Leavin’ (and landin’) on a Jet Plane...

June 20 and 21

I haven’t (yet) been as anxious as I felt like I would be at this point - and I truly believe this is because all of the prayers and support that Nate and I can literally feel.  

Last night, Skylar’s little self had a lot to do with my calm nerves.  She came downstairs as I was packing my carryon and asked me if I had packed my Bible yet.  I told her I had not because I was afraid to lose it - but that I still had my Bible on my phone and could read it.  She insisted I needed a paper Bible.  I told her that sometimes hotels have them (even though I wasn’t sure about China) and told her she could write some verses for me and I are would carry those with me while we traveled.  After she wrote them and tucked them in my carryon - we went upstairs to pray before bed and during her prayer she prayed for our travel, her sister, and then said “Thank you for giving me parents that will adopt.” Never did I imagine when we started this process the ways that it would change our whole family and give us all a heart for the fatherless.  Later, when I saw the verses she chose - I was blown away.  The same verses I have prayed over this whole process were the ones that she chose to copy out of her Bible.  Psalm 121:1-3 and Exodus 14:14.  Her prayers and confidence in those prayers was just one more way of Jesus whispering to me that He is in this.  No matter how hard it gets  - He will pull us through.

****

We left JAX at 6 am on Wednesday morning to start our China Trip Adventure!

Our layover in Newark was just enough time to search and NOT find a Chick-fil-a biscuit. Nate’s response to me was “we aren’t in the south anymore.” I settled for a hot tea and dunkin donuts for breakfast and washed it down with a migraine pill which thankfully kicked in about an hour after take off on our 13 hour flight.  

13.5 hours in an airplane is a LONG time.  All I could think about was - we are about to do this on a few days with a baby that we don’t know!  (Oh, boy!)

As soon as we landed (1 pm Thursday China time) we made it through immigration with no issues, picked up our luggage and met our driver. 

A couple of things we learned today after only being in China for an hour:  (1) Florida is  not even close to hot(comparatively speaking), (2) lanes are just suggestions when driving, and (3) Scooters trump all other form of road transportation.

We wanted to visit New Hope while we were here and since we are the first family with our agency to arrive - going straight from the airport just made sense.  I am SOOOO thankful we did this. New Hope is a home for children who have medical needs greater than what their government run agency can help them with.  New Hope steps in and gets the care/surgery/treatment that these babies need.  Lots of these children are adopted out - but even the ones who aren’t must return to their SWI/CWI (Social Welfare Institute/Children’s Welfare Institute) when their time at New Hope is over.  A sweet friend from high school youth group works here as a director and so graciously gave up her afternoon to show Nate and I around, answer our questions and visit with us.  What they do is so important for these babies!  New Hope is just one branch of Show Hope’s ministry here in China.

It is so beautiful in the villages we drove through today.  (When we weren’t thinking about getting killed in a car accident it was easy to sit back and just watch the scenery go by!) The streets we drove down mostly were lined on both sides with lots and lots of trees and crops, fields and greenhouses.  People just set up shop on the side of the road and sell their melons! Oh, and people also just stop in the right lane to get out and purchase their melons.  It all seems very safe.  HA!

We are currently on our way back to our hotel - it’s 6:45 pm Thursday here - and I don’t think I have slept more than 3 or 4 hours since Tuesday night. Momma’s tired!  We have a busy two days of seeing the sights and experiencing the culture before taking a train on Sunday to get our girl on Monday!!

Looking forward to finding some dinner and a bed - then we will meet up with the other families from our agency in the morning!

**** 

Nate and I walked to dinner - a place called Fat Burger.  It was very Asian and I’m gong to bed super happy.