Chasing the Sun to Beijing

We said goodbye to Luke and Annabel and took them to school, then promptly left for the airport.  Lines were short and quick and I was feeling rather calm about the whole thing until I noticed I'd gone the whole morning with my shirt on inside out and then I started crying in front of United customer service rep when I asked about what luggage we were allowed for two girls travelling home on our laps.  I also started sobbing on takeoff and then levelled out.  Mark stayed busy double checking all our documents and rearranging god knows what.  I couldn't connect my ipad on the flight, someone suggested I'd neglected to download the United app, so I just watched in flight movies and slept for about 3 hours cumulative.  Going to have to fix that issue before the ride home because I doubt those kids are going to enjoy watching American Sniper three times.

We were met at the airport's exit by our guide in Beijing, Alison.  She speaks English fluently and works with families who go through our agency, Nightlight, and shows them around.  She's wonderful and animated and enthusiastic and a real jolt of energy after a long flight.  She asked us questions about our family and what prompted us to adopt.  She went on to say, You know you're getting the girls on Sunday, yes?  No we did not know, we thought the Gotcha Day was Monday. Travel-wise, friendlier for the girls to do it that way.  We understand they will be accompanied by the orphanage director and a nanny.  I don't think we can really wrap our heads around what's about to happen.

Tomorrow morning, we take a 3 hour flight to the girl's province, Guiyang, and then they come to our hotel later that afternoon.   Today, Alison takes us to the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, maybe Olympic Park if we have time, I've been up since 4:30 am so I might be too tired although I know Mark won't - I'll rally.

Right now I'm going to enjoy the best black coffee ever and take things one step at a time. 

Seeing Russia's permafrost was the best part of our flight.