The Sleeping Beauty!

This year my dance studio did the well-known ballet, Sleeping Beauty. I was so happy when we first started out!

We we began practicing our dance didn't feel real at first. Sure, we rehearsed and rehearsed, but it never did feel like it was going to happen until finally one day I walked into ballet and my friend, Kirsten, came running up to me and said, "I know who Sleeping Beauty is!!!"
"Who??" Hannah and I said.

"It's going to be Angela!!!" Kirsten bursted out!

It was amazing, how that day I wanted to work harder, just because it seemed a little bit more real.

When it was super real, was when we did the all-day rehearsals on Saturday, from 9:00 (am) - 4:00 (pm)!! They were tiring, but fun days! In some ways I liked staying, and in others I didn't. I liked being surrounded by my friends, and just dancing, but I didn't like that we had to get up so early (on Saturdays!!) and that we had to stay so late!

It was on Wednesday night, the 16th, when I got so excited, I could've bursted! I had realized that tomorrow was the day of the long-awaited dress rehearsal. Thursday the 17th, 2007 was the day we got to wear our costumes on the big stage, and see how it'd feel in the performance.

Thursday started early for me. I had a couple long-dreaded days of finals at school. My finals ended around 10:00, and I went straight home to get ready.

When we got to the huge stage on Thursday, I was greeted with a big smile and hug from Kirsten. I was amazed at how big the stage really was. We right away went into rehearsal, and that lasted for a long time. Finally after about 3 or 4 hours, we had a break where we ate, and then right away went into our dress rehearsal. For some reason, it seemed real that night. There was a photographer taking pictures, and people in the audience. It was great goofing off back stage with all my friends!

I went home half way sad, and half way happy that night. I was sad because it was over, and I knew that I would face worse problems on Saturday if I was sad already, and I was happy because I knew we'd be doing it the next day all over again! :)
Friday was long....nothing to do in the morning, and the endless wait to leave for the building at which the performance was being done. Finally 3:00 came, the time we had to leave. Friday we didn't do much but get ready, (make-up and stuff, which by the way, we had to wear TONS of!! It really stunk!) and then we warmed up. After the warm - up we only had 30 min. to eat, get into our costumes, pray, and then it was time for the performance to start! My Modern piece was the third dance in the first act, and so I was backstage from the beginning. First it was the Hip Hop dance, Leap of Faith. The dancers did great both nights, and I just have to give a shout out to Kerey, because she was in the Hip Hop dance, and then had one dance to change, and then our Modern dance was next, which she's in!!! She was running around like crazy, and I would be out of breath by the beginning of our Modern dance! So, congrats Kerey! You did it!
I waited back stage while the Pre-jazz class did their dance. And I sadly admit, but I was in the wings doing the dance with them, but only because Kirsten was on the other side doing it. I must admit though, it was pretty fun!
Finally, our turn came, and it seemed to fly by too quickly!! We did all the steps, and did fine, but I wish our dance was longer because it was just too much fun. I ran off, giving people 'high fives' and saying good job. I stayed and watch a couple more dances, and then goi ready for my parts in Sleeping Beauty.
Sleeping Beauty was a great success!! We all did good, and we all had a blast!!!
I went home, proud, and happy! One night was over, and another great night to come!
Saturday was basically the same...but at the end, I was sad. Unlike my other friends, I didn't cry, I was just sad, and my mouth hurt from smiling too long. I was sad as we went home, but for some reason, I didn't relize that it was truly over until I was laying in bed that night, and I have to say, I was so sad, I began to cry. I wish I could rewind and do it all over again!
I had such a blast...and I have to thank all my friends, and everyone at my studio for making it such wonderful nights!

Sleeping Beauty was great...and I hope to do another recital next year, and have as much fun as this year, or more!! (if that's possible!!)

Thank you to all my friends!
I luv ya girlies!! :)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!

M-O-T-H-E-R

"M" is for the million things she gave me,

"O" is for all the things I owe her,

"T" means that we'll always be together,

"H" is for her heart of purest gold;

"E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,

"R" means right, and right she'll always be,

Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER," A word that means the world to me.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!

