NAM2016: Our Story Days 0-3: Peoria-Chicago-Hong Kong

Does this thing still work? Does anyone read this? Has it actually been six months since we traveled? Was anyone not aware that we adopted a child from China? Show of hands if anyone is tired of hearing about it! (I can't see you, so I'm still going to write.)

In case you didn't know, November is Adoption Awareness Month. I have basically taken a six month break from our blogging because there really just hasn't been time...but I could also be honest and say I was feeling lazy when I did actually have the time. However, it's important to us to get out our story of Jet's adoption--if not for you all but for him someday, plus talk about our issues that have popped up since.

I"ll just start on Wednesday, May 25th, which was the day before we left. Previously, we had decided to have everything packed and ready to go the day before that--so two whole days in advance. This is not generally how we travel. We do a lot of last minute trips and have gotten pretty good at throwing things in a suitcase and leaving a half hour later, so in retrospect this was not actually a good plan. We thought this would leave us a free day of doing fun things, but nerves about the upcoming trip plus about five separate runs to Walgreens left us with very little time. For example, I suddenly insisted we needed to bring eight toothbrushes--one for each of us, for each hotel. Derek loves me, and my neuroses, so he willingly packed them (but didn't use them but we'll get to that later).

But, J's room was done, or at least the important things were. His blanket was finished. The Ikea chair was assembled and we stayed married. Derek actually built the crib by hand--not just ordered from JC Penney because again, I am particular and he loves me. I will say the crib is amazing. If he didn't love engineering, he could totally go into the crib-making business. (We didn't take a picture of the whole room because we truly just forgot, but this was close enough.)

On Thursday, after a good night's sleep for both of us provided only by the grace of God, we left the house around 5am to head to the PIA for our flight to O'Hare. On the way there, I was actually feeling calm, so calm it was eerie. Full disclosure, I do take special "airplane pills" but I typically don't take them until we get to the airport and park the car. As we were driving on our short trip to the airport we both noticed there was a storm brewing but nothing terrible looking. Considering we were 90 minutes early there was plenty of time for it to blow over. 

Except it didn't. 

As we were parking our car, Derek got a text from a friend inside that said something to the effect of "Your flight's been cancelled!!!" with a bunch of--no lie--laughing emojis. At this point, our luggage was already out of the car, and honestly, we just assumed it was a joke. A bad joke, but still a joke. 

It wasn't. 

And also, just for future reference, the emojis between iPhones and Androids are different. 

I'm not going to lie--skipping the flight in the little puddle jumper from Peoria to O'Hare wasn't a hardship for me. If anything, I could even claim it as an answer to prayer--but that's probably a reach. We ended up going back home because it was so early even the car rental places in the airport were closed (again, thanks Peoria). I went back to bed for a few hours and Derek got McDonald's breakfast before we headed back to the airport to rent a car to drive up to O'Hare. It was an hybrid car, but beggars can't be choosers (Derek) and off we went!

After we figured out how to turn it on and leave the lot

Once we made it to O'Hare, we got to navigate the rental return mall and the shuttle bus system. At that point, we just wanted to get to our terminal because it was 11:30 and we were hungry...and then we realized the TSA line was even crazier than what we saw on the news. Does anyone remember what the lines were like Memorial Day weekend of May 2016? Yes, we were there. Four hours later, we arrived at our gate. Yes, four hours. Thankfully, our flight was delayed and so we didn't miss our boarding.

Chicago-Hong Kong

The flight was uneventful, but long. Personally, I loved the dinner they provided and Derek did not...but neither of us liked the lunch? Breakfast? Not exactly sure what the second meal was supposed to be. Does anyone know how they figure out what to serve for airplane meals? Here is where the time difference starts to confuse. We took off around 4:30 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon in Chicago, and after a sixteen hour flight landed in Hong Kong around 10:30 p.m. Friday night. Also, when I say it was a long flight? I mean they tacked on a couple extra hours. We were scheduled to land around 8:30 p.m., not 10:30. At this point, we were not even considering our purpose for this trip. We are sorry Jet, but our number one goal was to land, get through customs, and find food somewhere. Anywhere. And sleep.

Airport view from the room

We did finally make it through customs and checked into our hotel, which was attached to the airport. Our bellhop practically ran through the airport while we huffed and puffed through the humidity and jet lag--not a great combo. (Eastern buildings are not air-conditioned like our Western ones.) I purposely had booked a little bit nicer room (bigger) just because I thought we would have more time to relax. That was not the case, and I also apparently didn't book just a "little" bit nicer room...I booked some top level suite or something. Fail. Oh well. It came with a bowl of fruit and a minibar, and since we were both exhausted and sick we made do with that and went to bed to hopefully get some sleep before we were up and at 'em at 6 a.m. for our flight to Beijing. 

My husband, whom I love very much, is one of those people who can fall asleep anytime, anywhere, within seconds of head on pillow. I am the polar opposite of this and additionally, when I'm feeling tired and/or run down, anxiety tends to get the better of me. That calm feeling I was experiencing up until that point flew right out the window. Thankfully, since we did have the giant upgraded room, I got up and went into the living room so that I didn't disturb him and immediately started texting friends, since it was the middle of the day for them although middle of the night for me. (Time difference is thirteen hours ahead. Little trick--add one to your current time, and flip-flop the AM/PM.) 

This is when the worry set in. What if our son had more severe needs than disclosed? What if they made a mistake and he wasn't supposed to be ours? What if WE were making a mistake? What if, what if, what if? Having supportive, Godly friends whom I know were taking time out of their busy Fridays to spend time in prayer for me helped calm me down enough to get some rest, and I will never be able to adequately express my thanks to them. I didn't sleep exactly, but had a calm mind and spirit, knowing that God would be with us throughout the trip and that we were doing what He wanted us to do. On top of that, upon opening my FirstFive (awesome app btw if you haven't looked into it), this was my devotional for that morning. Providential. 

Sadly, we didn't get to see much of Hong Kong. It was cloudy and hazy, but from what we could see of the island the airport was on, beautiful. We would love to visit someday. We took a few more pictures that pretty much all look the same as this one, and enjoyed our concierge level breakfast. We looked very out of place with our casual travel clothes mixed with the businessmen and women in the breakfast area. Oh well. We grabbed our luggage and this time took a much more leisurely stroll from the hotel to our check-in counter for our airline. Hong Kong is a good mix of both Western and Eastern cultures, so we weren't completely out of our element here and the airport was so incredibly easy to navigate. And, it was attached to a mall. Perfect! We took one last selfie before heading toward our gate (and getting McDonald's for breakfast...theme?). For very little sleep, incredible jet lag, and nerves, I have to say we looked pretty good! Even though this seemed like it was the last leg of the trip, it was still just the very beginning. At this point though, we were excited to get to Beijing, and to get this show on the road to meet our son!

Ok, so my eyebrow was only a LITTLE bit up. It's fne. 

And last, but not least, here is a photo of Derek, holding his carry on which was full of things for our son. Our good friends Russ and Kel gave this to us for a baby shower gift, and we couldn't have brought a more perfect bag to carry things for our own little Jet!

Off we go!

...to be continued...