Day 1-3: Travel May 9-11

Tuesday, May 9, 2017 : my niece, Zoey, who is watching the girls, turned 20. Happy birthday, Zoey! I made tacos for her birthday dinner and my mom brought brownies and ice cream.

7:30 pm : said our goodbyes and gave lots of hugs and kisses to the girls. Trent's parents drove us to the Newark, NJ airport

10:30 pm : Airport check in. This went surprisingly well. We just showed our passport and they printed our boarding passes. 

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

1:00 am : Board plane for 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. 

 

So happy to be on a plane!!

1:45 am : take off. They offered us dinner right away. We knew we wouldn't be offered breakfast for about 13 hours so decided to eat. I had some sort of pasta and Trent had beef and rice. There were some unusual smells with the different foods provided. 

The first four to six hours of the flight were okay. I slept off and on. Then I started to get a headache. There was quite a bit of turbulence throughout the flight. Trent got some cup noodles for a snack and the smell seemed really strong to me. 

About halfway through the flight I made a dash for the bathroom and threw up. The bathrooms had a constant stream of people so I barely made it in before getting sick. 

Thursday, May 11, 2017

The rest of the flight was pretty bad, especially the last 2 hours. Before landing I thought I was going to be sick and there was no way I could get to the bathroom that Trent was waiting in line to use. I caught his eye and he dashed to find an airline attendant. There weren't any barf bags available on this flight. It took him awhile to find help and even longer before an attendant brought me some water and a plastic bag. I had my head between my knees and was trying to breathe really deep. The flight attendant told me to sit up and look straight ahead as it helps to not be sick. It took all my willpower not to put my head down. 

I made it through landing without getting sick. Unfortunately, I was barely off the plane when I made use of the plastic bag. After sitting for awhile we needed to figure out where to go to get our connecting flight. This took what seemed like forever when all I wanted to do was curl up in the fetal position. 

As we walked through the airport we walked past probably 10 perfume stores. The smell was turning my stomach. I had thrown out my used plastic bag and desperately needed to find a bathroom. Luck was not on my side and I threw up on the floor of the airport hallway. 

I write this not to gross you out, but so Ruth could know how much we went through to bring her home, much like I would write a "birth story" for my biological children. 

Finally we found a place where I could lie down while we waited for our gate number to show up. Once that was made available we trekked through the airport to our proper gate where I immediately fell back to sleep. I was quite miserable. Before our flight up to Beijing I was very very nervous about getting sick again. I thank you all for your prayers and feel sure they were answered as I felt fine the entire flight. 

 

 

So tired and ready to get OFF a plane!

Getting through immigration and customs and getting our luggage was quite the thing. I was glad to find our driver and have him escort us to a waiting car so we could be driven to our hotel. 

 

First glimpse of Beijing. 

Our hotel is beautiful. 

 

Elevator doors. 

We got into our hotel at about 3:00 and were supposed to meet Hannah, Callum and Ruth at 3:30. We bumped it back to 3:45. Read more about that meeting in my next post!

We're going to China!

Hey all! We are so thrilled to be heading to China to bring home our little girl!

A little Ruthie update. She is now a staggering 18.5 pounds ;) and 2 years old. She loves books and her play phone and the real phone. Ruthie is babbling quite a bit, though she still doesn't have many words other than more and Mama. She definitely knows how to assert herself and make herself known. Her foster family said she has recently learned to unsnap her onesie and remove her diaper. She is very clever and has, four times this past week, done this, ran to the bathroom, and actually used the potty. Those of you who know me best may recall that potty training is the bane of my mothering life. If my fifth daughter wants to self-train, I'm all for it! You go, Ruthie V.!

While I will not be on Facebook for the duration of our trip I am hopeful to update my blog each day, so peek back here and hopefully you'll get the first glimpses of our trip and of our darling daughter.

