My Purpose and My Blog Username Explanation

Hey--Thanks so much for following along with me on my journey to China! I want to say "Thank you" to all of my great best friends who have supported my family and I with this experience. :)

I will keep this blog updated, along with my little sister and mom's blogs, and I will share pictures, and share my feelings about each day while I'm in China from a fourteen year old's point of view.

We leave for the Jackson Airport in exactly six days, five hours and thirty two minutes. (Friday, November 28th, around five or six in the morning)We will fly from Jackson to Memphis, from Memphis to Detroit, from Detroit to Hong Kong, from Hong Kong to Tokyo, Japan, and from Tokyo to Shanghai, China, where we will be staying for a night or two until our "Gotcha Day" when I finally get to see my beautiful little baby sister, Maylee Hope!!

Her birthday is December 4th, so we will be there to celebrate her 2nd birthday on Thursday!

My purpose right now: be the best big sister I can!

My purpose starting this Friday: be the strongest, most caring, responsible and patient big sister I can so that she will look up to me.

I've always wanted to go to China, and I can not wait to go!

I was hesitant about traveling at first, for the week we are going is the busiest week for us. I will be missing five "B" days and four "A" days, which the counselor, principal and teachers are fine with since I haven't missed a day of school yet. I've tried to do everything I can to get ahead in the classes that I could, for example, I got ahead on computer lessons in keyboarding. During school, I'll be able to do most of the make-up work in China when I have free time on the plane and at the hotel or late at night. Mostly I've heard that I'm just missing a lot of review for exams. I'm also missing a choir concert, Hope Idol at Hope Hollow, the Christmas parade, and an orthodontist appointment.

Most of my teachers seem very excited!

I'm taking four memory cards with me to China, so don't even worry about me not taking enough pictures.

When my mom thought that it would be a great idea for me to get a blog so others could see it from a teenage girl's view, I was thinking of blog usernames and I finally came up with oceanwideview.

Have you ever looked out at an ocean? It seems like it goes out miles and miles and miles.. That's how I look at life, from a wide ocean view, and I thank God every day for us to be blessed to adopt a child from China.

I promise to keep you updated.

Love in Christ,

Abby