We woke up at an airport near Newark Airport. We could see airplanes and Edmund was so excited he was bouncing on the little couch thing. I pulled out my phone and decided to ask him why he was so excited. I wanted to record his excitement for whatever the reason was--staying at a hotel, riding an airplane... But to my complete joy and surprise he said, "Because we're going to get sister!"
And so we were. After ordering up a light breakfast we headed to the airport. Suitcases in tow, papers carefully held close, and hearts excited! And honestly, totally nervous about how Edmund would do on the long airplane ride.
When checking in we saw we didn't have seats together but a great flight personnel came over and without us even asking made all three of our seats together! What a gift! We would have tried to make it work but it was so nice to not even have to worry about that.
April 27th we boarded our airplane. It was a 14 hour flight. Straight from Newark to Beijing. We kept Edmund entertained with Water Wow books, modeling clay with his digger trucks, some Mickey Mouse videos, and walking around and around the airplane. And naps! We had this amazing seat extender thing that made a little bed for Edmund in the airplane. It made his naps so easy! We made a little tent covering for him to help keep noise and light out, especially when we were landing. Matthew and I tried to sleep when we could.
Then we were finally there! In China! Days away from receiving our long await for, and much prayed for and loved little girl! With the time difference we landed in China Friday, April 28th in the afternoon.
We went through customs and baggage claim and then headed out to where we were to meet two people. One would be a representative of the Show Hope offices. We had volunteered to bring a suitcase (that they supplied) full of needed things for the orphanges that Show Hope runs. Someone would meet us there to pick up the suitcase. We were happy to bring it with us and help out the place that was giving our daughter incredible care. I noticed the Show Hope sign and waved at the young man. He waved back at us and we handed him the suitcase. I think in my mind I wanted to say, "Thank you! Thank you for caring for our girl!" But alas my jet-lagged brain couldn't do any of that.
Then we saw the CCAI sign and our guide for our Beijing portion of the trip, George. He told us that the others coming were delayed and put us in a taxi to take us to our hotel. Talk about trust. We just loaded in, and sat back and watched Beijing pass by. The taxi was not air conditioned, or it it was it wasn't enough. We were all tired and felt dirty and sitting there didn't help. But we were excited to see the new world we were coming into. And really excited to get to our hotel so we could shower, change, and rest! While we drove we noticed there seemed to be fluff flying through the air. I wasn't sure if it was pollution or what. But it ended up being part of a tree that was flowering.
After about 40 or so minutes (maybe more) we arrived and got out. We went into the hotel and it was beautiful. Definitely the fanciest hotel we have ever been in. After getting checked in we went to our room. It was a suite. There was a kitchenette, table, couch, and TV in the first room. (And a small washer and dryer by the kitchen!) Then the bedroom had a walk in closet, and the bathroom was large and had a huge round bathtub/jacuzzi. So we bathed and even through we were tired we knew we needed water and to try and get on the same time zone. So we walked around the hotel to a nearby convenience store and bought water (they don't recommend you drinking the water). Edmund was SUCH a trooper. He barely fussed and was fascinated to be in China where sister was.
I think we ate food I had packed in our suitcase. I can't remember really. Then we took baths, and went to bed. The three of us snuggled in together. I couldn't believe we had made it so far. We looked forward to the next day when we would meet the other two families (there were only two other families because our groups was an expedited group) in our group and begin this China adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment