We made it to China!
After a short trip to Chicago, a looooong lay-over, and a very smooth
13.5 hour flight to Beijing, we got settled in our hotel at about 1:30 am local
time. After showering, getting the
computer set up, and unpacking a few things, we got to bed around 3:00. We decided that we would skip the tourist
stuff today. This decision was based on
several reasons: we have done the exact
same tour twice, it’s freezing cold outside, we are exhausted, we are enjoying
some time just the two of us, and honestly I just don’t feel like being a
tourist today. When we were here in
August, it was on the bus to the Great Wall that we first heard the news that
Ethan was in the hospital. So, there
are some bad memories associated with that trip. Our guide is the same person and when we got here last night she
acted a little bit surprised that it was us again. That didn’t give us much confidence that she is very prepared to
help us with Ethan’s medical issues. We
have been told that Half the Sky has worked hard to get all the medicine he
needs for the duration of the trip, but they gave it to the orphanage and who
knows if they will cooperate and give us everything. This guide will be flying with us to Nanjing, so we will not get
to see Jane, who was our guide in August.
She was so amazing, so kind, and we really wanted to see her again to
thank her for all she did for us. She
had the most difficult job of all having to be the one to tell us we weren’t
getting Ethan and that he was so sick and we couldn’t see him. I think back to how hard that must have been
for her and how sad it was for all of us.
She tried so hard to help us and our suspicion is that she told us
things and helped us more than she was supposed to and possibly got in
trouble. Anyway, don’t want to rehash
all of that…
So, we have had the day to ourselves, which has been
completely awesome. We ate a great
breakfast (China has such good breakfast buffets!) then talked to the girls on
Skype for about 45 minutes. Ryleigh is
being dramatic and there seemed to be some tension between my parents and her,
so I am praying that she will straighten up and make the most of this two
weeks. I think it’s so hard to be away
under the best circumstances, so when things don’t seem to be going well at
home, it makes it even harder. I think
everyone will feel better when we have the babies with us and we can all focus
on that. It has been such a long
journey and to be so close to Gotcha Day, I think the stress and excitement is
coming to a head and everybody is about to explode. Anyway, it sounds like we missed an awesome game for Becca. I can’t believe we are going to miss 5
games. There were so many changes in
the freshman schedule, she hasn’t had very many games yet this year and now we
are missing all these ones that are in the next few weeks. Big bummer.
But maybe she will play better when her dad isn’t yelling at the refs
(always with good reason, of course)!
We took a walk down the street after we talked to the
girls. We found a few familiar places:
We also went to a grocery store and a store that had a bunch
of booths selling a wide variety of things:
clothes, shoes, jewelry, toys, make-up, etc. It was interesting and I am sure we could have found stuff to
buy, but we have to wait until Nanjing and Guangzhou when we will purchase
another suitcase. While we were out, I
started breaking out in hives, which has been happening the last week or
so. It really stinks because I don’t
know what is causing it and it has never happened before. I brought some medicine for it, so we came
back to the room so I could take it.
Then it was naptime, not what you are supposed to do to get over jetlag,
but when you are exhausted, it is just too hard. I am enjoying a day with nothing much to do because it has been a
long time since I have had that. I
think Tim is a little bored and wishes we would have gone on the tour with the
group, but I am happy to sit here and piddle the day away. Who knows when we will have a relaxing day
again, right?!?!?
Our hotel room is so hot, we have the windows open and it
also has a weird smell. Not a gross
smell, just strange, kind of like burning motor oil. The beds look so soft and cushy and then you sit down and realize
they are typical Chinese beds that are anything but soft and cushy. We piled on the extra blankets in an attempt
to make it more comfortable and we certainly didn’t need any covers with the
heat so we slept on top of all the layers of blankets. We will leave early in the morning to fly to
Nanjing and then Monday at 10:30 we will have our babies in our arms. It will be such an exciting moment to be
able to have them and to share with our family and friends those first pictures
of us meeting them. I hope Grace, our
guide, will be helpful with that since we won’t have Ryleigh with us to take
pictures and video, which was the plan in August. And that was with just one Gotcha moment! Now there will be two! I still can’t believe it. I think part of wanting to just lay low
today has to do with not wanting to share all of our story with the people in
our group. I don’t want them to be
nervous or to be the family everyone is whispering about. We are pretty sure that all the GW families
were informed of our situation and reassured that everything was fine and that
things like what happened to us only happen on extremely rare occasions. I just want to have Ethan and Reese and then
I might feel more like connecting with everyone else. God willing that will happen SOON!
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