Fun Stuff

Hey Guys! I just thought this was fun...I hope you enjoy! Oh, and any of my friends that have blogs, could you copy and past, then put your answers in? I would love to see them! :)

1.YOUR SPY NAME (middle name and current street name): Hayley Clayborn

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME (grandfather/mother on your dad's side and your favourite candy): Nancy M 'n M's

3.YOUR RAP NAME (first initial of first name and first three or four letters of your last name):
Mkon

4.YOUR GAMER TAG (a favourite colour, a favourite animal) Red Dog

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, and city you were born in) Hayley Madison

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first three letters of your last name, last three letters of mother's maiden name, first three letters of your pet's name) Konertlev

7. JEDI NAME (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards): Yelyah

8. Bad Boy Name (first pet's name, the street you grew up on): Sam Tranmore

9.SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favourite colour and the automobile your dad drives) The Red Caravan

10.YOUR ACTION HERO NAME (first name of the main character in the last film you watched, last food you ate) Courtney Poptart

Beijing Pictures

Hey Guys!! Here are some picture from Beijing. To see the caption put your mouse over the picture. Hope you enjoy!!

GOTCHA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We FINALLY got our Mei Lin!!!!!

Ok, I'm soooo sorry that I didn't post last night....we were having technical dificulties and they didn't get fixed until late last, and after they were fixed, my mom had to get on and post on her blog. You might have already read her post...but I thought I should post here.

So Monday morning we left the hotel at 8:30 and it took about 25 - 30 minutes to get to the Adoption Bereau. We barely had enough time to get to put our stuff down and get our cameras out before they brought out Grace, (the other families baby that's traveling with us) and Mei Lin!! It was so exciting!

Mei Lin is so cute, sweet, and pretty!
She loves her daddy! She is a huge daddy's girl!! Yesterday dad had to do someting so she went over by mom, and she started making noises, and started whining and reached over for daddy!! She really wants nothing to do with her mommy!! Everytime she goes over to mom she starts squirming and trying to get her way out of her lap. She loves Miyah though!! Miyah got the first smile out of Mei Lin! She always makes her smile and laugh. Now me, I don't think she really cares about me.....she doesn't care if I hold her, but when dad is around she doesn't want to sit by anyone but him!! It's really quite funny!

Yesterday we had a looooong day!! From 8:30 to about 6:30 we were out of the hotel. We went back at lunch for about 15 minutes, and that was it. At 9 o'clock we met the babies and we had to spend 2 hours with them and then my parents did paperwork. Then we had lunch at a reseraunt that was really good. (surprisingly) Then we went to get Mei Lin's photos for her passport and applighed for it.

We went to a store called Carefour. We bought lots of baby stuff and we got food for in the hotel. The store was really interesting!

After we got home to the hotel we ate dinner and cleaned up. We had some problems with the internet then. Finally we got it working and my mom right away got on the computer. She was on it forever...so I went to bed. That's why I didn't post anything last night. Sorry!!

Today we were going to go to the zoo...but I really didn't want to go...zoo's are just too boring for me. I mean, you see one animal, you've seen them all! Intead though mom didn't want to go because she just wanted to shop and stuff. We haven't been able to go shopping this whole time we've been in China. Well, we did in Beijing, but just for a little bit because we were in a hurry to get on with our tour. So it'll be nice to relax for a little bit. I think every other day that we're here in Kunming we have something planned, so it should be nice to just do nothing but shop and stuff!

Well I have to get ready. We're going to go eat breakfast in about 30 min. So, I'll post tonight!! (hopefully!)

Oh, there are some photos that I posted (a slideshow) below this post if you want to check them out.

Till later,

China Girl

Gotcha Day Pictures!!

Temple of Heaven, Hutong Tour, and Great Wall of China!!

Oh! How fast these two days have gone by!! Now, where do I start?? Lets see. .

Friday started out a cold, wet, and rainy day. I woke up at 6:00 a.m. and got ready and went to breakfast. The hotel has some pretty interesting food to eat for breakfast...but we were able to find some fruit and eggs and stuff.

