We're in HI and online for the moment

We're in HI-got here last night and thought we'd be able to connect in the room but the service has been down all night. This is probably just preparing me for what it's going to be once we get to the MI. I was able to check email this morning and we'll be staying at the Marshall Islands Resort once we get into MI.

The flight from Newark was llloooonnnnngggggg! Really hoping our return trip will connect in Houston instead-still be the same amount of time but would definitely be better to break it half. Poor G was miserable, and consequently, we were miserable with her:-)

Hope you enjoy the notes and pic from yesterday and we'll post again once we are in the MI.
____________________________________________________________

This a note that I put together in the airport yesterday once we made it to Newark:

Well we made it to Newark, NJ, we’ve had breakfast (of which I refuse to actually comprehend the cost of right now) and are now hanging out waiting for the next flight to Honolulu. I thought I’d connect the netbook and call home to chit chat but you have to pay for service here and at the moment, I’m not desperate enough to spend the ten dollars. Now tonight in Honolulu will be a different matter.

The first flight was rather uneventful so I’m hopeful that this next leg will go just as smooth. For anyone about to travel with kids I can highly recommend Bendaroos. G saw them advertised on TV a couple of weeks ago (I know, it’s pretty scary that we’ve gone from a jet-setting couple to buying items that are sold on the TV) and I actually found them at our local AC Moore. If you are not familiar with Bendaroos, they are colored strings covered in a heavy wax and you can use them to build/create projects. The nice thing is that they appear to be reusable for a long period of time. G and I crafted Tuck and Ming Ming from the WonderPets on the flight from Richmond to Newark. I expect that by the time this trip is over that we’ll both be qualified sculpters.
_____________________________________________________________

I got some great pics yesterday while we were waiting in Newark for our flight to HI. I bet you had no idea that you could do so much with a neck pillow-

Leaving on a jet plane.....

Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again....... strains of this song play thru my head as we're sitting in the Richmond airport.

Thanks Aunt Mary for driving us to the airport-I know that 4:00am was pretty early this morning to have to be at our house!

We're all checked in and have had our first excitement for the day. We got to our gate and the plane was already boarding so we just got in line with everyone else. We sure were surprised when we got on the "go-cart", I mean commuter plane, and realized someone was sitting in our seats. Actually, they were in the right seats, we were on the wrong plane-LOL

Let's hope the rest of the flights go without a hitch.

More later.

Here we come RMI

Travel arrangements have been made-we leave early Friday morning and will arrive in the RMI on Sunday afternoon after several stops and a very short night in Honolulu. Our court dates is Tuesday, June 23rd, so very shortly after arriving, we'll have Baby K!

The packing continues, or shall I say the repacking-the bags can not be over 50lbs each and so I keep moving things around between the bags to try to balance it all out.

I've managed to get Skype setup on several computers so hopefully we will be able to stay connected with family. My folks are already having "G withdrawal" so it's important that we be able to get in touch with each other on a regular basis :-)

Just found out this evening that another family has their court date the day after ours so they will be in the RMI the same time that we are-it will be nice to have another family to share the experience with. That was one of the nice things about our trip to China for G-we traveled with 11 other families and have managed to stay in touch with all of them.

Our annual Jiangxi Travel Group reunion is Aug 14th-16th and we're planning on going-even if we've only been home a couple of weeks-R and I both feel that it's important for G to have those connections and it's good for us to see the people that were part of one of the most positive experiences in our lives.

More later, back to repacking.....

We have a court date!

We received our "tentative" court date today. We need to arrive in Majuro by Monday, June 22nd and our court date is scheduled for Tuesday, June 23rd. With all of the time change and the multiple flights we will most likely need to leave by next Friday to get there on time.

I've contacted a travel agency that specializes in adoption travel so provided the travel portion of this journey goes smoothly, I'll give them a mention on our blog for all of you still waiting to travel :-)

I spent a good portion of today trying to tie up loose ends-last minute shopping, gifts to take with us, etc. I'm feeling pretty organized at the moment but I'm sure as next Friday gets closer, my list will get longer instead of shorter.

Getting the baby's picture made it seem a little more real but having a travel date means it's really happening! It all seems almost surreal after all of this time spent waiting-we will have Baby Jones in our arms in less than 2 weeks!

Stay posted........

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Smiles.......

Today was the day! We got to see our beautiful new baby's face. She's a real beauty-perfectly round head, little double chin, little fringe of hair on the sides, and lips that look like rosebuds.

So without further adieu, here is Kailee Alorina Jones:


Kailee-8 weeks old today


Kailee with her foster mom, Mary

Adoption Petition Received Today

Our adoption petition was received today and we've signed, notarized, and already sent it back to the agency. Still no baby pic but we're one step closer to a travel date.

Once the court receives our signed petition they will go ahead and set a court date and with that, we can go ahead and book travel. The agency says that families typically travel within 3 weeks of the petition so with that in mind, we could be on our way to the Marshall Islands the week of my Dad's birthday! Really, could I get him a better present than that?

Hair today, gone tomorrow.....

We finally made the cutoff-hair cutoff that is. G has been growing her hair for Locks of Love and we finally made the 10" requirement. We made a trip to our wonderful stylist, Miss Sylvia, and she gave G the cutest "bob" cut and helped us package up the hair for donation.

It's amazing how much a haircut can change a little person's look-my G has taken on a whole new level of maturity. First the tooth fell out, then the haircut, it will probably be college next :-)


BEFORE


AFTER