Today was one of those really, really good days. We have approached this trip with the same mindset that we approached China: "Expect the worst, Hope for the best."
So far, so good.
Course, we're on Day One of a 9 day trip, so we'll see how things work out.
But for today? AWESOME.
We left around 2:30 on Friday afternoon. My post on FB as we pulled out of town Friday went something like this:
One parent/teacher conference, one 6th grade book "tasting", two tests, three haircuts, one webinar for title agents, one spotless home, four laundered beds, one full tank of gas, six packed bags, one full car, one tired Mama, and FIVE happy Powells. Next stop: The Happiest Place on Earth.
Things were busy, I tell you.
So busy, I failed to document ANY of it on camera. Boo.
But, FINALLY, we were off! Mary earned her place in the lineup of Powell Children Who Travel Well. I'm three for three when it comes to kids who can go on long hauls in the car. Thank goodness. They all hold up MUCH better than I do. Right about the time we hit Montgomery (about 2 hours in), I was ready to get OUT of that car, and we still had HOURS and HOURS to go. Bleck.
About the time we got to Tallahassee, Mary had about a 5 minute meltdown. She was SO, SO tired, but then those fingers went in and she quickly fell asleep. We pushed ahead and made it to Lake City about 11:00 Florida time.
Saturday morning, we enjoyed the hotel's free waffles for breakfast and were out the door at 8:30. A quick couple of hours in the car.....
That's Max. Under his "tent". Sometimes you just need some time alone, I guess.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of MARY under HER tent.... cause if Max does something, girlfriend's not far behind. She took her Mickey Mouse beach towel (her blanket of choice these days) and put it over HER head. By the time I turned the camera on, she was tired of being alone under that thing and came back out to enjoy family time in the car.
Speaking of family time in the car. Max is into games. Games like "caterpillar" and "the alphabet game"..... you know: let's go through the alphabet and name Disney characters for each letter: A: Alice in Wonderland, B: Bambi, C: Cinderella..... you get it, right? Well, as good parents (and a good big brother - even Jack participated), we wanted to have the family bonding and all, so we happily played along. For HOURS. We alphabetized foods, countries, names, movies, books, all things Disney, and ON and ON and ON. OHMYGOSH. I now find myself categorizing things in my mind alphabetically. What should I order for dinner? A: asparagus? B: beef tenderloin? C: corn? Heavens. You see why I hate long car rides?
Anyhoo. We made it.
Once we hit Disney property, she MIGHT have crawled into the already packed backseat with her Mom. We were literally inches away from our hotel and also from me losing my mind, so, it worked in the moment.
We made a totally quick trip over to Downtown Disney to grab our Visa Reward card (ours had expired.... OOPS!), and spotted THIS lovely lady while there....
Mary kept pointing and squealing.... I'm hoping this is a sign that she'll LOVE the characters! However, repeat after me: Expect the worst, hope for the best.
We then made our way to Pop Century, our home for the next week. We checked in with our new Magic Bands and then decided to go ahead and feed everyone some lunch. By the time we finished eating and then unloaded the car, Mary was BEYOND.
This followed:
Poor thing. All we'd done was had lunch and unpacked the car and she's already wiped out. But it was fine. It gave everyone a chance to just relax... and Mom and Dad might have taken a little nap, too!
The whole Ryan clan is here with us on this trip, and just before dinner, everyone finally met up. Mudger pulled out a WHOLE MESS of Minnie Mouse stuff for the little girl and a WHOLE MESS of food for the big boys, and we spent a while just hanging out and catching up with them.
We ate a quick bite of supper in the food court (we heart the Pop Century food court), then decided it was time to SWIM.
Big Fun. And we're just getting started.
Then, it was time to settle in for the night. We caught the end of the EPCOT fireworks from our balcony outside our room, then Night Night started blowing up the air mattress that is serving as Little Bit's bed for the week. As I type, she is snoring (rather loudly) on that air mattress that is now sporting Simba sheets and is covered up with her beloved Mickey beach towel. God bless her.
Watching the air mattress take shape!
Thanks, NN, for getting my bed blown up!
Tomorrow, we head to EPCOT.
We hope to see lots of our favorite characters
(Pooh, Mulan, and Minnie Mouse are big on the list tomorrow).
OOOOHHHHH!!!! And not only was today our Disney Arrival Day, but it was also our
REFERAL-VERSARY!!
March 22, 2013, we saw THIS face for the first time.....
I remember we'd received an email from our social worker, Karla, early that morning, that she had a file for us and did we want to see it? I was teaching math when the file came through. I quickly shuttled my class into the room across the hall, got Joe on the phone, and, after Joe prayed a prayer for wisdom and peace and clarity, we opened the file together.
And saw our daughter's face for the first time.
That was a Friday and I spent that night and the entire weekend memorizing every word of her file and every detail of the three pictures we received. I made a timeline on a piece of paper highlighting the events of her life as documented in the file. I then made a similar timeline of OUR lives during that time.... just to see what WE were doing while SHE was going through so much.
And here we are. One year later. This time last year, baby girl was in Shanghai Children's Home, BUT SHE HAD A FAMILY. March 21 - no family. March 22: FAMILY.
One year ago today, Jiang Rui Yang had no idea how her life was going to change.
Today, MARY JEWEL POWELL is asleep, snuggled next to her Minnie Mouse doll, under her blanket, and has no idea how much FUN she's going to have this week at Walt Disney World.
What a difference a year makes, huh?
To God be the Glory, GREAT THINGS He has done.
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