After that we went off to see the Temple of Heaven. It was pretty funny because just outside of where you go there was older people outside doing the Polcka! It was weird to watch them. Also outside you will find people playing poker together, some activitys involving something that looked like a tennis racket and a ball, and dancing will ribbons. And one other thing they did was they would get together and sing songs or play instruments. It was pretty interesting.

Inside the Temple of Heaven we went to all the different temples, and walked around. We bought some souvenirs. We also went to a Olympic store which sold stuff for the Olympics in 2008 that are being held in Beijing. We bought a couple things there.

After that we went to lunch. They put on a show for us. There was dancing and someone played the flute. It was a pretty nice restruant. Then, came the bad part. Squatti Potties!! Ok, so Chinese toilets are a little different than ours...
Their toilets are level with the floor. Like, you have to squat down to use them. It's really gross hard to do. The worst part of all is that they normally don't have toilet paper... so we've learned to always take napkins into the bathroom.

Ok, enough of that. Next we went to the Hutong tour. First though, we went up to the big drum tower. Getting up there took a really high and steep steps! Oh my gosh!! I was afraid every step up that I was going to fall! It was really hard. It was funny because after we got up the climb my mom said, "I thought there would be something more that just drums up here!" Oh well. We got to hear some of the people drum and then we looked outside of the city from the tower.
After that we we to a local home. This I couldn't believe. The rooms were so small! This lady owned this place, and she would let tourists come and eat lunch at her house. So in her very small bedroom she had her bed, table for people to eat on, and her TV. I couldn't believe it!! Then, we went into her kitchen. This was the smallest of all!! It was really no larger than the length of a car. (it looked just about square) It was also very dirty and I couldn't even begin to think of how hard it would be to cook in!!!

After that we took our rickshaws to a local kindergarden. Unfortunatly, the kids weren't there. But we got to look around the kindergarden. We got back into our rickshaws and went back to our bus. The bus took us to the acrobat show. It was amazing what some of the people could do!! They were so strong and could do amazing things! You would have to see it to see what I mean. After that we went back to the hotel. We were all sooo tired when we got back. (That's why I didn't post last night. Sorry!)

Today I slept in a little bit longer. We got up and talked on the phone with Matt, and went to eat breakfast.
Today we didn't have to go anywhere till a little bit later in the day. Yesterday was a really cold, and it was supposed to be colder today, and we didn't pack anything to warm to wear, so we went out to some of the stores looking for coats, mittens, and hats. We found a little store, and oh my gosh! The lady that worked there was so motivated to get us to buy something! It's hard to explain how she was...but she was really pushy and stuff.

We had to go back to the hotel and meet our guids and then we went to eat lunch. We had fried duck and some pork, chicken, egg rolls, and a lot of other stuff. It was really good.
After we ate we went to The Great Wall of China. Now, for some reason I don't remember it being so hard to climb up! Last time it was a breaze! This time, I climbed up to like the third tower and I felt sick. I got light headed and thought I was going to throw up! We stopped for a little bit and then went on. We made it almost to the top, but my dad and my legs were both hurting, so we desided to go down. It was really fun! Several people while we were there asked us for our picture with them. I felt like a TV Star! They would just stand around you talking and looking at one another and wondering who should ask us if they can have our picture with them. Finally someone would go up and say, "Can we have picture with you?". One time this girl asked and we said yes, she just started jumping up and down saying, "Sank you! Sank you!" (Thank you). It was pretty funny!

Well after The Great Wall we went back to the hotel. Now we just have to pack up for tomorrow. We're leaving tomorrow for Yunnan, Mei Lin's province. We don't get her tomorrow, but we will get her the following day. I am so excited though! We get to meed Elsie, our cordinator for this trip. She was our cordinator last trip, and we loved her very much! When we heard she was going to be with us for the about a week and a half on the trip I was so happy!

Well, I'm about to go to bed. I'm so tired!! So, I'll post tomorrow, though I don't think there will be anything interesting to post! But, oh well!

(I'll post pictures in just a minute...it's they're taking a while to post)

Travel

March 27th was a really busy night. We were all packing last minute things and weighing out bags to make sure they weren’t over weight. On our other website (http://tochinaformeilin.blogspot.com) my mom posted stuff. We had seven, yes SEVEN suite cases!! Half of them are orphanage donations though.

