Some Catching Up...

Okay, I'm dead tired from the non-stop activity since we arrived in China but I really wanted to blog some things. I've missed so much! We flew out from Minneapolis on Friday at 6:30 am and arrived in Newark, NJ. From there we flew over the top of the world over the North Pole to get to Beijing. We were able to watch the flight from monitors on the plane and it told us how long we had left in the flight and what the outside temp was. I could have done without that! The coldest we saw was -90 degrees F. The flight was very long but it went very well. Each of us had our own monitor with movies, videos games, and tv attached to the seat in front of us. It helped the time go a little faster. The movies replayed every two and a half hours. Jayde watched the Bourne Ultimatum 3 times and Elf twice. That was inbetween listening to his ipod. The other two boys watched mostly cartoons. But none of us slept well on the plane. Jayde had to sit inbetween two strangers by himself all the way to Beijing. Mike and Sage were in front of me and Isaiah.

We arrived in Beijing at 3 pm - 1:30 am for our bodies on Saturday. We hadn't slept much and were all so tired that when we got to our hotel we slept from 5 pm until about 2 am. Then it was hard to try to get back to sleep. The next day started at 7 am with a HUGE breakfast buffet in the hotel. They served both Western and Chinese food - the boys were so glad for the choice! Then we went to a church service - how awesome to praise our God in China! After that we went to lunch and then to the Great Wall. We were so thrilled that we had a chance to go there! We were told that we were only get to see the Summer Palace, but plans changed and the Wall was on the schedule - another blessing for sure! It was spectacular but oh my! It was SO hard to get up those stairs. After that it was dinner and then a Chinese acrobat show. I knew we needed sleep because the next day was GOTCHA DAY for us! Sleep didn't come easily, I was so nervous and excited at the same time. I just really wanted Jiang Ting to like us! We had to be on the bus at 5:30 am to get on a plane to fly out to Nanjing. Because of the early check out time they had us check our bags the night before. That left us with very bare minimums for the next morning. We were told that we wouldn't be meeting our child until the afternoon, so I thought we would have time to nap and shower before meeting her. Once we got to Nanjing we met our Guide, John, and he took us to his vehicle where a driver was waiting for us. We were talking with him and I asked "when will we be meeting Jiang Ting?". He said "oh, we are on the way to meet her right now!". I couldn't believe it! I wanted to freshen up and get my wits about me, but no, we had no time to prepare. Talk about nerve racking! Once there we waited for what seemed was an eternity (which was only about 15 to 20 minutes) for her to come. I saw her beautiful face coming up to the door. Time had just stood still! What a miracle that was taking place right before my very eyes. It was an incredible experience that words could never do justice for. She came in and said "Mama and Baba" right away and came up to me. She accepted us right away. I noticed that she kept just staring at me and whenever I would look at her she would just give me the biggest smile. She is the most happy and content child I have ever met. And wow, talk about smart! She has all of whipped in that department. She is very good at helping us understand what she is trying to say. Frustration does happen but she keeps trying until we know what she wants. After meeting her our Guide took us shopping for snacks and some clothes for her. Then we went to our hotel where we spent some good quality time getting to know each other. Then we had our first dinner as a family that night. I found out very quickly that our little girl is so very independent and not shy in the least! We need to constantly watch her to make sure she doesn't decide to just take off without letting us know. Of course, we need to chase her because she can't hear our yells. And that's another thing - she is very fast!

Our first day together went very well. I have so much to write - and I have not told all the miraculous things that have happened so far. But right now I need sleep and then I will post again tomorrow and try to catch up on what we did today and what we'll do tomorrow. I do know that we will be going sight seeing and we have requested that our Guide take us to Starbucks! He just hung his head and laughed. I have no shame - I miss my Gingerbread Lattes!!