One Long Day

We have just arrived to our hotel and it is 6:15 p.m in China On August 26th. You guys back at home may be just getting up for the day. We had a rough goodbye with the kids, they were really sad and that made it hard for us to leave. But we called a few times yesterday to check on them and they were having fun and doing great. One of our favorite parts of the day was leaving to a sign our neighbors had made for us-see the picture.

Kory and I had an easy flight from TC to Chicago. We left Chicago at 12 noon for our long flight. It was a smooth flight and we enjoyed ourselves reading and relaxing, which was a big treat after the rush of the past months since the referral. All was well, until 9 p.m. for me then I was just tired and hungry and craving an Olive Burger from Sledders and the Jelly Belly's that had been packed in my checked luggage:) I had had enough of almonds and mini luna bars and water.
Soon after I was hungry, the airline served us our snack of Chinese Noodle Soup with chopsticks. Kory says his worst time was 11 p.m. when he couldn't get comfortable and was so tired. But we managed to survive by giving nicknames to the passengers around us ( Mr. Mount Rushmore, as he was like a chiseled statue at he end of our aisle, never moving) and the best was Mr. Juice Bag. (a very nice guy we are sure, but he was snoring in such a way that all we could think of was the sound the kids make when they suck out the last drops from a juice box/bag).

Anyway, you know you are overly tired when you find great humor in the dumbest things!

Once, we got off the plane we thought we were on easy street. Ha, no way, we had about an hour in line to go through customs, of course under the foreigner line. It was super hot and the lines moved slow, but we made it through there and thought, now we are good to go. Nope, next was grabbing our luggage(we each checked a suitcase and carried one bag on the plane) which was easy. Then we made it through the packed crowd who held signs waiting for the people they were to pick up. Flowers everywhere, signs all over, tons of people. We finally found Joy holding the Bethany sign and then had to wait for our driver. He came in to get us and she stayed to wait for more families. I knew from reading to just be assertive and not too "American" about mulling over who should walk first or whatever, I just plowed on behind the driver who was wheeling my suitcase. But Kory got stuck in a human traffic jam and I had to tell the driver to wait. We then had an hour ride in his car to our hotel. We are here and we wanted to write a quick post to tell everyone hello. Pictures will be added a bit later, we are going to venture out of our hotel to a bright yellow grocery store (those were our directions! ) for bottled water before heading to bed. We are tired!

Hayden and Culley, are you guys having fun and being good? We are glad you could be home and have fun with family, this day would have ben very hard for you to enjoy! We love you