Our itinerary looks roughly like this:

May 10 1:45 am, leave Newark, NJ
11 May 5:30 am : arrive Hong Kong (3.5 hr. layover)
11 May 12:20 pm: arrive Beijing
11 May 3 pm: check into hotel
11 May 4 pm: MEET FOSTER FAMILY - walk from our hotel to their home
11 May 4:15 pm: MEET Ruthie! (The timing of this translates to what would be 4:15 am of May 11. China is 12 hours ahead of  our time zone.)
7 pm: walk back to hotel, hopefully Facetime with our girls back home

Friday:
9:30 am Drive to Mutianyu Great Wall with Ruthie & foster family
10:30: CLIMB IT! (Guys! We are climbing the Great Wall of China!!!)
12:30/ Have lunch at local Chinese Restaurant
2 pm Drive back to Beijing
3:30 : back to hotel to rest/get gifts for family
4-7: Meet Ayi (Ruth's Chinese Nanny) and play. Eat dinner, put kids to bed


Saturday:
9:30 - visit with foster family
11: Visit Forbidden City
1: Visit Lama Temple (a working monastery)
3-7: back home for kids to play. Visit with another foster family/eat dinner.

Sunday:
8 am: Ruth's foster family will bring her to our hotel to drop her off with us. We will be escorting her from Beijing to Nanning. Please pray (your Saturday night, May 13) for this transition. Ruth has been lovingly cared for by this family for over a year now. They are all she knows. As another mama recently reminded me, tears are good!

11:55: Fly to Nanning, Guangxi


Monday, May 15:
Civil affairs office (this is normally when we would meet our child, I'm not sure what this day will look like for us)


Tuesday May 16
Finalize adoption paperwork. This is what is known in adoption world as "gotcha day", the day she legally becomes our daughter.


Wednesday, May 17
Free day, no activities planned


Thursday, May 18
Free day, no activities planned


Friday, May 19
Hotel check out, transfer to airport. Fly to Guangzhou (just an hour & 20 min flight)


Saturday, May 20
Medical check and Visa paperwork check


Sunday, May 21
Free day, no activities planned


Monday, May 22
Visa medical report pick up, if needed


Tuesday, May 23
Visa appointment and Oath taking ceremony


Wednesday, May 24
Free day


Thursday, May 25
Visa pick up


Friday, May 26
Go HOME! Flight leave 9:55 am, fly to Hong Kong. (90 min flight and 6.5 Hour layover)
Arrive in Newark, NJ at 9:35 PM. My sister, Stacy, will pick us up at the airport and drive us the 2.5 hrs home!




We are hoping to see as much of China as possible on our free days. It is hot, humid, and rainy this time of year in southern China, but we are hopeful that it will be bearable and we can absorb as much of the Chinese culture as possible.

Tempe, Arizona

I had the opportunity to tag along with Trent to a conference being held in Tempe, Arizona. In the beginning of March. Just when you can't stand winter any longer in Pennsylvania. We flew out of Philadelphia's airport at a brisk 32 degrees and touched down in Phoenix's Sky Harbor Airport at a lovely 80 degrees.  It felt like Heaven.

Front of Tempe Mission Palms

We stayed at the Tempe Mission Palms hotel. I can't even tell you how lovely this hotel was. But I'll try.  Open your door to a beautiful open-air courtyard full of palm trees, orange trees full of oranges, and the most deliciously fresh, clean scent you can imagine. The room itself was also nice, recently updated. The pool was on the second floor, a roof pool over looking shiny buildings on one side and a desert mountain on the other.

Orange trees right out our door!

Courtyard view

  The main reason (other than the obvious escape from the cold) I wanted to go was the chance to visit my grandparents. They live in Clarkdale, Arizona, about 2 hours away from Tempe. My Grandpa (78) made arrangements for someone to cover for him at his job at the hospital (he does valet parking at the hospital), and my Nana (72) communicated with me on the timing of it all. They were very generous and helped pay my way to them since they knew we were trying to be super careful with our spending as we plan for the huge expense of our adoption. I was thrilled for a chance to spend a full day with them.

