Thanks so much for visiting us during our journey, Jim, Trina, Nick, Jesse, Catherine and Faith!
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November 15 - 16, 2006
Our journey actually began Monday, November 13th , when we traveled from London, England to Eugene, Oregon. It was a long 10 ½ hour flight from London to San Francisco before we even boarded the last leg to Eugene, Oregon. After 26 hours of travel we finally arrived home in Roseburg. The older three children will stay here with their grandparents to spend some time getting completely spoiled over the next two weeks.
Tuesday was spent getting last minute items before we travel to China. Living in England, we are unable to get decent travel size toiletries. Jim managed in the midst of all the chaos to get in a ½ day of hunting. Anyone who knows Jim knows that hunting is like air to him. He has not been hunting in 4 years. Jesse (9) and Catherine (6) were able to go with him. He thought I was being nice letting Catherine go with him but I had my motives. She is my little chatterbox and there was no way they were going to get close enough to an elk to shoot it. Though, it did backfire on me. She now can identify different animals just by looking at droppings, and even tell you how fresh they are. I don’t even want to know how to determine the last part of that sentence.
With everything repacked, we left Roseburg at 3 am to start our journey to China. We traveled from Eugene, Oregon to San Francisco, California then on to Beijing, China. We have to admit that we were completely jetlagged and slept the majority of the 12 hour flight. We would not recommend traveling 8 time zones backwards only to travel 16 times zones forward less than 36 hours later.
Below you will see pictures of Jim and me in the cockpit of the 747. It had a business class section upstairs with the cockpit. Trina became so excited upon seeing the stairs that the stewardess offered us a tour after we landed. We got more than we expected. The pilot allowed us to sit in the seats and gave us a very extensive tour of the cockpit.
God is good. He has allowed us many opportunities to tell our story and of how He has seen us through the many challenges we faced during this adoption. The most recent was today. Upon arriving in Beijing Trina discovered she forgot to pack something of importance. No matter how many packing lists you make, you always forget something. And boy did I (Trina) forget something big. I forgot the information about meeting our representative in Beijing and the instructions of what to do if nobody was there. Also included in the information was our itinerary while we are in China and names of the hotels in Chinese characters. This information is very important and one should double, triple and quadruple check to see if they have it. We did not notice this until we arrived in Beijing. I am so thankful that I started Wednesday morning, 2 am, with time with God. He has been completely faithful to His promises. Even though numerous problems could occur and have at times He has been our strength and most of all our peace.
Getting through quarantine, immigrations, and customs “Nothing to declare” was a breeze. As soon as we stepped out, our agency’s representative, Miranda, was standing right there with a sign. PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Trina breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, Miranda had to book us into a different hotel than the one listed on that piece of paper Trina forget due to an Auto Exposition here in Beijing. I don’t know who can complain. This hotel is awesome. It even has a real toilet, not a hole in the ground.
We have one free day to ourselves tomorrow. Jim is excited. We have arrived in Beijing with another family a day earlier than the rest of the group. We were told today that we will see Faith the 20th which is Monday. We are so excited and can not wait to share our experience with you.
Nicholas, Jesse, and Catherine, mommy and daddy love you so much. We miss you and hope you are having a great time with Granny, Grandma Linda and Papa Dan.
Jims’ Travel Tips:
If anyone is flying United Airlines, Economy Plus is the way to go. There is plenty of room to stretch out. The seats are wider and you can recline further back. On longer flights these feature are a must. We were given these seats from London to San Francisco, and it was a lot better than regular economy. On the Boeing 777 the seats were leather, and you had your own video screen on the back of the seat in front of you. You could pick out which station you wanted to watch from 9 different channels. Coming to Beijing, we upgraded to Economy Plus. It was worth $99/person on a 12-hour leg from San Francisco, although the 747 didn’t have individual screens.
Be sure to pack your own snacks before you leave. Trina and I were so tired Tuesday, and wanted to quit shopping, that we decided to forego the grocery store. Trust me, if you plan on sleeping on the plane and missing a meal, or if you don’t like Ramen noodles, go to the grocery store. You won’t regret it.
Exchange a couple hundred dollars at the airport when you arrive. I asked Miranda if I should, and she said that I’d be able to do it at the hotel. Hey, I’m the foreigner, I took her advice. Suffice to say; when we got here we were informed that the hotel could not exchange any money. Luckily, Miranda had to go back to the airport to pick up another couple this evening, so she’s exchanging it there. The exchange rate isn’t that much different, so do it before you leave the airport.
