I can't believe this time has finally come!! I got teary at the airport as we were leaving on Friday evening because I have been working for that day, full time, for a year straight. Every night, for a year, as I lay down and try to sleep I would think about the day we leave for China and the day we meet the kids for the first time. On the plane I felt so happy, so much so that my smiling and laughing may have annoyed Jeff a little. Lol. Truth is though, as supportive as he has been in this adoption, he doesn't know how much actually went into it, so in no way would he be able to know the relief and peace I have in finally being on the road that I have dreamed of over and over again. So I just continued on, annoying him ;-)
We left home at 12:00pm and flew to Chicago where we had a long 4 1/2 hour layover. We got so many questions asked about why we had 2 strollers and no kids. We were happy to be able to brag over and over that those strollers will not be empty when we come back home!! At 5:00p we boarded our LONG flight to China, about 13 hours. The plane was full, all 226 seats, and maybe 10 of us were Americans. As far as I was concerned the flight went smoothly and quickly, watching movies and sleeping some. Jeff would most likely DISagree, seeing that he was in the middle seat next to the stinky sausage eating, snoring, no concept of personal space Chinese guy. LOL
We landed around 8:30p China time (exactly 12 hours ahead of Ohio). We smoothly, although not so quickly, made it through customs and found our driver holding the sign with our agency's name on it. We made it to our hotel around 10p probably and waited in the lobby for a while as we're not sure if we were or weren't on the reservation list and our driver, who spoke no English, argued with the front desk people. After a quick phone call to someone with our adoption agency, we were indeed on the reservation list and were given keys to our room. The room was nice, with Rock Hard beds and Wifi that would barely stay connected. We were very happy to be able to be connected long enough to "talk" with our kids at home and get a quick picture of Jonathan getting ready for Homecoming! He looked so handsome <3
This morning, 10:30am after breakfast that included fried rice, "ham" (spam) and "breakfast sausage" (a hotdog) we were picked up by another driver in his minivan with red shag carpet and love pillows on the seats (You can't make this stuff up). There was another couple and their daughter already in the van so we really REALLY had to cram to fit ourselves and everything in. We were taken to the train station where we would catch our train to Zhengzhou in Henan Province, where Joey is from. We pulled up to this huge area, the driver helped us get all of our luggage out of the van then waved Goodbye and left us standing on the curb. Signs everywhere, in Chinese. We started walking and found a little tiny, winding entrance that we could barely fit though let alone our luggage so Jeff just decided to throw our luggage over the Gate so we could get in. Once we were inside the gate we still had no idea where we were going so we follow a group of people through a TINY metal spinning door which we again barely got all of our stuff through. (Any of you that know Jeff well will understand that by this point he was NOT enjoying this, lol). We go though the spinning entrance and immediately inside there is a luggage belt to scan our luggage. There's tons of people as well so we just throw our luggage on as we can. We make it through the metal detector and gather our selves with the other family only to realize we have just entered the area to buy tickets, which we already have. Sigh... back out though another TINY spinning metal door. Eventually we found our way to the actual entrance and to the waiting area. It was an adventure for sure!!
Once it was time to load the train everything went pretty smoothly. The seats were nice and big with plenty of leg room. We got served some Chinese "snacks" and were brave enough to try them! This was a bullet train that went about 180MPH. We made to Zhengzhou in about 3 hours with no issues. Our guide, Danielle, met us at the train station and took us to the bank (which took literally and hour to exchange money) then to our hotel. We've been dragging this luggage around with us for about 36 hours so it was nice to be able to put it somewhere where it will be staying until Friday!!
We really like the couple we are with, Cherri and Paul, so after getting settled into our rooms and saying goodbye to our guide for the night we decided to venture into the streets alone, without our guide. We walked a ways and found a "steakhouse" which was the only place we could find that had any sign of English. Come to find out, that sign was the only English about it. Not a single server or cook spoke any English but they did have a big picture menu that we used to pick our meals. The food was decent and besides them not understanding we wanted something to drink besides the hot tea they gave us (Jeff and Paul ended up running across the street to get us drinks) and not understanding when we were done that we were ready to pay, it went ok. After dinner we ventured into WalMart and got a few things to munch on plus a few snacks and drinks we're hoping Joey will like. We just got back to our hotel around 9:30p. We will unpack and head to bed because.....
Tomorrow, at 10:30am, we will meet our son!! Our guide is meeting us at our hotel at 9:30a to take us to the Civil Affairs office and we will take custody of him there. We are so excited!! We're already talking about the things that we saw tonight that we can go out and do with him later this week! I can't believe this is happening!! Cherri and Paul are adopting 2 children also and they are both here is Henan Province so they will get both of them tomorrow too!
So please, PLEASE pray for us and for Joey tomorrow (tonight Ohio time). He will be so scared and confused as I'm sure they will take him from his Foster Mom first thing in the morning. A lot of times when older kids are taken by their new parents they feel as if they are being kidnapped so that's how they react to it. Please pray for peace for him and pray for us to have patience and understanding, and the ability to be able to offer him love and comfort. We need that prayer now more than ever! We'll post again tomorrow, ASAP!!
PS: I didn't have a way to post pictures on this blog tonight but I'll put them on Facebook
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