How we have spent the last few days...

So, we got Michael on Saturday morning, and we have been in awe ever since. Saturday afternoon, we came back to the hotel and just loved on our little boy.

                                     

I was able to Skype with my parents and Andrew's parents for a little bit, so they could see their newest grandson. We also were able to skype with Aunt Amy, and Auntie Fer. Everyone is so excited about meeting our little one, and we are more than willing to show him off.

Other than that, our day and night was filled with bottles, diapers, and staring at our baby. Michael didn't sleep much the first night, but he didn't scream and cry either. He just was awake, and wanted us to be awake with him. So, we all sat and looked at each other for a few hours.

He is such a happy, content baby, and this is such a blessing. At one point we just put him in bed with us, and we all three got about 3 hours of solid sleep.

Sunday, we did more of the same. Bottles, Diapers, and Bonding. It is suggested for adopted parents to do skin-to-skin with their new child, so we spent some time doing that. We also skyped with family again. We tried to get Michael to learn his days from nights, so we tried our hardest to keep him awake during the day, but we mostly lost that battle. He did really well at first during the nigh. Andrew took the first shift, and I went to bed early. Then we both switched on and off during the middle of the night, and then I let Andrew sleep late, and I did the third shift.

We had a very important meeting at 3:00 today. We met with the adoption attorney, and then got to meet with the judge. First we went to meet the judge and for her to see us, and get a good feel for us. If she likes us, then we don't have to come back to Alabama for Finalization, and they can do it without us being present.

Well, she was so sweet, and not what I was expecting. She held little Michael and loved on him for a little bit, and then just talked to us. She apparently liked us, and told us that we would be great parents, and that he was all ours. Then we went with the attorney to sign a bunch of papers. We were in and out in 30 minutes. After we left the courthouse, we went to eat a very early dinner.

Michael slept from the time we left the hotel, went to the courthouse, ate dinner, and drove back to the hotel.

                                     

When we got back to the hotel I wanted to get some pictures of him in his cute outfit, but he just wasn't havin' it.

He was ready for a diaper change, and dinner. Once he got that, he was a happy camper. We got the call during dinner that we has received our ICPC Clearance, and were able to go home. SO, we will be going home tomorrow!!

We will be having lunch with the birth mother, and a woman from the agency, and then we will head home.

This will be the first time we will meet Michael's birth mom, and I am really looking forward to it. I am so grateful for her sacrifice, and I just want to be able to tell her so. We will be giving her a scrapbook with our original profile in it, and a page that I added that has a picture of Andrew, Michael, and myself and a little note of thanks. The scrapbook also has lots of extra pages for her to put the updates that we will be sending her. We also got her a necklace and earring set that has the August birthstone on them. This is just a small token to show our appreciation, and to let her know that what she did we will always be grateful for.

After we have lunch, we will hit the road, and hopefully be home by 8:00 pm. I'm sure we will have to make several stops to change diapers, and to feed Michael. I hope he is a good little traveler, and that he sleeps most of the way home. He will have 2 sets of grandparents waiting for him at home, so I hope he is nice and rested for all the love and attention he will be getting.

This has been a great experience, and am so happy that we have been given such a wonderful gift.

Road trip to Alabama!

We left Gaffney at 11:00 am and started making our way to Alabama. We had to make a few stops in Greenville. (Thank you Jessica and Chris for your gift! I know it will come in handy these first few weeks!)

Then we headed down the road. Here is my road trip survival kit: A Rt. 44 Cherry Limeade from Sonic, A great Karen Kingsbury Book, and a new crochet project.

 I was actually able to get half of the blanket made during the ride down.
Andrew wanted to make a stop in Atlanta, so we could eat at The Varsity. We could have taken 285 and gone around Atlanta, but instead we took 85 right into Atlanta. 

He looks ready to eat!

 The Varsity food was good, but it has nothing on The Beacon, in Spartanburg. Sorry Atlanta people. You just don't know what you are missing.

Yes, I am a Big Dork!

Getting out of Atlanta, we got in bad traffic, but we just rolled with it. About 30 miles outside of Atlanta, I got a turn driving. We finally made it to Alabama, and I tried to take a picture of the sign with my iPhone, while I was driving. But it just didn't work. All I got were trees. Andrew was sleeping, so I didn't think it was necessary to wake him up just to take a picture. We drove by Talladega Superspeedway, which was cool to see. We also drove by the Boy Scouts of America Headquarters, and Andrew got really excited about that! I think we will be having to make a stop on the way home, or we might just go one day while we are down here, and are looking for things to do. I can't wait to get a picture of Andrew, holding his son, in front of the Boy Scout sign. I drove the rest of the way, until we were at a standstill in traffic, and we did a "Chinese fire drill" and Andrew drove the remaining 15 miles. For some reason, he just isn't comfortable with me driving in heavy traffic...I wonder why?? J/K We got to our hotel, and checked in. We were able to use Andrew's priority club points for the reservations, and only had to pay $30/night for the first 3 nights, and then the last night we are here, we have to pay full price. But they did upgrade us to a 1 bedroom suite, rather then the studio, and it is wonderful having the extra space.

