he still has time to get everything on his list accomplished!

Mia's room is all ready for occupancy. I thought y'all might like to see it, so I've included a couple of pictures. The walls are still a bit bare, but I'm sure some photographs will go up before long. My friend, Debbie Stevens, gave me a beautiful adoption poem personalized with a small picture of Mia and a red thread connecting a map of Taiwan and Louisiana. That will have a special place of honor, as soon as I get a chance to hang it up. If you don't know the Chinese Legend of the Red Thread, you need to "Google" it -- the legend holds a special place in the hearts of parents adopting from China. The scrapbook I'm putting together for Mia has a red thread winding through every page ... with ladybugs, of course!

Our friends David and Margaret Tidwell dropped by last night for a visit. David told me about an adapter that you can buy for your laptop so that you can plug it into the "outlet" on the plane and not run down your battery. Well, I called Dell first thing this morning and ordered me one of those babies - overnighted! I justified the purchase by rationalizing that it also includes a car adapter and since, we drive alot more than we fly, it will get a good deal of use. Right? Of course, right!

Okay, that's enough for tonight. I've got to get back to work ... overpacking!! I know I'm probably bringing too much, but what do you leave home? Actually, it's not as bad as it looks. We're each taking one suitcase and one carryon. Mia has one small suitcase, and there's one extra small suitcase with all the gifts, and other stuff we have to bring "just in case" like medicines and snacks (there's only so much Chinese food three Louisianians can eat in one week!). Oh yeah, and the umbrella stroller. That's not so bad, huh?