March 28th was an exciting, yet sad a day. We had to say good-bye to our brother/son, Matt. He couldn’t come with us because he had to much school to do and it would take him a really long time to catch up on.
It was really sad. None of us could hold back our tears. We knew we’d miss him so much,(and I already do) and he was so bummed that he couldn’t come with us. Now we have to wait two whole weeks to see him again.
After getting saying good-bye and getting everything in the car we were off!!! We arrived at the airport about forty-five minutes later. We said bye to our grandma (she’s taking care of Matt while we’re gone) and went though security. It didn’t take us to long. We found our gate, waited for about an hour and we got on the plane. I didn’t do much except read like the hugest novel in the world, Eldest. (It’s a really good book by the way!) I also listened to my iPod, but that’s it. We got off, and boarded our plane for us to fly to Tokyo!! This was a really looooong flight. 12 hours of nothing but sitting in your seat either watching a movie, sleeping, listening to babies cry, or reading. It actually wasn’t to bad. The really only bad part about it was that I couldn’t sleep easily, and they have bad food on it. Oh well!

Our flight to Beijing. It was really cool because we had our own TVs in front of our seats and we got to watch our own movies!! The only problem was that they didn’t get them working until about an hour into the flight.

We got off our flight and got to the hotel, and that’s where I am now. I’m so tired! I didn’t sleep on the airplane that much. No more that and hour and a half. I just want to climb into a hard, firm, Chinese bed and go to sleep. The beds aren’t that nice, but after trying to sleep on the airplane, I’ll take just about anything! Oh, I’ve gotta go to sleep now. I’ll post something tomorrow!
(Sorry this post is sooooo boring. . .but there’s nothing to post about for on the plane!)
I’ll post something tomorrow!
Till Later,

China Girl

(P.S. Can anyone tell me who got voted off American Idol Wednesday night?)

Superchic[k] - We Live

This is an amazing song by Superchic[k]. I hope you enjoy the song and the video!

Brothers...

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero. ~Marc Brown

Sisters....

A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost. ~Marion C. Garretty

Comics

Here are a couple comics that I like...they're terrible, but funny! Hope you like them! :)

~ China Girl ~

Piriodic Table of Elements

Sinse I (and my class) have to memorize the 'Periodic Table of Elements' this year for my Chemistry class, I just about freaked when I saw this!! If this happened to me, I would never want to go into my room again!! Man, that would just stink!!! Anyway, I just thought I'd say that, and I thought it was pretty funny! :)

Quote of the Day

Here's the quote of the week:

"A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be." ~Douglas Pagels

These are pictures of some of my friends...I don't have pictures of all of them -

So sorry if you're not on here!!

To China for Mei Lin

Hey guys! I just wanted to let ya'll know that while we're in China we won't be posting on our 'alwaysandforeverfamily' blog, we'll be posting on our new blog. You can go to it at http://tochinaformeilin.blogspot.com. I will also be posting stuff right here on my blog. I just wanted to let you guys know!