Living Room

Kitchen / Desk

Bedroom

All ready for the baby

After we got all settled into the hotel, we went and ate one last dinner as just the two of us. Andrew's boss had given him a gift card for Lone Star Steakhouse, so we went there. If I had been paying, I wouldn't have been happy. The food was just ok, but nothing wonderful. But, it was nice that she gave us the gift card, and we appreciate it very much. After dinner, we went to Wal-Mart to get some things to have in the room for the next few days. Drinks, snacks, cereal... Then we came back to the room, and went to bed. It was a long day of traveling, but we have a huge day today, and we needed to be rested. It's funny how God prepares you for something like this. Last night, I woke up every 2 hours. I think this is a sign of things to come...

Well, I will update later with pictures of my SON!!! Only 2 more hours until he is in my arms!!

Girls Weekend in Atlanta

This past weekend, Jessica and I headed down to Atlanta to spend the weekend with Julie. If only Jennifer had been there too, that would have been great! Next time...

Jessica and I left Spartanburg around 2:00 and arrived at Julie's a little after 4:30. The drive down was pretty uneventful. We pulled off in Commerce, GA to go to the Outlet Mall there, but what we didn't know, was that it was Tax Free Weekend in GA, and the mall was a mad-house! I didn't even park my car. I dropped Jessica off at the Gap Outlet, so she could run in and see if they had a dress she wanted. I just circled around the parking lot looking for a spot, and before I even found one, she was out of the store, and we were on our way. The mall was so busy, they had police officers directing traffic at the entrance.

So, right when we got to Julie's, was got on SKYPE to talk to Jennifer in Germany. We ended up talking to her for over an hour. It was so good to have us all together.

There were a lot of things we could have done in Atlanta, but we ended up not really doing a whole lot. Just hanging out and being together was a lot of fun.
Friday night we decided to go to Stone Mountain to watch the Lasershow Spectacular. You can bring food into the park, so we went and got subs to bring with us. When we got there it was a little rainy, so we ate our little picnic in one of the covered dining areas. Right after we finished eating, it started to Pour rain. we were luckily in a shop at the time. The Lasershow starts at 9:30, so around 8:45 we went to the car to get our chairs to set them up on the lawn. Because of the rain, it wasn't very crowded, so we got great seats to watch the show. The Lasershow was really awesome. It wasn't what I expected at all, but it was very cool. I didn't take any pictures while we were at Stone Mountain, but I got this one off of their website.
Saturday morning, we slept in a little, and then decided to head into the city. We went to Underground Atlanta. It really wasn't was wonderful as I was expecting it to be, so we didn't stay very long. We were all getting hungry for lunch, so we went to The Varsity for lunch. Well, let me re-phrase that. We tried to go The Varsity for lunch, but it was so crowded, we couldn't even get in the doors. The lines were going from the cash register out each entrance. Julie and I had eaten there before, but Jessica hasn't, so we took her inside just to see it. We could not believe how crowded it was. The Braves were playing at 4:00, so we assumed the crowd was all from the baseball game. Since we couldn't eat lunch there, we decided to venture out to The Original Dwarf House. (Thank God for the GPS, without it, we wouldn't have been able to do any of this.) Since Andrew is a proud Chick-fil-A employee, I figured I should visit this historical location. The following is from Wikipedia:
The Chick-fil-A Dwarf Houses are a full-service variation of the typical Chick-fil-A restaurant. In addition to the full-service dining area, Dwarf Houses also have the normal fast-food service area as well as a drive-through. The menu at a Dwarf House is similar to the normal menu. However, surprising to many loyal supporters, the menu at a Chick-fil-A, Dwarf House contains an option to buy a Steakburger and/or Hamburger.

Here is my Hamburger that I got.

The menu also features deep-fried pies, in flavors such as peach, apple, and sweet potato.

I didn't get the fried Pie, but I did get the Strawberry Pie, which was wonderful!

One notable difference at the Chick-fil-A Dwarf House is a "Dwarf-sized" front door that children and some small adults can use to enter.

