Doc Momma: China: Days 1 and 2

Well, we made it to China! There were a couple minor mishaps along the way, but we are here and getting settled in. I’ll start at the beginning, as I sit here in the Beijing airport, waiting for our final flight...:

It was really, really hard to say goodbye to the kids on Thursday night. There were lots of tears and extra hugs and kisses (from all parties). The kiddos are SO excited for their sister to come home, but this is the hard part of our story: the part where momma and daddy will be gone for two whole weeks. :( But we snuggled them tightly, said our goodbyes, promised we would come back with their sister in tow, and put them to bed. I had finally pulled myself together and then...Banks came downstairs, clutching something tightly in his hand. It was all the money he owned, that he has been saving for months and trying to decide what to buy with it. He handed it to me and started crying, saying “Momma, I want you to take my money and buy the kids in the orphanage some toys. They don’t have any toys, and I have a lot. So, please take this and buy them some toys.” I absolutely lost it. Like, was sobbing and hugging him, and he was crying, and I was insisting he didn’t need to do that - “I’ll spend my money and do it for you, buddy!” - but he cried and cried, saying no, no, no. He wanted it to be HIS money. This precious, generous gesture was mirroring what his friend, Brooks, had done earlier that day. Brooks’ momma has been one of my rocks throughout our adoption process, having adopted her youngest daughter from China, and she had texted me the day before saying that Brooks wanted to donate his money to the orphans in China. So, she brought Brooks over the night before we left so he could give it to us to take, and Banks witnessed this transaction. I guess he then felt this was the right thing to do; so, he followed suit. I don’t think I have ever been more proud. Such sweet, sweet boys.

One not-so-lovely event that happened that night at 8:30 pm (keep in mind, we were flying out at 7:30 am) is that my brand new (as in, 1-day new) phone suddenly died. Out of nowhere. It just stopped working. Enter momma panic. There was no WAY I wanted to travel to the other side of the world without my phone. Yes, my hub would have his, but I wanted mine, too, to use WeChat with my siblings and the grandparents, to be able to call and FaceTime the kids, to take 8,567,000 pictures using the better camera function that came with my new phone, etc. So, my husband jumped in his car and rushed to the mall in Charlotte where an Apple store is located. He made it with 5 minutes to spare. They weren’t able to fix the phone; so, he bought (another) new one and we returned the broken new one. Whew. Crisis averted. And then, after he returned, we could finally go to sleep.

On Friday, July 29th, I woke up at 3:30 am and was never able to go back to sleep - not with the nerves and the excitement and the anxiety and all.the.feelings. So, it was up and at ‘em! We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare and made it to Dallas for our first connection, which included a 2-hour layover.

Let the adventure begin!

We were able to FaceTime the kids, who were already having a ball with Nana and Pop and were at the toy store, each choosing a new toy. :) After saying goodbye, it was time to board our loooooong, 13.5 hour flight to Beijing. I was excited to learn we were on a plane called a “DreamLiner,” which has all these cool features. We were also able to get a free upgrade (never hurts to ask at the gate!), which meant a window seat and extra leg room. Score! The next 13.5 hours were spent watching tv and movies (I watched two movies: Lion [so good, and very fitting, given the reason for our trip :) ] and Gifted, also good. My hub got some work done and watched four movies!). We also napped, enjoyed several snacks and meals, and I got to read for fun. ;) The whole time I kept trying to figure out what time it was, given the 12-hour time change, when I should be sleeping, etc. My body and brain were so confused-ha! All in all, not a bad flight!

Showing off their treasures they got with Nana and Pop :)

So long, Dallas! Next stop, Beijing!

On our way! Each seat back had these really nice monitors for showing movies, tv shows, ordering beverages, watching our flight path, etc. I loved watching our flight progress between movie watching. :)

Our first glimpse of Beijing!

Once we arrived in Beijing, we went through immigration, collected our luggage, and got our plane tickets for our final (domestic) flight, which would take us to Hohhot, where Bella’s orphanage is. Then, came a heart-stopping moment: my laptop was stolen. We were going through security. We took out all the necessary items and put them in bins to be scanned (as you do in airport security ;) ). Once through, I grabbed my bookbag and started putting the items back in, starting first with our passports. I literally turned to grab Clay’s passport from his bin and when I turned back 0.5 seconds later, my laptop was gone. PANIC. It.was.gone. All I could think of were all the photos I have taken and uploaded to it this year that have not yet been backed up. Long story short, after 10 minutes of speaking with security, who were in the process of reviewing the camera footage to find the thief, this sweet woman came walking up to security. She had been in front of us in the security line and had accidentally grabbed my computer, thinking it was hers. Whew! Crisis averted. And I am SO thankful we were still standing there when she returned it. Otherwise, they would have had no way to return it to me, seeing as how I don’t have my contact information on it. Correction: I do now! Lesson learned.

After our hearts stopped pounding, we were able to enjoy our first authentic Chinese meal. I had vegetable ramen and Clay had spicy beef ramen - delish! Then, we headed to our gate to wait out the several remaining hours we still had left in our layover before our final flight departed. We were both able to take good naps while outstretched on benches, and awoke to board our 8:00 pm flight...only to discover it was delayed two hours. Womp, woooooomp. So, here I sit, documenting it all while WeChat-ing with family back home (best app ever!). We just got to FaceTime the kiddos and learned that Banks’ football team won both of their games on Friday night-score! Off to the playoffs they go!

Where we ate our first authentic Chinese meal.

Delish!

Loved these grass sculptures in the airport!

The beautiful "Dream Garden" in the Beijing airport

Off to Hohhot after a 2-hour delay

Next stop, Hohhot, where we will have a full day to rest up, try to adjust to the time change, and overcome the jet lag while we countdown the minutes until Monday morning (which will be Sunday night back at home!), when we will finally meet our daughter. <3 We will be in Hohhot until Thursday, when we will depart for our final stop in China - Guangzhou. This is where ALL families from the U.S. completing adoptions must go for consulate appointments. This is also where we will get Bella’s visa and where she will have a medical evaluation and TB testing. But for now, our days will be spent in Hohhot. We are so, so close!

UPDATE: We made it to Hohhot (such a BEAUTIFUL airport! Wish I had taken a picture!) and met our guide, Aggie, who is just lovely. She will be helping us the rest of the week while we are here. We got to our amazing hotel after a 30-minute car trip (side note: Hohhot is so beautiful at night! The city is all lit up with the most stunning light displays. Again, I wish I had taken photos while we were en route to our hotel (I was pretty delirious by that point). So pretty!!!), and Aggie helped us get checked in while I took photos of the gorgeous lobby.