Wednesday, March 5

Wednesday, March 5

This has been a tough day all around.  Just before lunch, Adam and I had to say goodbye to our boys, which just about broke my heart.  I know they are in REALLY good hands, but I still miss them terribly.

My Dad drove us over to Seattle to catch our flight.  Our plane wasn't scheduled to leave until6:30pm, but we wanted to be there early.  We arrived over three hours early, and had lots of extra time at the gate, etc.  We boarded the plane as scheduled, but when it became departure time, they made an announcement that there was a "minor mechanical problem," and they were assessing what was causing it.

Later (maybe 30 or 45 minutes later) they came over the speaker again and said they figured out what it was and were trying to figure out how to fix it and they'd let us know.  Another 30-45 minutes passed...Adam and I played the card game "King's Corners" on the little tray table to pass the time.  Then the captain said they had figured out what was wrong, but it would take several hours to fix.  Nice.  The flight crew can't fly if too many hours have passed - there are strict rules about making sure they rest at certain intervals, so that was that.

So we de-planed and waited around while the airline tried to get everyone squared away with hotel rooms etc.  (This was an international flight, so it was a BIG plane.)  We finally got our hotel voucher, went down and collected our checked luggage (it was all there - SO thankful!), and took a shuttle to our hotel.  Coincidentally, this is the same hotel we stayed in for a night last August when Drake and Adam went to the Seahawks/Broncos preseason game!  It was even the same shuttle driver and same check-in clerk.  :)

We got into our room about 10pm, called our travel agent from the hotel room phone long distance, and then also called my parents to let them know what was going on - wanted to make sure someone "real" knew about the issue and could be a point of contact if anyone was wondering.  Then we decided to walk to a nearby convenience store in the pouring rain to get something to eat.  Our flight was supposed to serve dinner, but of course we didn't end up getting any...so we were pretty hungry!  We ate our convenience store deli sandwiches and watched basketball on TV while we ate, and then I came down to the lobby to email our WACAP caseworker with the update, and figured I'd update the blog as well, via email to my sister, who has graciously agreed to post for me when I email her with updates.

We made some new friends on the flight though - another family we will be traveling with (who I've been in touch with over Facebook) has an aunt and uncle who are joining them to help take care of their older children while they are in the process of adopting their new little sweetie.  Anyway, the aunt and uncle were on our same flight, and they are SO kind!  They fly frequently, and helped us figure out some things with reusing our boarding passes for tomorrow, and etc.  They made sure we were set up with a hotel, that we knew how to get on a hotel shuttle at the airport, and gave us big hugs before we parted.  Really nice folks!

While today has not exactly turned out as planned, we know God has His hand on this journey, and that things will work out exactly as He wills.  We're thankful that the plane didn't take off with mechanical problems, and we're thankful that the only negative repercussions of this delay for us will be missing the first sightseeing day in Beijing (and it ISN'T the Great Wall - that is scheduled for Saturday, so we should still be able to see it).  Overall, thanking the Lord that He is in control, and looking forward to leaving for China in the morning!