Here we are at the front door

The original Dwarf House in Hapeville, Georgia, has the atmosphere that all the other Dwarf Houses aspire to. It is located across the street from a Ford plant that produced the last Ford Taurus, which Truett Cathy bought as a thank you to the Ford plant employees for decades of loyal business. Thanks Wikipedia, I couldn't have explained it any better.
After The Dwarf House, we went to Ikea, since Jessica had never been to one before. If you have never been to Ikea, you don't know what you are missing. But be prepared, it is very overwhelming. We had fun just walking through it, and dreaming. The neatest thing happened in Ikea though. As I was walking around, a girl passed me that looked very familiar. When I looked again, I realized who it was. Her name is Jessica Turner, and I have been reading her blog for probably a year and a half. She is a great scrapbooker, and I really enjoy reading her blog. She is from Nashville, and just happened to be in Atlanta for the weekend. After much deliberation, I decided to talk to her. She was super sweet, and so excited that I read her blog. It was kind of like meeting a celebrity. It is someone I read all about, but never expected to meet. Of course my friends thought I was crazy that I got so excited. But fellow bloggers understand.
After Ikea, it was time to go home. We were all exhausted. When we got home, we crashed on the couch. Julie had this game called Bananagrams, which is a lot of fun, that we played a bunch. Jessica decided to use all of the letters in her own private game. When she completed it, she said that it was definitely Blog Worthy, so here is the finished product. So we started playing, and before we realized it, it was 8:00 and we were ready for dinner. We ordered some pizza, and rented a movie and just had a nice low-key night. Sunday morning we slept in, and just hung around Julie's until it was time to head back to South Carolina. We left around 2:00 and were back to Jessica's by 4:30.
It was a great weekend, and much needed weekend. My friends are wonderful, and they truly are a blessing. Looking forward to the next one!

Atlanta - HERE WE COME!!

So, this weekend, we are having a Girls Weekend in Atlanta, GA! I have a friend, Julie, who lives in Atlanta, so my friend, Jessica, and I will be heading down there today. I only wish Germany were closer, so Jennifer could come too. She will be missed this weekend for sure! But we will be having another Girls Weekend when she comes home from Germany at the end of the month! God has blessed me with wonderful girlfriends, and to be able to spend a whole weekend together is so exciting. I will give a full report of the weekend when I return. Have a good weekend everyone!

Here we are at our Christmas party last year. That was the last time we were all together.

I'm Back!

My plane arrived in Charlotte yesterday at 3:30 pm. It was a long flight, but not as bad as the flight going over. I'm sure it will take me a few days for my body to get back to a normal schedule. Looks like I'll be going to be early all this week. The trip was amazing, and I am so happy that I was able to go. I will be posting more pictures this week, and giving a little more detail about where we went and what we did. Until then, It's back to work, and back to my normal everyday life.

My last day in Hamburg

Well, today was my last day in Hamburg. The day started with home made croissants and fresh fruit. Jennifer is such a great cook. Then we went for a tour of the Town Hall, known in Hamburg as the Rathause. Here is a picture of it during the day, and one of it at night. It is beautiful inside and out. The Town Hall is just a few rooms short of being as large as Buckingham Palace in London. The rest of the day was spend shopping for souvenirs and taking in as much of Hamburg as I could. Before dinner, we walked down to the Alster, a large body of water in the middle of the city. The US Consulate building sits right on the water. They call it the little white house.

We finished the night at Franziskaner for dinner.

I have really enjoyed my trip to Germany, and would come back next week if I could. This has been one of the best vacations I've ever been on. I'm so glad that I was able to come, and thankful for the opportunity. Hopefully one day I will be able to come back, and bring Andrew with me. Thank you Jennifer for a showing me around your city, and for being such a great travel buddy. You have been a wonderful hostess, and I am so blessed you have you as a friend.

Hamburg - Day 4 - Day Trip to Lubeck

Today, Jennifer and I took a short trip to Lubeck. It is a beautiful town, surrounded by a Moat. Most of the buildings and churches date back further then 1226, when it was made a free imperial city.Here are some pictures from our day. The weather was beautiful.

This is the entrance to the city

View of the water and City from on top of St. Petri Church

St. Mary's Church

Inside St. Mary's Church

Crossing the bridge to leave the city

This picture has not been touched up - it really did have that reflection on the water. It was absolutely beautiful.

Lubeck is also a major supplier of marzipan. Niederegger, one of the largest suppliers, makes the marzipan just outside the city, and sends it all over the world. We ate lunch at Das Cafe Niederegger, the cafe inside the candy store. They also have a Marzipan Salon, which was like a little marzipan museum. It showed how they make the marzipan, and had some of the older molds on display. Here are some pictures from the Marzipan Salon. All of the figures in the pictures below are made out of marzipan.

Here are some funny signs I saw in Lubeck.

This was on the Lady's restroom

This was on the men's restroom

and this was outside of St. Mary's Church