Also, we're going to leave on the 28th, instead of 27th. Now it's time to pack!!

~~~~~ TRAVEL APPROVAL ~~~~~

Karolyn from CHI emailed us on Thursday last week informing we got TA!! (Travel Approval!)

She's requested our consulate appointment and once that's confirmed, we'll be all set!!

Here's our tentative itinerary:

Tuesday, March 27th: Leave the US
Wednesday, March 28th: Arrive in BJ
Thursday, March 29th - Saturday, March 31st: Sightseeing in Beijing
Sunday, April 1st: Travel to Kunming, Yunnan Province
Monday, April 2nd: WE MEET MEI LIN!!!!
Tuesday, April 3rd: Adoption process (notary and registration)
Wednesday, April 4th - Friday, April 6th: Sightseeing and free days in Kunming
Saturday, April 7th: Fly to Guangzhou
Sunday, April 8th: Free day (Easter in China!!)
Monday, April 9th: Medical exam for Mei Lin
Tuesday, April 10th: ACS (consulate) appt. (or April 11th) and Farewell dinner
Wednesday, April 11th: Get visa back and return home after 8:00pm OR return home Thurs.
Thursday, April 12: This will depend on when the date of the consulate appt.

I'm SOO excited!! It's so weird to think that it's really going to happen! Pretty soon we'll be going to see the Great Wall again!!! Now comes the hard part - packing. We've started packing...but still have a lot to do. Now, I have TONS of schoolwork to do. :( Being gone for three weeks leave a little too much schoolwork to do. . .but I think I'll be able to get it done before we leave! So, please keep us in your prayers! Thanks! Oh, and you can check back here starting either March 29th, or the 30th for updates. (I'm not sure when, because of all the time changes and stuff, to complicated!!)

Facing the Giants

Facing the Giants is a great christian movie. (Probably one of the best ones I've seen yet...) I recommend everyone to watch it. It looks like it would be all about football, but not even half the movie is on the football field. So, if you're like me, and hardly understand football, then here's the movie for you! This movie was made by some church in Albany, Georgia. The cool part about it is that no one that made or that was in the film got payed except 5 guys from Florida who made the movie look a little more professional got payed for making it. You should either rent it or buy it. It has a great message, and it's to never give up, believe, and NOTHING is impossible with the only one and true God!

Are you guys ready for some football?? The big game comes on tonight! Who do you want to win? My dad wants the Colts, but my brother wants the Bears bcz if they win, then they don't have a test on Tuesday! (LUCKY!!!!!) I don't really care who wins, I'm just going over to my friend's house! :) Have fun watching the game!

Adoption video!

Hey Guys!
Um, I just though that maybe you would like to watch the adoption video that my brother made. (He made it like forever ago, I just never thought about putting this on here!) Well, just click on the link below and it should bring you to YouTube with the video right there for you! I hope you enjoy!!! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=003uTjGOYVk

New Member to Our Family!!!

We've FINALLY found her!!!

We've found our cute, little, sweet, and adorable little girl!

I am soooo happy to be posting this right now. Yesterday we decided to adopt her, and I right away wanted to get on here and post, but our internet wasn't working. AAHH!!! That was sooooooo annoying! But here I am! Ready to post!

We have chosen a little girl off the waiting child list.

Mei Lin was born in January, so she is 10 months old right now, soon to be 1!!

We are hoping to be able to travel to China this spring and get her. Our whole family will probably go with unless we have WAY to much school and stuff. . . that would really stink though!

We have some pictures posted below, and I hope you like them! We will keep you posted if we get anymore updates!

Getting to the Pointe!

You may have heard. . .or you may not have, but I finally got my first pare of Pointe Shoes!!! It took a little bit, there were some delays in which I won't go into right now, but I finally got them! I know it's a little late, and I've had them for a couple of weeks, but I've just been so busy! Anyway, I've decided to write a quick entry.

So, it was Wednesday, November 1st, and I was in the car on my way to get my Pointe shoes! I was so happy! It seemed like the LONGEST drive of the week, but finally we drove into the parking lot of Spells. (The dancewear store)
When we walked into the store my friend, Dancing Writer, was being fitted for hers. (We all went as a class) Then it was another girls, and anothers, and anothers, and one more girls turn, and I was SO, um. . .not nervous, but maybe excited and anxios. Then, it came my turn. We only had to try on a couple pairs of shoes (Which it took the other girls like 6 - 9 pairs at max.) to find the right kind. My teacher asked me to go up on pointe, and thinking it would hurt I went up. . . I thought it would, but it didn't!
So when we got home, I was really excited and wore them around the house like all night! My mom, having the same size shoe, tryed them on and tried going up, and she said it hurt REALLY REALLY bad! I don't understand that. . .but thast just my mom!

So now my little sister, Miyah, ever since I get them has been getting her little pink slippers that look like ballet shoes and saying, "Mommy! Look, I'm on pointe like Megan!"
She is going to be a true ballerina! She can already do a lot of ballet steps!

And I just felt like I had to blog about that. I am so happy, and I've had two Pointe Classes. It's soooooo much fun! (Sorry, the pictures aren't working...I'll have to post them later!) And everyone:

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!