Mission Safari: The Next Chapter(s)

Kindly Required

We received a notice today that we are "kindly required" by the Chinese Center for Disease Control to have our temperature checked twice daily while here at the hotel.  At first we were quite worried that this is because Sarah mentioned on her health form that she has had a snuffy nose in the past 7 days.  However, we found out that two other families who travelled on our same flight received the same summons.  Still, it is a bit disturbing to receive a notice like this.  Pray that no one in our group develops a fever in the next 6 days.

Smog, Smokers, and Scorpions

We have been here over 24 hours.  Overall we are doing quite well.  This afternoon we went out to do a little bit of sightseeing and shopping.  We figured it would be easier to shop without little Kate.  I think we will be glad that we did. 

A few things stick out about Beijing.  First, we are surprised at how smog there is.  The weather was clear yesterday and today but with the smog it seemed like overcast gray days.  I remember hearing about smog being an issue for the marathon runners in last year's Olympics, but I didn't really think it would be this bad.

Second, people here love to smoke cigarettes.  You see smokers everywhere.  In fact they allow smoking in the hotel lobby and it is overwhelming.  Happily we have a nonsmoking room.

Lastly, the Chinese seem to love eating a variety of things - stuff we wouldn't really think about eating.  Today in the open air bazaar, we saw meat kebabs...including scorpion, octopus, squid, chicken heart, locusts, and starfish.  I didn't try any as I am trying to adjust to the local cuisine.  I am not sure that I can handle the "seafood" kebabs, but I may try the scorpion or locust.

Tomorrow, we will tour the Temple of Heaven and take in a Chinese Acrobats show.  They should both be fun.

11 Mile Run in Beijing

I am back in our hotel room after a wonderful 11 mile run this morning.  I slept over 10 hours and since the girls were still sleeping at 730am local time, I decided to head out for a long run.  It is one of the great joys in life while traveling…running in a foreign city taking in sites you don’t usually get to see while touring.  I have been blessed to run in such far- away places like Managua, Nairobi, London, Paris, Salzburg, Rome, Pisa, and now Beijing.

Interestingly, I was the only American running along my route.  In fact, I was the ONLY runner.  I ran from our hotel near the North 4^th Ring towards the Beijing Railway Station and then to Tian-An-Men Square.  I ran with all the people of motor scooters and bicycles in the bike lane.  I venture to say that I garnered quite a few stares during my run.  But then again, I was running along streets where people were starting their work days in their little businesses…food shops, fruit stands, electronic repair, bicycle shops, and a list of many others.    

After showering and eating my oatmeal, we are getting ready to head out for little bit of sightseeing. 

We're (Finally) In China

Our travel to China has gone about as smoothly as international travel can go.  We left our house at 5:20 am, drove 45 miles to the Richmond airport, checked in, went through security, boarded our plane, and departed on time at 7:20 am.  We landed in Newark, relaxed, ate breakfast, and boarded our second flight which again left on time at 12:10 pm. 

The 13 hour, 45 minute flight to Beijing was again wonderfully uneventful.  The flight path took us north over the Arctic Circle and covered over 7,400 miles.  We were able to read, watch a movie, and sleep.  Thankfully we had exit row seats so we were able to stretch our legs.  It was probably the easiest international flight we have taken.

On arrival, we again moved through the airport with relative ease.  The first check point was a Health and Quarantine station.  We passed through infra-red cameras that presumably screen people who may be running a fever.  You then had in a form that was filled out just prior to arrival.  It asked questions about any health symptoms you have had in the past 7 days.  Marti and Sarah both had had a snuffy nose, so they had to go to another station (after being given a mask to cover their faces) where they were asked about their nasal congestion.  They were allowed to proceed without too much delay.

After this, we passed through Immigration, baggage claim (where we collected ALL our bags), Customs, and then met up with our CHI coordinator here in Beijing.  We then took a bus ride 30 minutes to our hotel, the Radisson SAS hotel in Beijing. 

We rested in our room for about an hour and then walked down the street to eat supper.  There were several choices, but we decided to go with something familiar.  We ate at Pizza Hut!  Our first meal in China was Pizza!  How crazy is that?  But to get a bit of Asian flavor, we ordered Teriaki Chicken pizza.  It was actually quite good.

After eating, we walked back towards the hotel and stopped at the Carrefour Supermarket.  It is like a Super Wal-Mart but owned by a French company if I recall correctly.  However, it seemed more like the Nakumatt Stores in Kenya.  But it was definitely Chinese in both product choices and they way it was set up.  Hopefully we can get a few pictures Sarah took posted…a picture is worth a thousand words.

Anyway, we are pretty tired.  We hope to sleep 10 hours or more tonight.  Tomorrow, we are just going to relax and take a few walks and take pictures of the hustle and bustle we noticed in our short outing tonight.  It was somewhat surreal to be in China and see so much “Western influence” (ie capitalism at work).   We are definitely thankful for the smooth start to our visit.

Less Than 36 Hours

In less than 36 hours Marti, Sarah, and I will be on-board our first flight our our journey to China.  We can't wait.  Although it will be the start of a very long day, it will be a relief to be on the plane.

 

As you can imagine, the past 10 days have been crazy.  I basically worked every day this month, except for a Sunday off and Amy's birthday.  I had to work my monthly schedule in two weeks.  I am very tired.  When I wasn't working, I was busy packing or running errands getting ready for the trip. 

