Zhangjiajie- Day 1

We woke up at 7am local time, which I thought was pretty good that we slept a good 6 hours during night time on local time!  We had an awesome breakfast at our hotel, and were ready to go for our first day of touring the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.  It has been rainy here, so it was already drizzly and hazy on the ground.  Of course, this only intensified as we got higher and higher into the mountains. 

 

Above is the entrance to the park.

 After entering the park, you take a bus ride for about ten minutes to the cable car.   The cable car was about 8 minutes, and I survived!!  It wasn't the highest or longest, which I'm actually not sure I could even handle at this time, but we had some great views!  After that, we ended up taking a few more buses, and visiting a few more areas within the park.  We had some great shots in some areas, but in others, it was too foggy/cloudy because of the rain.  Big bummer!  It was still so awesome though!

  Yeah that elevator...we were on it!

 Good to know that if you are the immediate family member of a martyr, that your ride on the elevator is discounted :)

 

Hallelujah Mountain, used in filming Avatar

 

The Mister showing off a famous view...of clouds today, of course :)

 And no, you can never get away from McDonald's.  This is at the top of the mountain.

So that was pretty much our day.  Tomorrow we will be going to some local caves and of course doing whatever else our guide decides that we should do!  Only 3 more sleeps until we get our arms around our little man!!!!

Blogging in the Bathroom

Yep, only place the VPN and Internet works...go figure!  I'm going to try to make this short and sweet because we have a BIG day today so here it goes:

We did finally leave Chicago on Wednesday around 2pm CST...we had been delayed an hour for non other than maintenance.  Seems to be our thing lately ;)  So we got on our plane and started our trip.  Well, about 9 hours into our ahem 14 hour flight, an announcement came over the loud speaker for any medical professional to push their call button for help with a situation.  I was just about sleeping at this point, but something inside of me, (I don't know, like my guilty conscious,) told me to get up and push the light.  I'm glad I did because not one single other person on the plane responded!  Of course I can't disclose the full situation, but I was able to help this man, and we got him to a stable condition that was necessary for us to continue our trip.  The flight attendants and mentioned to me that if his condition wouldn't have changed, that we would've had to have turned back around and landed in Alaska, which would've grounded us for another day...NOOOOOO!!!!  My "patient" happened to be in the Economy Plus section of the plane, and they wanted me closer to him for the remainder of the flight, so they moved us into his section...the emergency exit row with LOTS of leg room for the mister.

Yesterday I was really thinking long and hard about our trip, and how we had had so many challenges getting out on time, etc., trying to see God's plan through it all.  I've been really trying hard to focus on thanking God not only in the good times, but those times that I struggle and don't understand the plan.  Well, I figured out the plan when I was on this flight.  We were meant to be on that plane.  If I hadn't been on that plane, there would've been no one else to help that man.  Praise the Lord!

So when we landed in Beijing, we only had about an hour and a half to get through immigration, hopefully claim the one checked bag that we were told up until 5 minutes before boarding had not arrived to United yet from American. The bag that had 98% of everything we had packed for our little guy in it!  We got to the baggage claim, not knowing how long to wait vs. go on to catch our domestic flight, and wouldn't you know, our bag pops out right away!  Ahhh we were SO thankful!  We met our guide, (who was super amazing and got us checked in for our domestic flight and to the right area of the terminal,) and then we were on our way to Zhangjiajie...the only on time flight we have had so far in our trip!  Once again we were very blessed at the airport.  The Beijing airport is MASSIVE, and has lots of terminals.  We landed into terminal 3, and also left out of a different area of the terminal.  The airline we flew domestically is the only one to go out of terminal 3, and our guide said that if we had to leave the terminal, it would've added on at least another 20 minutes, which would've made it challenging for us to make our flight.  Yet another praise!

