We are Here!

Whoa that was a long flight! I tried to sleep most of the time to pass the time faster, Dan enjoyed watching movies. 

I can’t tell you how many texts, messages, and emails that I got today from people telling me they are praying for us. You have no idea how comforting that is. I was especially nervous for the flights, and saying goodbye to the kids. Asher seemed pretty excited to have a little different routine for awhile, Addy just said “are you going to China mommy?” as I kissed her soft face goodbye. Aviela is probably the only one that realizes what is going on. She seemed a little nervous, but I know they are all in great hands.  Aviela internalizes a lot of her emotions, on Tuesday night while we were finishing packing I asked her to write me a note to take with me. (she loves writing notes). She disappeared for about a half hour, and came back with a huge smile and shoved  a letter in my backpack. I asked her when I could read it, and she said “when your in China.” I can’t wait to read that sweet letter.

One of my adoptive momma friends told me that she kept reminding herself of Isaiah 26:3 the day she left.  Perfect peace, perfect peace, God is in control. That was definitely my comfort as we boarded the planes.

It was definitely a good distraction to travel our first leg with Lisa Rozema, and Rachel Mulder. They both work at John’s school with the international students. They also are headed to China to meet with develop relationships with the parents of the students in their program at the high school. It was fun to see them.

 

We flew from Grand Rapids to Detroit, Detroit to Beijing, and Beijing to Shanghai. In Detroit we quick grabbed the last taste of American greasy food at McDonalds. I spilled some ice cream all down the inside of my shirt! Yuck! A sticky mess, and you can only imagine how ridiculous I looked trying to wipe it off. Waiting to board the plane in Beijing we definitely felt in the minority already. While we were in line to board I noticed the backpack on the person in front of us had Chevron rainbow ribbon attached (which is the ribbon my facebook adoption group has chosen to put on our bags so we can identify each other in China). I quickly said Hi, and she hugged me and said “Im Amy!” So fun to meet some of the people who have been my rock over the last 6 months or more. What a roller coaster its been that we have all traveled together as basically strangers (although it feels like we have known each other forever), and now we are meeting together physically in China with the babies in our arms that we have cried over, prayed for, and longed for together for so long. It really is a blessing to share this adventure with those once random strangers, that I now know as friends!! Its fun that Dan can put a face to the names I talk about all the time.

Tonight we are spending the night in Shanghai, and will leave tomorrow morning for a flight to John’s city- Wenzhou. It will sure be interesting how we will be able to communicate with Johns parents. They do not speak English, and we of course don’t speak Chinese. We know about 10-15 words in Chinese. I asked Dan if he thought we knew more Chinese then they do English, and he said “yea probably.” We both laughed knowing that’s not much. J

We finally made it to the hotel. Goodness that was an adventure. The Wiifii is really tricky here. Im so thankful for all the advice from my friends who have traveled before us. We would have never known to use the hotel room key to turn on the lights.  

We were just skyping with the kids and I was going to show them outside, only to pull the curtain and find a WALL not a window. It was quite an adventure finding our room. The guy at the front desk loaded all our bags up, and I said Dan lets just take them ourselves (so we didn't have to tip them) and he was like ok... well we definitely paid for that one. We couldn't read the room number it said "F32"... ok... we went to the third floor with no luck, then I remember him saying we needed to go up one floor... so we tried that, and ended up trying to get into someone elses room. She opened the door, and knew barely no english. oops... meanwhile we were dragging 2 carry on bags, and 3 rolling suitcases on THICK carpet. It was like trying to push a stroller in sand!! Finally as we were getting back on the elevator to go downstairs to "pay" someone to take us to our room we found a house cleaning lady (who knew limited english), but she was able to point us in the right direction. Finally to our room! We found some gas masks in our room. oh China!

Room Number?!

 At the airport I was slightly alarmed a couple times when I noticed on different occasions airport staff running through the terminal. I came to realize that is just how they move quickly... it was more like a full on sprint... I kept checking for the guy they might be chasing, yup, NONE, just how they move quickly. :) 

OH and I was surprised to receive a full MEAL on our flight from Beijing to Shanghai... only 1.5 hrs, and we got a full meal... That doesn't happen in the States. :)

Ok well its off to bed we go... its been a long day (we did 3 of our 9 total flights for the trip today), I really dont know what time it is, or what day it is, and I still feel like we are moving... Thank you for all your prayers, keep them coming!! Good night