What Day is It?

I do this EVERY time. I get her, get tired, go to bed too early and then awaken at the crack of the day wide eyed and ready to go. Jennifer and I have been up since 1:00 a.m. local time. Oh well.... more time to get things done.

Our plane . . .

Our first flight info ...

We have washed clothes in the tub -- something you'll remember I did NOT want to have to do this time over. It was fine -- at least we have clean clothes. I read on Elizabeth's blog that she has contacted BM*I and our clothes will be here Tuesday. I SO hope they come before Gotcha Day as I'd like to have the gifts and Ellie's coat. I suspect Jennifer will be most happy to have HER luggage as she slept in a warm up suit jacket last night. *snicker* Neither of us have dry pants now because we washed them. It's a riot around here. I have also spent 30 minutes on the phone with our travel insurance describing every bag, contents, etc. They are also working on securing our luggage and will contact us soon. The good news is that we had insurance and they will pay for the money we spend because of the delay.

I didn't mention in my previous post the GREAT news about Northwest/KLM Royal Dutch. I have to give them a HUGE shout-out. When we arrived at the counter, I, of course, had an extra bag full of donations for the orphanage. I told them I was travelling for adoption and had a letter from my agency asking if they could send this bag as humanitarian aid. I put the letter on the counter and BEFORE they even read it, they checked the bag and never asked for a dime. They did, finally, scan over the letter briefly and give it back. HOW AWESOME. So, fellow Kyrg parents who are travelling, please consider flying KLM Royal Dutch over if you can. They are EXCELLENT in their customer service. (And THEY didn't lose our bags).

We are planning to go to the Metro sometime today for a meal. We ate at the Italian restaurant last night. We ate on the patio because there were a lot of people inside smoking. It was very cool out and they brought us out these lovely, warm ponchos/wraps for us to wear to keep warm. How thoughtful!!!

Here are some answers to questions I've gotten in email the last few days:

GNO - Girls Night Out. These are six "girls" (Iris, Dianne, Sharon, Dawn, Jennifer and me) who have been friends as far back as babies and who continue to go out once a month for "GNO". They are my support, my companions and my source of strength during all things in my life. Since Jennifer and I both have, er, "strong" personalities, I think they were afraid we might not get along on such a harrowing trip. We have made it wonderfully. I could have NEVER made this trip without Jennifer. She is taking such good care of me and I will be eternally grateful for what she and her family have given me by taking this trip with me.

"I hope one of you have a camera." Good grief, who SAID this?? (Hilary - *smile*). We have two cameras and a video camera. I'm certain you meant with us as opposed to with our delayed baggage. We did carry on all of our electronics. However, every time I go to get something (the camera cord to download photos, the cord for the laptop we brought to watch movies, etc.) it is in the other bags. Oh well. Jennifer and I are calling it our Amazing Survivor experience. You know, two girls, four countries, two pair of pants and a camera. HA!! Oh, and note to girls, Jennifer will eat weird food if she's hungry enough. We had some type of beef with cantonese noodles. There were veggies in it and I think Jennifer even ate some of those. I took photos as evidence. There's hope for the Japanese restaurants yet!! Well... as I began to upload the photos of Jennifer eating the weird food, I realized she has DELETED them. Can you believe this???? She said she didn't look good in it? I am going to have to keep my camera out of her hands from now on. Stayed tuned for more photos of her eating weird food.

AND... the best thing we have discovered is WHOOPIE PIES. Oh.My.Goodness. I am to have Elizabeth ship us a box each month. Like we need them. Here is a photo of a whoopie pie. WHY does the South not have these???? Enjoy looking at it because by the time you read this, it will have been eaten. YUM!!

Here are some photos from the past few days. Thank goodness Jennifer had a card reader in her bag.

I saw these in the London airport. It is something you chew that brushes your teeth. I think having one of these things at home would be cool. I didn't have any London coins so I couldn't buy one or I would have.

The infamous Beta Store where we visit EVERY day, it seems.

Jennifer's first Coke Light.

At first we thought this was a bride, but upon closer inspection, we decided maybe it was a teenage girl getting photos made and that the woman with her was her mother. Who knows? She was pretty and her dress was pretty.

Let me just tell you that Jennifer, Elizabeth, Ellen (Elizabeth's mom) and I have laughed more than I have laughed in a hundred years. We are developing ab muscles from all the laughing we are doing. It has been SO MUCH fun hanging around these three incredible women!! What a blessing God has shared with me by allowing me to travel with them and share our excitement with them.

Bear with me if you email and ask questions or make comments and I don't get back to you. Know that I read EVERY one and value EVERY one, but the new time zone, lost luggage and getting things ready is taking a bit of my time.