Email from California----October 22, 2010

Okay--we are officially exhausted and in dire need of vegetables!  :)

We got up and left around 9 a.m. in grey rain and severely heavy traffic.  I have to 
admit, I was a bit grouchy due to our surroundings.  
Jonathan is a dear, dear man!

To my delight, the sun popped out on and off...and then stayed out once we hit 
Bakersfield!!  PTL!!
We headed north to the Sequoia National Park.  We made good time, but we had to stop two 
times to feed and change Joy, so we didn't enter the park until 3 p.m.  (We will be going 
back tomorrow!)  We drove through and saw some breathtaking scenery...but the higher we 
got on the mountains, the thicker the clouds/fog and the grey drizzle.  I had a flashback 
of our childhood trip to Sequoia...and trying to wind our way down those crazy hills and 
curves in the dark...(and now fog too!)...so we just drove straight through with the plan 
to return and do some picture taking tomorrow. (I did take a few pics today...we saw a 
tarantula!  eeeeeek!)

I got a great hotel on priceline for $50 a night that includes breakfast!  PLUS..I just 
saw that they have a laundry room for guests!!  WHEW!!  We could use some clean laundry!  
I didn't want to buy more bibs and burp cloths!  But the girl can go through them!

Joy is doing great! She is eating 2 oz every 3 hours, and is quite a good eater.  Jonny 
thinks her jaundice is getting better....I really can't tell.  Some of you have been 
asking about the heart monitor.  For those of you that didn't know, we were told the day 
before we left for California, that Joy had experienced some sleep apnea, so they had 
connected her to a heart monitor.  But when we arrived in California, Joy was not on the 
monitor.  They had already taken her off since she had no episodes for 24 hours.  She has 
been great since....so we feel good about that!

No word from our attorneys today in either California or Mississippi...so it looks like 
it will be Monday before we could get permission to leave.  Hopefully we can use the 
tickets on Tuesday that we have already booked...just in case!
Please pray that we make this happen!

Thanks to everyone at school who is helping out while Jonny is gone!  We so appreciate 
it!

Several of you have requested information on how to donate to our adoption fund.  Right 
now we are still short over $10,000.... But even the smallest gift helps!   It is tax 
deductible.  We have applied for another grant, but have not heard back from this 
opportunity in over a week. Meanwhile, we wait in expensive California.  Mom...I'm going 
to need some veggies when I get home!  I'm so sick of McDoubles and fries and fiber one 
bars!

Love you all!!!!

Julie
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