What started as a fairly uneventful, and lovely early morning with a buffet breakfast, interactions with new fellow-adopting friends, nice ride to the airport…turned quite stressful once we hit the airport!!
We believe God is constantly reminding us that He is in control and we are ever-reliant on His power and faithfulness to get us to Tahlia!!
When we stepped out of the van, Brian went ahead and tipped the driver (with a little more than we were instructed to per the directions given to us by our agency). We started to walk into the airport and Grace, our guide, turns to me and says, “driver not happy with money you gave him!” I said, ” what? We tipped more than what we were told and suggested by our agency to tip!!”
I then proceeded to show her our packet of papers that had the written suggestions from our agency! So she didn’t think we were trying to slight him! After all, he was a good driver! She said, “your agency suggestions is crazy”….oh my goodness. Seriously!! So, we planned on correcting the misunderstanding as soon as we got checked in…so the driver wouldn’t be “offended”….that was until more stress came!!!
Grace accompanied us into the airport check-in to get us settled and waiting for our flight….something that was supposed to be very easy and routine! Little did we know how un-routine it was soon about to become. Grace checked us in (8:45am)and, upon showing them our tickets for THREE “paid for” seats to Guangzhou on the 11:00, was casually informed that they had kicked Isabella off the 11:00 and put her on the 12:00 flight and we would meet her there.
Yes, you read that right…..that’s exactly what we said!!!
Grace informed us that a lot of times China Air will over-book flights and then bump people off if there are too many passengers!! WHAT?? Did they care she was a minor traveling with two parents?? You can imagine our frustration. Evidently the 12:00 was full too…so, we couldn’t just all go on that flight with her…plus, our luggage as already checked in on the 11am flight!! I immediately knew we needed prayer and fast…yet there was no way to contact anyone at home. So, I tried to text my dad….thankfully he got it, and I was comforted knowing family was praying!!! One thing we’ve learned through this journey to Tahlia that God works through prayer!!!
Grace and Brian just went back and forth from one desk across the terminal to another desk trying with much persistence to get them to fix it, and fix it now! Graca had to pull out her “not so polite” chinese firm persistence to get them to do something!! They were ticked off!! Isabella and I just prayed, prayed and prayed. Isabella got upset, and I reminded her that God hadn’t brought us this far to abandon us now…He was going to move mountains yet again to get us a seat on that plane….ahem, the seat WE PAID FOR!!!!!
Well, the battling went on for almost 2 hours….and finally at 10:25 they agreed to bump us up to a higher class to get Isabella on the plane, and gave us tickets (the guide -agency had to pay for the additional costs since they were responsible for getting our flights booked!). We didn’t even have time to look at our tickets to see where we were sitting, we were just so thankful to be on the same flight together. Not that we would have EVER let Isabella fly w/o us….but, it was looking bad for us to even get a flight at all that day! Everything was booked. However, God performed yet another miracle!!!
After praising God for a seat in the plane for all of us…we had to BOOK and get moving!!! It was now 10:40 and we still needed to go through security and navigate all the way across the airport to get to our gate.
Oh wait, the nightmare wasn’t over….We were still reminded to be praying adamantly because with only minutes before our plane was scheduled to leave, security pulled each of our bags off the belt to search them……(are you kidding me??)
We finally …after many minutes, got through, I guess they realized we werent smuggling weapons in to southern china! Lol.
We strarted running for the gate!!! This airport is big!! It felt like one of those bad dreams where you are about to miss the plane and your sweating, panting and dropping things..lol
As were running…an airport taxi kept stalking us and insisted we hop in and let him get us there faster. So we did…..we could have walked faster then he drove, but he did get us through the busy crowds (with the famous driving skills that Chinese are known for) it also gave us a moment to wipe our sweat and take a breath….he got us to the elevator….umm, it’s now 11:00 with more running to get to our gate!!!!!
We finally got to our gate and we saw the guy at the desk motioning us to hurry because the last shuttle was leaving at that moment to take passengers to the plane…..we literally jumped on just as it was about to pull away. We got on by the skin of our teeth!!!
That’s when I lost it!! I cried from relief and the build-up of all the stress…..I just want to get to my daughter, with no more obstacles…..The Lord is reminding me to depend on Him.
Well, here’s the funny part. The shuttle took us to the airstrip and we climbed the steps to board the plane outside…
We stepped on the plane and the stewardess took our ticket and motioned for Brian to go left and for Isabella and myself to go right. Yup, Brian is (right now, as we speak)sitting in first class….ummm, with cozy red slippers on giving his order for lunch!! And, he is loving his fully reclining seat! Lol
isabella and I were somehow bumped to economy plus….with lots more leg room (and if I stick my head out into the aisle, I can see my husband being pampered in first class) lol.
He informed us that we wouldn’t be very happy there because all they served was shrimp and tofu for lunch!! Oh, and mystery fish and lettuce..with duck soup!Yuck!
Isabella and I are cozy with our Kindles, chicken and rice lunch. We just keep looking at each other and saying, “The Lord did it….He got us on the plane!!”
(sigh of relief)
Tahlia, we are coming for you…..in 24 hours you will no longer be an orphan…you will be in our arms and forever a Cannelongo…nothing will stop Gods plans for your life!!!!
Here are some pics of us leaving Beijing, airport craziness, and arriving in Guangzhou…..(click on pics for album)
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| Ariving in Gaungzhou, China! |
update: We arrived at the BEAUTIFUL Garden Hotel in GZ, China. It is gorgeous!! We are loving seeing green and flowers everywhere….and, milder temps! But, when we checked in at the hotel with our reservations, they had no confirmed reservations for in the computer…..yes, my friends…another crazy mishap!!
Our guide is wonderful, John worked everything out (after about 45 minutes) and we were able to check in, the room is amazing!!
We just had to laugh….what a day!
We get Tahlia at 1:30 tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They just delivered the crib and stroller to our room!!!!!!
What a crazy experience!! So glad y'all made it safely on the plane…all together!! We're leaving on Thursday and Grace is our guide in Beijing too. Just curious, since I'm sure we'll run into the same issue, how much did they expect you to tip the taxi driver?
I'm praying for y'all and your sweet Tahlia! Can't wait to see her in your arms!
Praise God that He didn't just leave us here to fend for ourselves but that He is in control over every little detail!! He knows the number of hairs on Tahlia's head and has seen fit to put you in charge of caring for each of those hairs! Never fear, you have lots of people praying back home, even if we don't know the details at the time. Thanks again for posting!
Wow! God is so good! I can't wait to hear how your day goes tomorrow. I am praying for you all.