The last time I saw both of them, Magdalena was just three weeks old, and I was still recovering from the c-section and the whirlwind of adding a third child under age three to our family. I was not fortunate to grow up with any grandparents living in the same state as my family. My family is originally from California, but we moved to Pennsylvania when I was four years old, leaving behind aunts, uncles, cousins, and both sets of grandparents. I remember well the angst of "grandparent's day" at school, knowing that mine would never be there. I feel extremely grateful that we were able to drive out west multiple times during my childhood to see family and they were able to come see us a few times as well. I'm very grateful that my daughters can get to know their grandparents very well.

Even though I didn't get to see them often, the feelings and memories are alive. When Nana and Grandpa stepped out of their car it was like no time had passed at all since I last saw them. What a treat to have them all to myself!

Selfie with my Nana!

We sat in the courtyard and chatted for a couple of hours, then made our way to Macayo's for lunch. Legend has it they are the unintentional inventor of the chimichanga (deep-fried burrito). The story goes that a burrito was accidentally dropped into the deep frier, and out came the chimichanga. The rest is history. Obviously I had to have one. With guacamole. Because you're in Arizona. So you need a margarita to go with it. What a lunch!

Macayo's with my grandparents!

What a treasure these people are!

Next we drove outside of Tempe for some sight seeing. Grandpa didn't get us lost at all. ;) We had a nice scenic view of the botanical gardens and even drove past the zoo. It was getting too hot for us to walk around at this point.

We went back to the hotel to get some water and lemonade and a piece of carrot cake. Trent was able to get out of his classes from 5-6 so he hung out with us for a little while. At 6 Trent had to go back for a cocktail hour and dinner. My grandparents still had a two hour drive home so they headed out. It was sad to see them go, but what a wonderful day we had.



Friday I was on my own as Trent had to be at his conference. I walked to Starbucks at 10 am for a late, delicious breakfast. The weather was just perfect. I enjoyed walking down the streets, not a care in the world, and perfect temperatures.

Totally turned into one of "those" people who takes pictures of their food. Haha!

Tempe seems to be a very young city. Everything was bright and clean, although there were a lot of homeless people. After leisurely strolling around I headed back to the hotel to hang out by the pool. I caught up on my Bible study, relaxed, listened to podcasts, and swam.

Bible Study with a view!

Trent joined me there when his lunch was over.

Watching my man swim :: weird leg pic.

I ate a nice big salad from the Pool Grille. After more swimming and more relaxing we headed back to our room.

Another food pic - but Oh man! I wish I could eat this salad again!

After cooling off and drinking lots of water we headed out for a hike to the little mountain we could see from the pool. It was a nice climb with many beautiful cacti. There was a gorgeous view of the city and our hotel on one side, and the other side was the suburbs and more red mountains. It was just lovely.

The little mountain we climbed (view from the pool, of course!)

"Mountain" top selfie

That night we went to an Irish Pub Trent had seen and wanted to take me to. Unfortunately, well, it was Irish (my mom's side of the family is Irish). And, I just had to chuckle because in some ways it reminded me of what a family reunion would be like. Loud. Lots of laughing, lots of loud talking. Definitely not Trent's scene.

Had to wear a fringe dress while I was in Arizona!

But the food was awesome, and of course I had to have some sort of Irish coffee. I went with the "Nutty Irishman". Warmed me right up!

Me and my Nutty Irishman!

We again walked the streets of Tempe. Found these candy cigarettes in a Sweet Shoppe. Am I the only person who loved these as a kid yet never smoked a real cigarette in my life???

Wanted to buy them for the girls - Trent said, "no!"

We ended the night by sitting in the courtyard of the hotel, enjoying just being together in a beautiful place. I'm so grateful to Trent's parents for watching the girls, my grandparents for helping make it happen, and Trent's job for letting me tag along. I really believe that one of the best gifts we can give our children is to show them what a strong marriage looks like. For me, that means occasionally getting away with my husband, so that when the kids are grown and out of the house we still know who each other are and still have a strong bond and connection.

So if you ever go to visit Tempe, Arizona in March, just be prepared that you might not want to go back home.

Love this man!