We left for the airport a little after 5am. We got to the airport earlier than normal because its the "busiest travel day of the year". Thankfully the Birmingham Airport was pretty much a ghost town. We unloaded our luggage, and then huddled in the freezing cold weather to pray over our journey.
We were able to check in easily. My big suitcase was 51.5 pounds and thankfully the sweet lady at American Airlines let me slide. (We have some reorganizing to do before we fly again!) I was able to tell her all about Hallie Grace and talk with her about adoption! We got through security quickly and grabbed some Chic-fil-A for breakfast before boarding our first flight to Charlotte. I absolutely love these TLS Motherlode Weekender backpacks we are traveling with, but THEY.ARE.BIG! I got a good workout shoving mine under the seat in front of me on the tiny plane!
We arrived in Charlotte and had a little over an hour to get to our next gate. The airport was CRAZY! Hello Thanksgiving travelers!!! We made it to our gate 5 minutes before it was time to board. The flight from Charlotte to Chicago was uneventful. I was able to use some free WIFI to check the How Hallie Graced Us facebook page! I was so encouraged by all of the people praying, sending messages and even writing out complete prayers! I will treasure these things forever.
After arriving in Chicago, we found our next gate quickly and headed out to find a place for lunch. My new friend, Amiee, also arrived in Chicago around the same time. Amiee is adopting a 10 year old boy, and we connected via Facebook several months ago. She has been such an encouragement to me and an amazing prayer partner during this journey. She is also a labor and delivery nurse, and we share a mutual friend! It was so good to finally hug her neck! We had some lunch and then headed to our gate for the long flight to Beijing!
Mom and I were seated on Row 21, 2 seats on the right side of the plane. It was crowded, but thankfully we didn't have to deal with disturbing others if we needed to get up and walk around. Just after takeoff, they gave us a warm washcloth to "clean up" with and then served dinner. It was actually pretty good - Chicken with Orzo pasta, salad, bread, and a brownie! We savored our last few diet cokes with ice! (Diet coke will be extremely difficult to find in China - and no ice! If you know me...this is a problem!) After dinner, we took our sleeping meds of choice and were able to get about 4 hours of sleep off and on.
One funny story - I woke up from a dead sleep to the flight attendant passing out drinks. I thought I would just have her fill up my water bottle and fall back asleep. The next thing I know, another flight attendant is shoving a boxed "snack" in my face. At this point, mom woke up from sleeping pretty hard. The lady asked about a drink and so she asked for Diet Coke but she had run out. So, thinking it was breakfast time she asked for orange juice. We opened our little boxes to find a TURKEY SANDWICH! I got so tickled. Still not fully awake, mom said "Oh I get it....it's Thanksgiving...this is our turkey!" and then kept saying "But i thought it was breakfast!" I started laughing so hard that it got out of control. You know that delirious laugh that you can't gain control of??? Yeah that was me. Causing a scene. On the airplane. Over a turkey sandwich. Happy Thanksgiving.
We were able to sleep a couple more hours before "breakfast". We seriously ate 4 meals on this flight. I think they just kept everyone all carbed up to keep them quiet. We landed in Beijing about 20 minutes early. It was so cold in the terminal we could see our breath! We navigated our way through the airport to immigration. It's so funny to be a "foreigner" here. We cleared customs with no issues and headed to baggage claim. ALL of our luggage arrived! Thank you, Jesus! This has been a big fear of mine!
As we were exiting customs and looking for our guide, the most God ordained event I've ever seen took place! I'll post more about it once I'm able. Just know that adoption is an amazing thing!
We met our guide, Flora, and she took us to our waiting driver outside. Flora works for Lifeline and will be touring us around Beijing for the next few days. She got us all checked into our hotel, told us a little about the area, what to do and not to do and left us! We will meet her tomorrow morning at 9am!
Our hotel is amazing!!! Finally all my work travels are paying off. Being able to use Marriott points and my platinum "status" has left us VERY well taken care of! We got settled in our room and then headed to the Executive Club Lounge for drinks and snacks! We were able to facetime with family at home, and then have some authentic dumplings before heading to bed!
Thank you guys for praying! We will be touring Beijing until Sunday, when we fly to Hallie Grace's province!
Until next time,
Lauren
Lauren, thank you so much for generously sharing your extraordinary experiences as you claim this amazing and beautiful life with your precious daughter! I can't wait to read your posts ! I send love to you and your sweet mom,(and my dear friend ).
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that update. This is a special and precious time and thanks for sharing with us.
ReplyDelete