Revisiting our year...

It was exactly six months ago today, that my mom and I left for the adventure of a lifetime. I thought it would be fun (ok, maybe only for me) to revisit this trip. I didn't get to post every day while I was in China, so I thought I would do it day by day, as if it was happening now.

Maybe a little wierd, but kind of fun!

As most of you know, I was scared to death of flying over the ocean. I talked with my doctor about sedatives for the flight, prayed, cried, and everything else. I knew I had to get on that plane in order to get Kaycee, but it ws the most terrifying thing I could ever do.

The night before we left, I did not sleep. Really it was for a couple of reasons.
1. We had to be at the airport at 3:00 am. We live about 2 hours from the airport, so you can imagine how tired everyone would be.
2. If I was really tired, maybe I could sleep on the plane and not worry so much about the flight.

We picked up my mom at around 2:00 am. We were packed and ready to go. There was one problem though...our luggage was too heavy for China travel. On international flights, it can 50 pounds per bag, but on China flights it can only be 44 pounds per person. Woops, I guess we would just have to pay for the extra.

We got to the airport at about 3:00 and waited, and waited, and waited...

The checkin counters didn't open until 4:00 - but our flight left at 5:00 and we were told to be there two hours early. Oh well. We waited - did I mention I hadn't slept all night?

Finally we were on our way to San Francisco. (Let me back up a little.)

Originally we had thought we would be flying out of Chicago, as another family in our group was. This had me a little more relaxed about the flight as we would not be starting our flight over the ocean. My thoughts were that the plane usually has the most problems at the beginning of the flight, and we would still be over land for the first hour or so. Then I found out we were flying out from San Fransico...we would be over the water in less than five minutes. UUGGHH!

Anyway, we waited in San Francisco, very tired and I prayed. Prayed hard for our flight and our pilots but most of all, for Kaycee. In just a couple of days, her life would change dramatically.

We boarded the plane for Beijing. It was really happening. I couldn't believe it.

As we took off, we headed north - not west. Hmm, we would actually be over land for the first of our flight.

As we kept flying, I watched the map on the screen in front of me. We were still over land and we were about 2 hours into our flight (13 hour flight.) What were we doing? Five hours and we were still over land. 7 hours, still over land. The only time we weren't over land was when we flew over the Arctic Circle. We were going up and over instead of just over. THANK GOD! If we had to crash, at least we would crash on land. (I know, the logic does not make sense, but you know me...)

At last, we landed in Beijing. What an incredible experience this was. This is a person who lives in a town of about 300. Our nearest neighbor is about 1/2 mile away and we think this is too close. When we give directions to our house, we say go down this dirt road, turn on to this dirt road and if you go across the cattle guards you have gone too far. You get the picture?

Beijing airport was packed. Not DIA at Christmas packed, I mean packed. People everywhere! EVERYWHERE!!!!! We walked out to the general area (remember I have my mom with me) and we start looking for the flag from our agency. Are you kidding me? There had to be at least 500 people in an area about 100 feet by 10 feet. There was no way we could possibly find our guide.

We kept walking and I know I must have looked like I was in shock. Finally after walking for about 500 feet, we found our guide. She was holding her little green flag up. Never have I felt so happy to see a piece of little green fabric being held up. It was our lighthouse in the sea of Chinese people.

Thank GOD!

After meeting up with two other couples we went to dinner (did I mention I really don't like Chinese food?) and then to our hotel. We had already been up for about 36 hours and I was tired!

Tomorrow we would tour the Forbidden City, and see the Great Wall of China. Then tomorrow night, we would be flying to where Kaycee was. It was picture perfect. We were safe and sound in Beijing, China. We had called home and everyone was fine.

It was time to get some sleep. We would meet at 8:00 am for our tour of Beijing. Wake up call at 7:00 am.