The Long Road to China ....and back

Hello From China,
We finally made it. It sure did take a long time. Lets start at the beginning. We left the house this morning at 4AM Georgia time, and after a very long flight (30+ hours), I am now sitting in my hotel room in Beijing.

Our flight from Atlanta to Washington was completely uneventful. We made it in plenty of time to catch the next flight to Beijing. As many of you already know, Bryan and I were not seated together for the flight over. But when we got to Washington, I talked to the guy at the ticket counter and told him that I was afraid to fly and needed to sit by my husband (heh..heh...wink..wink). He said no problem mama. Let me see what I can do. ..HOW..how would you like exit room. Wait...What? Exit room...are you kidding?? I of course jumped on it and gave him a big "bless you". We had great seats compared to everyone else in our group. We where also just beside the gally, so we always got served first. I have to say the flight to Beijing was a bear. I thought it would never end. I took 4 Tylenal PM's, and only slept for 4 hours. As most of you are thinking, yes, Bryan slept almost the whole flight, he only woke up to eat, and he was right back out again. I swear he can sleep anywhere.

Ok, I know I am rambling. Back to the flight to Beijing.

We get on the plane to take off. This is a hugh plane. I have never seen anything like it. So many people. We get to the end of the run way, and started slowing down. The pilot does a uey, an we are headed back to the gate. He says we have a problem with the plane. Not what you want to hear when you are fixing to fly 7,000 miles over the ocean. Well 2 hours later they had us going, and we left Washington at 2PM est. We landed in Beijing at 3PM est on Friday. This would be 3AM Friday morning for you all in Georgia. Needless to say we are very jet lagged.

We went to Carefour (you would know as Walmart), to get some diet coke and water all by ourselves. We where so proud. You know I had to find me a Walmart. It was not what we thought it would be. The store smelled funny. We had a time making change, but there was a lady in line with us that spoke English, so she translated for us. She was very nice. The air is really polluted here. Looks and smells like they are buring something all the time.

We had Chinese Cheese burgers for supper tonight. $40.00 US dollars worth (2 burgers/fries). Daddy, I thought of you when they brought me my one Diet Coke (no ice). I made sure not to spill it. lol.....We had dinner with another family from AWAA the Businda Family. They are from Tennessee, and very nice. Everyone in our group is too. Sherry is our Chinese guide and she is great. They did however get our name tags messed up. Bryan's says David Owens, and mine says Jay Owens.

I did take some pictures. Will post them soon. The internet service here is much slower than at home. It could take a while to upload. We are headed to bed for now. We have to meet the group at 6:30 AM (China time, 6:30PM Georgia time)for breakfast, and 8:30AM sight seeing(8:30PM GA).

Please pray that Bella will be with us soon, and that she takes to us easily. We love and miss you all.

Blessings From China,
Joy and Bryan

ImageChef.com - Custom comment codes for MySpace, Hi5, Friendster and more

May 1st - 16th

Thursday May 1st Depart for Beijing
Friday May 2nd Arrive in Beijing
Saturday May 3rd Beijing Sight-Seeing(Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City & Summer Palace
Sunday May 4th Church Service & The Great Wall
Monday May 5th GOTCHA DAY!!!! Morning Flight to Liaoning, Meet Bella Kate in the afternoon
Tuesday May 6th Civil Affairs Appointment
May 7th- May 9th paperwork, sightseeing & shopping
Saturday May 10th Flight to Guangzhou
Sunday May 11th Medical Exam
Monday May 12th Consulate Paperwork
Tuesday May 13th Sightseeing and Shopping
Wednesday May 14th Consulate appointment 10:00AM
Thursday May 15th Pick up Child's Visa
Friday May 16th Depart from Guangzhou to Beijing then Flight to Chicago then to Atlanta