This is my second time doing this email. I am hoping it won't vanish like the last one and hopefully I will remember everything I wrote, I was being as specific as possible as I was wanting to use this as a journal too. Tuesday August 31 was a bittersweet day as I mentioned in the previous post. We moved Jade into her dorm room at St. Olaf's. She is residing on the fourth floor of the Ellington Hall, her view is a wooded area. We were able to get all of the stuff she needed to take now in one van along with the family of 6. We were cramped in the van. It was 90 degrees and very humid. Dave and I did most of the unloading and hauling up 4 floors while the girls unpacked. Once we unloaded the van we went into town and had taco bells. It was nice to be in a A/C for a little bit. We then brought Jade back and said our goodbyes (which I wrote about in the previous post). We have talked a couple of times since then and she has met her roommate that came from China on Tuesday. Her roommate is quiet, but hopefully it just because she is in a new country/environment. Jade said she got a full week with orientation and so forth. She doesn't have her schedule yet. We left Jade, raced home, Dave and I took showers since we drenched our clothes moving Jade. We arrived at the airport at 3:30. Our flight wasn't due to leave until 6:25, but were told that sometimes international flights can take a while to get tickets and go thru security. We were able to cruise thru it as there was no lines or anything. On the other side of security, my friend Sarah Maples and her daughter Grace were waiting for us. She was flying back to FL and we were able to spend a little time with one another before she left. It was great seeing her. We then had to keep ourselves occupied for the next two hours. We feed the girls, walked around with them and try to contain them. They had a lot of energy and excitement built up in them. Our plane boarded 20 minutes late due to weather (the plane coming in was late due to the weather in the south). Once on the plane, we had to wait over an hour to take off. They told us the flight would take a little longer because they were going to fly north to go around the storm before heading south to Chicago. Our connecting flight in Chicago left at 9:25PM. We were due to get in at that time. The stewardess made an announce to let us and some others that needed the connecting flight to go first as we were in the last two rows. We didn't get any snacks or drink on this flight. She did warn us that people don't usually listen to them on that. She was right, only a handful stayed in their seat. As soon as we got off the plane we ran as fast as we could to get to the gate of our connecting flight. The girls each had a backpack on them and I was running behind them thinking they were going to fall over from being caught off balance, but no one fell. The long flight from Chicago to Beijing was good. We didn't get much sleep, but who does... We each had our own tv monitors on the back of the seats. I sat in the middle row with Monika and Katie. We had a stranger on each end of us. Dave and Jenny were kitty corner from us in a window seat and my sister was behind us. Monika and Katie watched The diary of the wimpy kid, after that, I made them go to sleep. Katie slept on the floor on top of a blanket and monika slept on the seats. They both slept for about 4 hours. Jenny slept longer, but kept Dave up the whole time (even when she was sleeping, she was kicking him). My sister and I watched a couple of movies too. We all played some video games. We got 3 meals. This plane was also quieter. I usually have to take out my hearing aids because of the engine noise. This time I didn't have to. When we arrived in Beijing at 11:30P I was surprise to see the airport dead. Our flight was the only one there. We went thru custom very fast, as we got to go in the family one. Our luggage managed to get on the flight and we got it. Once we were done with that and got some exchanged money, we went out and met our driver. Jade's mom arranged a driver to pick us up. It was so thoughtful of her and were very grateful for that. We got to our hotel that Jade's mom booked for us. She did a wonderful job. We have two rooms. My sister and Jenny is in one room and Dave, Katie, Monika and I are in the other room. When we were driving to our hotel, I was amazed that the streets weren't busier. When we came in 2005, it didn't matter what time of the day/night it was, the roads were very crowded. It wasn't this time. The air smelled different too. It didn't smell and feel as thick as it had in the past. We got to bed around 2 in the morning. We are so thankful that everything turned out ok and that we made it to China on time. Sue Barrett Mom to 5 daughters from China Monika dob 7/29/2002 adopted 5/25/03 from YiYang Hunan Katie dob 7/24/2003 adopted 9/18/05 from ShunDe Guangdong Jenny dob 10/08/2003 adopted 9/18/05 from ShunDe Guangdong Jade 18 years old adopted in our hearts 8/22/2008 from,Guangzhou Guangdong Working on bringing home Erin dob 5/3/1997 from Guiyang, Guizhou www.thewildbarrettfamily.blogspot.com www.adoptionbug.com/bringingErinhome our t-shirt fundraiser |
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