Plane Travel

We are writing from Newark airport in New Jersey. The eve of our trip turned out to be a long night. Stephanie actually ended up pulling an all-nighter! The apartment was shining by the time she was done. I slept for about an hour and a half and I think I felt worse for it than she did. We were up and going at 3am and both agreed that it felt like we were post-call in the ICU. It was a rainy, cold morning in Nashville when we left. We took a small plane on our first leg but we had our neck pillows and slept soundly (appreciate those!!!) We had to ride a bus between terminals here in Newark and I was thinking what on earth is it going to be like for Maddox when he flies and rides that bus on the way back. He is going to be overwhelmed!

The good news is, we don't think we forgot anything!

Stephanie had ordered a rock and ride big wheel sort of toy for Maddox, and last night she decided to wait and give it to him for his birthday which will be coming up in April. She "hid" it last night so we could wrap it later and she said that was a good taste of feeling motherly.

Now, our job is to figure out when meals will be served on the long flight to Beijing so we can decide if we need to eat here. The bacon egg and cheese from McDonald's from 4am seems to be wearing off (even as it clogs my arteries). Love to everyone, will write next from China.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies. Kudos to the first person who names movie and character:

"I've forgotten how much I hate space travel..." JP

A Busy Day of Preparation

Well, today has been crazy. We have been running around trying to tie up all the loose ends before we leave tomorrow. We spent the last 2 hours weighing our luggage, taking things out, shifting between bags, and trying to come into compliance with the travel rules in China. We don't anticipate any problems with our luggage on the flights to and from China, but those several flights we will be taking within China on China Southern Airlines are the ones we are worried about. As best we can tell, we are only allowed to check 44 pounds of luggage each on those flights and carry on one item that must be 11 pounds or less. Some websites also indicate that the checked luggage can only be one ITEM each. We are each taking 1 suitcase, one rolling tote, and a backpack. If they let us carry on the rolling tote AND the backpack, no problem. If they make us check the tote with the suitcase, we do have that combo under 44 pounds but it will depend on whether or not that can consist of 2 bags. Hopefully the worst case scenario will be that we have to pay a little extra to check the totes.

Wow, it is definitely late and I am getting tired because I spent a long time rambling about luggage there...

The rest of our time today has been spent childproofing and cleaning. Stephanie is definitely in nesting mode and would hand scour the entire apartment in concentrated bleach if she had her way, I think. So amidst the slightly caustic odor of Clorox we will try to get a few hours of sleep before we get up to leave on our early flight.

I would like to say a special "thank you" to our co-workers who have made this trip possible and have bent over backward to cover for us, change call schedules, etc. I am especially grateful for Ling Yu, John Idoux, and Kim Smith who have made big changes in their schedules to help me out. Stephanie's coworkers have been incredibly thoughtful to allow her to have a full maternity leave. We appreciate this more than you know!

Next entry will be en route to China! JP

Our Itinerary

Here is our itinerary. Looks like we will be quite busy! JP


Mar 01: Arrive in Beijing at 15:00
Stay in the Wang Fu Jing Grand Hotel
Mar 02: Visit the Forbidden City and the Great Wall
Mar 03: Fly to Taiyuan from Beijing
Stay in the Yu Yuan Hotel in Shanxi
Meet the baby in the afternoon
Mar 04: Registration and Notary
Mar 05: Visit the Jin Ancestral Temple
Mar 06: Visit the Provincial Museum
Mar 07: Visit the Ying Ze Park
Mar 08: Visit the Zoo
Mar 09: Get Passport
Fly to Guangzhou from Taiyuan
Stay in the White Swan Hotel
Mar 10: Take photo, medical check
Visit the pedestrian shopping street
Mar 11: Apply for visa
Visit the Six Banyan Temple
Mar 12: Visit the Liu Hua Lake Park
Get visa
Mar 13: Fly to Beijing from Guangzhou

Our First Blog

Welcome to our first blog ever! We are so excited about our upcoming trip to China to adopt our new son, James Maddox Pirkle. He will be 2 years old on April 7, 2009, so we will be getting him just before he turns 23 months.

After we announced our travel dates, all we seemed to hear from our friends was "Do you have a blog?" And, while we do consider ourselves somewhat technically savvy, I had to say, "No, we don't." But, after some encouragement and instruction from our good friend Kris Street, here we are.

Right now we are frantically packing and trying to make sure we have all the important documents we need to take to China. We fly out Saturday morning at 0640 Nashville time.

I want to say thank you to all of you who are reading this and who have supported us through this long journey. We welcome and give thanks for all of your prayers. Without the strength and blessing of the Lord, none of this would be possible.

Well, I am off to continue packing. More to come including our itinerary. JP