 

But to be honest, I haven't worked nearly as hard as Marti.  Besides the normal routine of homeschool, dance, football, keeping up with a 2 year old, Marti has been packing for herself and Kate.  She has also been organizing things at church for her absence from Children's Ministry.  And, she has organized the next 2 weeks of homeschool for the boys.  She just about has it all together.  She is awesome.

 

I am very excited about going, but I have been kind of down the past few days.  I am really going to miss the boys and Amy.  Even when I work a stretch of 4 or 5 days in a row, I still get to see them or talk to them on the phone.  Not only that, but I realize that when we do come back, things will be different - not in a bad way or anything, but just different.  And despite all the things God has taught me about change and flexibility, I still struggle with this. 

 

Finally, a football update.  Ben had his best game of the season Saturday.  Besides doing his usual solid job as starting center for the offense, he made 6 tackles and had a fumble recovery as the Defensive End.  Unfortunately, his team lost 7-0 to make their record 0-3 this season.  But Ben is having fun and learning a lot about hard work and humility.  Hopefully his team can win their first game next Saturday while we are in China.

Amy is 2

In the middle of our China preparation today, we took time to celebrate Amy's 2nd birthday.  She has been such a blessing to us.  Little did we know back in 2005 when we began the adoption process that Amy would be a part of our lives.   But God knew.  And He blessed us with Amy, and soon Kate!  We stop today and rejoice at His blessing of children in our lives.

Enjoy a few pics from Amy's birthday.

Our Travel Schedule

We can't believe that we leave for China in 8 days.  All the months of inactivity and waiting have given way to near chaos as we have been scurrying around getting the final plans in place to travel.  We look forward to our trip if only to just be sitting still!  And boy will we be sitting...the flight from Newark, NJ to Beijing, China is 13 hours and 45 minutes non-stop.

 

Our current travel plans are scheduled like this:

 

September 15 - leave Richmond on a 7:00am flight to Newark.  Depart Newark around 1pm. 

September 16 - arrive in Beijing.  We will be staying at the Radisson SAS Hotel.

September 17 - rest, recover from jet-lag.

September 18 - half-day of sightseeing in Beijing.

September 19 - meet up with travel group, tour Tiannemen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall.

September 20 - fly to Nanchang City, the capital of Jiangxi Province.  We will be staying at the Gloria Grand Hotel.

September 21 - GOTCHA Day.  We can't wait.  Kate will be ours from then on.

September 22 - Registration and Passport Application for Kate.

September 23+24 - Free Days and Sightseeing in Nanchang City.

September 25 - Receive Kate's Chinese Passport.  Fly to Gaungzhou (GZ).  Stay at the China Hotel in GZ.

September 26 - Medical exam for Kate.

September 27 - Free day in GZ.

September 28 - Appointment at the American Consulate in GZ.

September 29 - Take oath and receive Kate's American Passport.

September 30 - Depart GZ, travel back to Beijing and then on to Newark, NJ.  Stay the night in Newark.

October 1      - Arrive back in Virginia by mid-morning.

 

 

Yes!

Yesterday morning (Thursday the 3rd), we received our long awaited Travel Approval and Consulate appointment.  We now have our airline tickets purchased and look forward to leaving September 15th.  We will be flying from Richmond to Newark and then onward to Beijing.  We are scheduled to meet Kate on Monday September 21st.  We really can't believe that everything has come together over the past several days like it has, but once again, we see God at work. 

 

I will post more details on our travel plans in the next couple of days. 

We Got Our Travel Approval, But....

We received our Travel Approval (TA) yesterday.  This is answered prayer!  We were so excited...until we learned that before we can buy tickets to travel, we need an appointment with the American Consulate in Guangzhou.  We hope to be able to get this arranged in the next day or two. 

 

However, there is a possibility that they won't have any appointments left before they close a week for the approaching public holidays in China.  And so, we continue to wait for all the pieces to fall in place to travel.  We are certainly going down to the wire on this one.  Please continue to pray.

Hanging In There

Well, we are still in travel limbo.  We still have not received our Travel Approval, but neither have we been told that we are definitely NOT traveling to China in September.  We have everything in place except the tickets, so we are prepared to leave on 8-12 day notice.  However, it looks less likely each morning that passes.  

Nonetheless, we are hanging in there.  That is probably a function of having a busy household.  Sam is in his second week of school and Sarah and Ben are in their second day of school.  Everyone has started out well.  That is encouraging especially since we may travel in a few weeks.

Over the weekend, Ben had his first football game of the season.  It did not go well.  His team came out flat and got soundly beaten, 26-0.  It was a real eye-opener for Ben who really enjoyed playing on a team that went undefeated in the regular season last year.  But, Ben has a good head on his shoulders and was ready to get back to practice last night.

Also over the weekend, Sarah drove for the first time.  She worked hard last week to get her driver's permit and so we went for a couple of drives.  Her first driving experience was in our empty church parking lot on Saturday night and then down the Colonial Parkway Sunday afternoon.  It was fun but my right lower leg is mighty sore!

Over and over I see God's graciousness in our lives.  It would be real easy for us to get down on not knowing for sure when we are traveling to China, but I am thankful for the full life we have and the blessings of children.  He knows when we need to travel to China and will work out the details for His glory and our benefit.