In Country now!

What a surreal day! 

First of all, today 7/19/2013 is my Caleb's first birthday.  He is such a precious gift. He loves playing with balls, splashing in water, and listening to music. Although he's not a good sleeper (yet) he is a sweet boy and is growing up so fast. We celebrated his birthday with Birthday Cake Oreos and all singing to him.  He was throwing a fit until we started singing and giving him chocolate. He got glad very quickly, turns out birthdays aren't so bad. 

After Caleb's little birthday hoo-ha my friend Rafye picked me up, and about five minutes down the road Doug called saying i forgot a few things, so she then brought me back to the campsite for the few forgotten items, took me to lunch at The Silo for delicious pizza, then dropped me off at Chicago OHare airport.  Where I met the TWENTY fabulous people I will be traveling with to China. 

Huge thank yous to my friend Rafye!!

I had barely arrived at the airport when I saw a young lady, probably mid 20s crying and quite distraught. She got in line behind me at ticketing and had just realized she was dropped off at the airport a day early!  Her ride was gone and she could not reach them by phone. She explained to the ticketing agent her situation and the agent said she could stay the night in the airport and fly out the next day, like it was no big deal.  I felt so bad for her. I helped her figure out the US country code and offered my cell phone and I gave her a pen and wished her the best. I was so nervous about my flight and running a few minutes late for the team meeting that that's all I did.  I so wish I could have done more.  I am praying for the lady from Manchester, England today though. 

After that little encounter my phone rang as i was going through security. It was our team leader so i bombed the call. Lol.  I got through security without any trouble, but they did pat down my hair, maybe because she saw my Texas address and figured Texans hide stuff in our big hair!  

Our team is great!  From young college students to moms and Grandmas, we all are excited to embark on this adventure to see what God has in store for us.  There is really a sense of expectation as person after person has told me, " I'm not sure what God is doing, but I know it will be good."

Our flight was delayed first for a late meal cart, then for rerouting around a storm. We flew out of Chicago east over Lake Michigan, then north all the way up through Canada over the North Pole and over a portion of the Arctic Circle before we turn south and land in Beijing.  We will stay the night Beijing then fly again to Luoyang mid day Saturday. 

We will be 13 hours ahead of central time and our flight coincidentally is approximately 13 hours long!  

Prayers for the family, for health, for travels, and for God to move are sincerely appreciated. 

1:46am CST nearly everyone is asleep on the plane or pretending to be... I can't sleep, I'm so uncomfortable. My Tylenol pm is in the overhead bin and I'd have to disturb too many people to get to it. Additionally, my headphones are missing. I had them when I first got on the plane. I tested them, they worked and I stashed them somewhere. Now they're gone. Five and a half hours down only eight to go! . 

It's dark and cozy in the plane, but bright as noonday outside!  It's a White Night, we are so far north it never gets dark. 

3:09am. CST. Just got up for a walk about, I cannot sit for this many hours. Those who know me know I'm not a sitter, I'm a figitter and my poor seat mates must wish I would just sit still!  I got up and was standing near a bathroom when this poor mama came out and apologized for being in there so long. She said she was looking for an outlet to pump but none was available. I told her I had a manual pump with me and she was sooooo thankful!  Hopefully I will get to talk to her more about her baby.  

We landed in Bejing at 10am CST it's 1:30am Bejing time and I have an 8am breakfast.  I should get to bed. More later... Love y'all.