We Are Here!!!

We Are Here!

We made it to Beijing just fine today, it was just a really long day. We left Chicago at 12:41 and got to Beijing about 1:30 a.m. Friday morning central time. But it was 2:30 p.m. Beijing time, so basically our bodies feel like we skipped Thursday night. We were all very tired and pretty much crashed for a few hours after we got all checked in. It is a surreal but not entirely bad feeling to be distinctly in the minority in a place. As we stood in the entry line awaiting permission to enter China, I was self-conscious as I was talking to Eric because I realized I was the only one speaking English within earshot.

Beijing is a bustling town to say the least. There are people everywhere, bikes, cars, on foot. It's amazing to watch the chaos on the roads, but they all seem to take it in stride.

We had no major mishaps (thanks for the prayers) and the boys got lots of compliments on their nice manners and good behavior on the very long 13-hour, cramped flight. This mama was very proud!

I think the coolest thing for all of us was flying really close to the North Pole and seeing the Arctic Circle from 36,000 feet. It was awe-inspiring.

We made some new friends on the plane, the Blommels from Minnesota. They are also with our agency and are adopting their first child, who is eight months old. How sweet. We also met a few other families on our flight; we'll all be together during our days in Beijing.

The boys are sleeping and soon we'll be off to bed too. Big day of sightseeing tomorrow, I think partly to help us shock our bodies into China time. I think it's about 11 hours worth: the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and Summer Palace.

We slept through supper so I hope the breakfast buffet is good! Thanks again for all the prayers, we really felt them during this exciting day.

Hope you enjoy the pics. My brother Joe is posting today (thanks Joe!!) and I hope to add captions later.