The flight to Zhangjiajie was awesome until the end.  Just as we were about 10-20 feet from landing, the pilot all of the sudden pulls us back up into the sky.  Seriously people, we were even with the airport building when we went back up!  If you know me at all, you now know that I'm in complete freak out mode and on the verge of the biggest anxiety attack EVER!  Oh and of course, Michael is seated two rows ahead of me, so I have no one to cling to in my moments of terror!  We were re-routed on to a city called Changsha, which is actually the city where we will be meeting our little guy on Monday!  At this point, I was seriously ready to get off there and just hibernate in our hotel room for the next three days.  There was no way I wanted to try that again!  But, the pilot got on the intercom, telling us that it was weather that had caused him to abruptly change his mind about landing, and that the weather issue had passed so we were going to try again.  So at 11pm local time (which is also 11pm in the morning the next day in Ohio, after being up since 5am the previous day,) we were going to be headed back to our destination.  We did successfully land in Zhangjiajie...the smallest airport I have been to so far in my life, and drove another 40 minutes to our hotel.  We finally arrived at 1am.  Yes, we were tired.  :)

So that pretty much sums up the high points of our journey after leaving Chicago.  It's been quite the adventure, that's for sure!  Sorry for the book...there was lots to update on!  As I'm writing this, we already are finishing up another day, so I will write another post for our first full day in China soon! 

Aren't you supposed to be in the air right now???

Well, ummm, yes, as a matter of fact.  That was the original plan that we had in mind when we woke up this morning.  However, American Airlines had an entirely different plan.  We were all set and ready to go, when of course they let us know that our plane had a "minor" maintenance issue that needed to be checked out.  Well, turns out it was two issues that turned into three issues...and also over 2 1/2 hours of delay.  We were holding out hope for as long as possible, and then we felt like it was time to throw in the towel and call the airline to see what our other options were.  Turns out, there weren't many options, and definitely no options today...boo!  This is the part where you can insert your best visual of me tearing up while on the phone with this poor customer service rep and passing the phone to my better half :) Thankfully, he resolved the situation, and we are now scheduled on a United flight out early tomorrow afternoon. 

The unfortunate part about this situation is we now will miss our time in Beijing...double boo!  We will now get off the plane in Beijing and have a two hour layover before boarding our domestic flight to Zhangjiajie.  I'm sure I will feel like a pageant queen getting off the plane there!  The great (and best) news about all of this is that it will not interfere with meeting our little man...we are still on schedule as far as that goes! 

So back to the airport.  Our bag (our one checked bag,) they told us is being automatically re-routed to tomorrow's flight.  Does this freak me out?  Ummm yes, considering that it is somewhere in O'Hare, and I'm hoping it's safe.  There is nothing critical in it, just a whole bunch of food and gifts for government officials...you know ;)  So since we realized we didn't need to hang around for our bag, we had to walk to get on the hotel shuttle.  Well wouldn't you know, just as we were walking up to where the shuttle was, the dude starts pulling away.  Umm no...that was NOT going to be happening today!  So what did I do?  What any other crazed momma would do.  I ran after the shuttle, waving my arms like a crazy woman, pounding on the side of the van.  Wish you had a video of that one, don't you?  I think for a moment, the mister was trying to pretend we weren't together, (but secretly, I think deep down he was proud of me!)  We caught the shuttle, grabbed a bite at the hotel, and now are in our room, debating pulling an all nighter, just so we can sleep on the flight tomorrow, (which is during the night on China time.)  We'll see how that works out for us!

After I finished freaking out and had time to process what the new plan was for us, the song, "Never Once," by Matt Redman came into my mind. 

Kneeling on this battle ground
Seeing just how much You’ve done
Knowing every victory
Was Your power in us

Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

God has been 1000% faithful beyond probably what we could've ever asked or imagined during this journey, so why would I ever doubt His perfect plan?  Well maybe because I'm human, and that's what we do :)  We are resting in His timing and His plan, knowing that it will lead us to those sweet little cheeks that we've been staring at for the past 12 months!  Thanks to all of your for your continued prayers and encouragement!  We have such awesome friends and family!!  Hopefully the next time I write, it will be from CHINA!!!

