Briana's Flag

I never had a chance to post this, but I want to share it now. While Doug and I were on our way to China, my sister was on a business trip. This is the e-mail she sent to me while I was in China...

"Doug and Lisa:

I have to share this with you...

When you left on Tuesday morning at 10:00 to start your adventure, I was starting my own at High Hampton Inn. After sharing with my group the news about you leaving for China, Deborah S. (who arranged and ran the press trip) said we needed to do something special in honor of my new niece. So, like they do on Mount Everest, we decided to plant a flag for Briana when we got to the top of Rock Mountain (which we were going to hike). Deborah had a small American flag in her car, so that was our flag. And as a group, we were going to take it to the top! We set out at exactly 10:00 a.m.

Well, little did I know that the hike was going to turn into rock climbing. About two-thirds of the way up, I was doing pretty well -- that is until we had to scale rocks using cables. We literally were going almost vertical up to the top of the mountain. Five of us decided that we just couldn't make it and turned around -- but the others pressed on. My heroes, Bill B. and Bobby H. , promised to take the flag all the way to the top for me. And they did. (Bill and his wife Brenda have a friend who also adopted from China -- a little girl named Tess.)

So, right now, a small American flag is tied to a tree on the top of Rock Mountain in Cashiers, North Carolina. There it will stay -- in honor of the newest little American. It's Briana's flag, and our whole group had a hand in bringing it up there. I thought you'd like to see it.

Here are a few pictures that Bobby took for me -- the first is of Rock Mountain itself, and the others are from the top of the mountain. Hope you like them!

Love, Amy"

Isn't my sister the greatest?!