Sunday, November 27, 2005


Cam and Anna!! Mom and Dad flew over the North Pole!! We think we saw Santa getting present ready for you!! Posted by Picasa

This says: Ground Speed-556mph Altitude-30,000 feet Outside Air Temp- MINUS 70 degrees!!!! Posted by Picasa

Here is one the maps that we watched as we progressed accoss the earth Posted by Picasa

Who was the person that posted earlier???

Let’s try this post again...this time with a few more brain cells firing. :-) I was about half dead when I posted earlier. Sorry the picture never showed up. After being awake for so long, my head wasn’t functioning at full capacity. Although...after all this adoption stuff, I don’t know if my brain will ever function the same!!

We met Liz and Brion at the airport in Grand Rapids at about 8:15. Huge thanks to Aunt Pam and Uncle Mark for letting us park at their place and taking us to the airport. Who won the Grand Valley game by the way??

We left Grand Rapids at 10:20, seamless flight to Chicago with no troubles. Once in Chicago we decided to find something to eat and got small subs from Quiznos. After a small wait we boarded the large Boeing 777 plane...United flight 851 to Beijing. WOW! It’s really happening!!!

Our flight to Beijing was also seamless. No major troubles of any kind. Our seats were close to the aisle, close to the bathrooms and were near the back of the plane. The food! Oh my!! We had 3 meals. Let me back up. We had drinks and the standard airline pretzels. Within an hour they served lunch. I had lasagna and Wayne had a stewed beef and potatoes. Both were quite good. Then it was lights out. Like some sort of preschool in the sky...they fed us and then it was time to take naps. Sometime later they served beefy ramen noodles. Our first experience with chopsticks and eating on the plane. I think that we both faired well since we didn’t go hungry that meal! Just before arriving in Beijing they served another full meal of beef and noodles or manicotti. All the food was very good and all the flight attendants were very nice and friendly. Something that I can not say about Northwest flight attendants.

On the plane we met 2 other families that were adopting. One family from Wisconsin (who Wayne talked deer hunting with for some time...the wife was nice as well) and the other from Illinois I think. They were traveling with their 3 kids. UGH! No thanks! Cam and Anna, we love you, but there was no way that we could have had you sit on a plane for 14 hours. We did have our own TV screens with a selection of movies. Wayne watched ‘Bruce Almighty’ about 5 times. I watched a ton of Chinese culture shows. It was like the Chinese equivalent of The Discovery Channel.

After arriving at the Beijing airport we were herded like cattle to drop off 3 forms that we had filled out on the plane. One for health, one for immigration, and one for customs. I was worried about going through immigration and having them check out our passports. I have no idea why...I guess I just like to worry! All 4 of us made it through with flying colors. YAY!
Once outside the airport we were met by our guide, Tracy. Her Chinese name is entirely too hard for Americans to pronounce, so she has chosen an American name. It makes sense... We were then driven to our hotel which is ok. It looks a bit like Chicago outside our room when we stayed at a Comfort Inn. The hotel itself is alright. I feel safe.

I’m not sure exactly what the plan is for tomorrow, but I do know that it starts at 8:30am China time (they are 13 hours ahead of us, remember). OH! One weirdo fact about our hotel...you need to leave the keys in this little slot near the door to keep the electricity running. Liz and Brion pulled their keys out and lost power. Most strange!
Ok, I need to try to get some sleep and relax. Please continue to pray for us and for our family as we travel through China and for our family at home.

Here are the pictures that I wanted to post:

YAY!!! We are here!!

Just a quick post to let you know that we arrived safely. The flight from Chicago to Beijing was about 14 hours and went very smooth. Sleeping was tough and now Wayne and I are super tired. I wanted to let every know that we got here ok. Here is a picture of one of the maps on the plane.

I promise to write more tomorrow!! We love you Cameron and Anna!!! :-)