3 Days!!!!

It is completely surreal even writing that number!  I seriously felt like we were NEVER going to be leaving for China, and now it's here!  Right now there are a million things running through my mind all of the time, which is I'm sure just like every other parent feels before they are about to fly half way around the world for more than half of a month!  I think about what I might be forgetting to pack, what I might be forgetting to tell our awesome parents who are watching our kiddos while we are gone... sniff, sniff...and everything else in between.  We are so ready to go, but also so thankful that we had the opportunity to be here for our Trick or Treat night, which was tonight, so we could spend it with the kids.  They had a blast, and of course got tons of candy!

We didn't go with a family themed Halloween as we have in the past, mainly due to my lack of time.  Don't worry, we will be back as a pack next year!  Cutest gang from the Wild West ever!!!

As we prepare to leave on our journey, please be praying for those kiddos' hearts as well.  They aren't super thrilled to see us go, and I'm also pretty sure that the little lady there does not realize how long we are going to be gone.  Breaks my heart!!!  I know they will have a blast with their grandparents, and be completely spoiled, but it's such a long time to be away from them!!!

Packing to be done!  Annnnd...my last day of work before we leave is tomorrow!  Another update before we hop on that plane...I promise!

TA and CA and Flights Booked....Oh My!!!

Ok, so that might have been a little cheesy, but I couldn't help myself!  Please forgive me, I'm a giddy mom who's about to go wrap her arms around her little man that she's been waiting for for nearly a year!  So what does all of that mean?  It means this:  As I had posted on Monday, we received our TA (Travel Approval,) from China.  By 9pm that night, we had our CA (Consulate Appointment,) confirmed by China.  This is the date that really determines what your travel schedule looks like.  As of 10pm last night, our tickets to China were purchased!  Can you even believe it?  Because we still can't :)

So what is our plan?  well, due to flight prices, we are now getting into China a day earlier than expected, which gives us a day in Beijing to do whatever we want.  So what will we do, you ask?  Oh you know, probably go to visit the Great Wall.  No big deal.  (Please note the sarcasm in that sentence!  I'm SO beyond excited to be able to add it into our journey!  It was really the only thing I felt like I would miss in not going to Beijing!)

What is up after our mini visit to Beijing.  A little town that they call Zhangjiajie.  We want to go there because it looks a little something like this....

Photo courtesy of chinafacttours.com

Breathtaking.  We cannot wait to experience more of God's marvelous creation and amazing artwork!!  If it looks familiar at all to you, it's because the movie, Avatar, was partially filmed in this area.  The idea of the floating mountains in the movie was inspired by these tree topped peaks.  Oh one little thing that I forgot to mention....there are cable cars.  Like, crazy high cable cars that you need to take to get to the top.  I'm afraid of heights.  Cable cars + fear of heights = need for lots of prayers!  

Photo courtesy of paulchong.net

See?  I wasn't kidding!  The views from the top are unbelievable though, so I know that I have to do it!  I get nervous just looking at that picture.  AND...some of the cable cars have glass bottoms.  Really people?  Is that necessary?  I think I might have to resort to either looking up, or just shutting my eyes and spending the entire trip to the top in prayer :)

Moving right along, we will spend two days in Zhangjiajie, and then travel onto a city called Changsha, which is where we will get to meet our little man and have him join our family forever!  This will be on Monday, November 3rd in China, which of course with the time change will be Sunday, November 2nd in the U.S.  This probably means nothing to you, but if you are familiar with the world of adoption, you may know that in the U.S., November 2nd is National Orphan Sunday.  A day that churches and other organizations set aside to recognize our call to care for the 150 million orphans worldwide.  But this Orphan Sunday will be a particularly special Orphan Sunday.  There will be 150 million orphans MINUS ONE!!!!!  It is absolutely no coincidence in my mind that this will be the day that we meet the newest member of our family.  What an amazing and faithful God we serve!

I will end by asking you to consider being a partner in prayer with us during our journey.  We would love to have a group of our family and friends who are interested in covering us in prayer, and do have specific requests for specific points during our journey.  If you are interested in being part of our prayer team, please message me through Facebook, email us, or call us!!!  Thank you so much to all of you who have already been praying for our little man and this process.  We are so grateful and so blessed by all of you!