I flew with Buddy Passes to China to get my son. I left on Friday Oct 10th because I coldn't leave earlier. I work for a church so my Visa had to be submitted one week before I left but there was Consulate closure so I got my passport on Oct 8th but the Visa service told me to give an extra day just in case I didn't get it in time so I had to leave the 10th. I got to the airport at 2:45am (by two older boys took me...such great kids). I stood in the ticket line until 4:20 when someone finally showed up to the ticket counter. Then we had to run upstairs, through security (along with 100 other people) and run to the gate and we find out we are number 17 & 18 on the standby list. Are you kidding me??? Why? I was so upset and of course we didn't make it on that flight...or the next...or the next... We were bumped 10 TIMES!!! Finally at the 2pm flight (yes we hopped gates for 12 hours) the flight was delayed by 2 hours so everyone at the gate ran to reschedule...YAY. Instantly 38 seats opened up and we got on a flight to Detroit after 14 hours at the Tampa Airport! Once we got off the plane we ran ten gates away to get on the flight to Seattle that was already boarding. We ran up to the counter and asked if there was room and he said there were two left!!! Yay... but the tickets wouldn't print. He tried for 10 minutes which felt like forever because we weren't sure and that mean't we would have to wait until the following day.He wrote two seat numbers on a piece of paper and said...pick one and go if you want on this flight... YAY. We ran down the gate to get on that plane. Thankfully we were able to sit together on both flights. Then we get to Seattle and we are stuck!! We went to a hotel for the night and went back to the airport by 9am. Our hopes were to make it on the 1:15 flight to Hong Kong and still make it in time for Gotcha. Nope...there were 9 ahead of us and it was not looking good at all. We cried, stressed, texted everyone, called everyone... then we began to run up and down every airline in that airport and ask for tickets to get us anywhere close to Guangzhou by Monday!!! Everyone was overbooked because there is a trade fair going on and everyone is flying here. UGH... but then one lady at one of the counters suggested I check out EVA Air online. They have flights from Seattle but only overnight usually and only a couple times a week so they aren't there during the day. So we did. We could fly from Seattle to Taipei to Hong Kong for $538 EACH and make it into HK on Monday morning. So we bought the tickets and my adoptive mama friend who lives in Seattle picked us up for a few hours to make a trip to the bank, eat a yummy dinner and play Disney Planes Uno game with her family. I love how Adoption has built so many amazing relationships in my life. I am grateful for every one of them. Then I headed back to the airport and got checked in and we were off at 2am!!! The flight was great! The flight attendants were of Asian decent but I am not sure which one specifically. They were all so sweet. We were served several meals, hot coffee, hot tea, they had children's chinese cartoons, and it was great. I would def fly them again!!!
We got off the plane in HK ran through Customs and Immigration, grabbed our bags, ran to our driver holding our sign, ran to the van and we were on our way at 9:30am. Then we hit Customs and Immigration getting from HK to China. We sat there for over a half an hour barely moving each time. It was killing me. God has really tried to work with me on patience but I fail each time...LOL. We finally got through and we were on our way again. Everyone says it takes 3 to 3 1/2 hours from HK airport to the Garden in GZ but it took us 2 1/2 hours. I'm sure we were speeding the whole way and I'm sorry if he gets a ticket but I am so very thankful for this young man who got us to our hotel by 12pm. We met our guide, he checked our paperwork, gave us a very very brief update and we went to the room to get things ready to go meet my son.
I still couldn't believe it. I was there...in China... getting ready to go get my son!!!! We had finally done it with the help of so many amazing people in my life. So then we meet the other families and our guide, get in a bus and we head to the Civil Affairs office. I saw other adoptive moms from one of my support groups online and we all helped each other with pics. It was amazing! Then it was my turn. My daughter had already cheated and saw him... He was beautiful. He walked right out and over to us with the person that walked with him. He wanted to go back into the play room with the toys but then I showed him the toys we had and he stayed. Then Chelsea (my daughter) and I went to a quite corner in the room, sat on the floor with him in my lap and we played for an hour. The orphanage nanny came over, they answered some questions for us and we were given some gifts from them and a picture book. We got pictures and then we all got in the bus to go back to the hotel. He sat in my lap (no seat belts or car seats in China) and he just held my arm and snuggled with his Disney Planes shades, of course.
He is amazingly perfect. He is a character, he has laughed, cried once, eats great, had his first McDonald's (and LOVED it), hugs, asks for me to pick him up, crawls up on my lap, is silly, he is attaching great to me and his sister (in appropriate ways with both of us), he loved his new pajamas, loves his new toys (and has a few favorites already_), snuggles with me in his sleep and feels around for me if he can't find me while he is sleeping (YAYAYAYAYAY)!!!!! I couldn't have asked for anything better. I was expecting the worst since the last month was so hectic getting there...
Then the three of us ventured out to the local grocery store to get bottled water and some other drinks for us to keep in the room along with some Seaweed crackers for Brennan (MingMing). That store was CRAZY but we did hit it around the time everyone was getting off of work so that was a BIG mistake. Then we walked to McDonald's and got dinner to eat in the hotel room. He loved the cheeseburger and fries. In about 6 hours I will sign the papers and he will officially be a Barrett!!! HE IS PERFECTION!!!!
Thank you ALL for being such an important part of our journey to bringing this beautiful boy into our family!!! We are forever grateful.
waouh ! I feel exhausted with you !
ReplyDeleteHope the journey back will go smoothly !