Our Adoption Journal: Day 5: Travel to Xi'an - where Ian's adoption will take place

I was up again at 12:30. I get up with Jemma and whomever else needs something and then can't go back to sleep. All the rest of the kids were up early, too. They each did something kind of quiet while I started working on packing up and doing some blogging.

Phil set his alarm for 5am to get up and pack since we were so tired the night before. We brought along a blue duffle like the pink and green one for dirty laundry. Plus we knew we needed to disperse the weight more once we got to China for this flight since we are only allowed 44 pounds a bag and we packed 50. The nice thing about China's in-country flights is that often your bags are weighed all at once and not individual, which makes more sense in my opinion, since if you're 2 pounds over in one bag and 5 pounds under in the other, it's silly to be charged and overage or hold up the check in process to repack. Anyway, we worked at packing up and then headed down for breakfast once more.

We did our big family breakfast buffet relay again where I dished up the food and sent it back to the table with the girls and then we served the food on the plates after we prayed altogether. We decided not to let the kids play since we wanted to get everything really ready to go and loaded onto the cart before David arrived. What has been really wonderful and amazing is that we've been on time or minutes early for everything so far. (Possibly because we get up at 5am.)

We met David in the lobby and Phil checked out and our driver loaded the car. I forgot to mention that on Wednesday before we left for The Great Wall, we gave David a birthday card and a gift of Emergen-C. His birthday was a couple days earlier. As we drove from our hotel to the airport, we all talked about what we've enjoyed and asked David more questions about himself and his faith. We were able to give him a special gift as we were getting to the airport. Once we arrived, Phil gave the driver a tip for driving us around the last few days and then we took our picture with him and then with David. David and Phil wheeled our luggage into the airport, which again wasn't crowded and was so easy to navigate. Phil and David went to check in and then we all headed to the security. Again, because of Jemma, we were immediately told to go to a different line. We were through security in literally less than 5 minutes.

We then walked to our gate. What a fun time. We let the kids all walk on the moving sidewalks. Jemma was using her walker, so between the speed of the walker and the moving sidewalk, she was zipping by faster than she's been able to before and loved it! We had to take the elevator to the ground floor, which meant that our plane was going to be the walk-up-the-stairs-like-the-president experience (LOL). Phil and Lily went to find some lunch while I played Go Fish with my little ducts for a small crowd of unashamed onlookers (who literally sat down to watch - hilarious). Phil and Lily came back with the food and we prayed and ate, with an even larger crowd gathering to watch (we were sitting on the floor in a circle to eat and should have collected money for tickets - haha! Everyone seemed to get a memo that the bus was loading so we threw away our wrappers of melted cheese sandwiches (wow, the cheese is not the same as Wisconsin... I think they put sugar in it?) and grabbed our backpacks and shoulder bags and went through the check in to get on the bus. I was able to sit down with Jemma and Sammy and be near Lily and Phoebe who held poles. Titus kept close to Phil who also stood at a pole. The bus took us to our plane where we lined up to board. We climbed up the stairs to the plane and boarded. Honestly, it couldn't have been better (other than the wind was so strong we could have been blown off the stairs) because the fact that we had to slowly walk up those stairs to get on the plane that would take us to Ian, well, it felt perfect. It slowed everything down so that we could enjoy the enormity of where we were going and why. It was a moment. I hope I never forget it.

Jemma and I sat together and Lily and Phoebe sat across the aisle. No one was in the seat by the window so I told them to scoot over so they could look out and watch us take off. That was fun to watch! The woman sitting next to us moved away to a different seat. I tried not to feel bad about it. I thought she moved away because Jemma threw a tantrum for her bottle (which the flight attendant made for her in traditional HOT baby bottle way so it was way too hot for Jemma). But Phil said she moved away so things would be more convenient for us. Jemma played play dough after her bottle and threw another tantrum when the flight attendant came and said that I needed to keep my children buckled. Sammy and Titus sat with Phil behind me and enjoyed watching out the window as well. They drove Phil crazy until he told Sammy it was nap time. The boys get amped up when they are tired - it's like a coping technique to try and stay awake. Titus played a game from his backpack. Lily got a headache and turned a bit pale so she laid down and napped. They served a beef pancake (SO HOT) and beverages on the flight (come on U.S. carriers... that is basically a MEAL on a 2 hour flight!). Not too much longer and we landed easily in Xi'an. We got off the airplane and then waited a while for Jemma's walker to be located. It was not the typical "gate check" since we were bussed to the airplane so I was concerned they sent it through baggage claim. I was nervous that they did that because it wasn't cheap and would not be easily replaced here in China either. Anyway, they found it and brought it up to us at the terminal.

Oh, when we landed, Sammy said, "Titus, we're in China!" and Titus said, "No, Sammy, we're in Xi'an!" The comments we've heard from the kids this week have been hilarious! When we boarded the plane in Chicago and got all situated and everything, Sammy asked excitedly, "Are we in China now?" LOLOLOL It's a hard thing to process when we say we're in Beijing or Xi'an that we are also in China since we've always referred to this trip as China and not the individual cities. Titus and Sammy wanted baby panda bears and we told them we'd buy them in Guangzhou after we go to the safari. They were so upset that we weren't getting them pandas in China. Poor guys. They are so confused.

Walking with Jemma and Sammy is slow going and Phil and I have our preferences. He prefers to hold Sammy's hand and I prefer to be with Jemma and her walker. She gets tired of walking sometimes and hops up to sit on it like a seat. When she does that, I just reach down and pull it so we can keep moving. Talk about turning heads. LOL She is quite the girl and has quite the personality. I feel like this trip has also given me some better insight into Sammy's issues with his feet/legs. I need to get in contact with his orthotist and PT and orthopedic doctor when we get home because I feel like although we are trying to force his foot to use the proper balance when walking, his lower leg bone is twisting in even more drastically now to compensate for our effort. We're going to have to try a new strategy again soon. He's sure a puzzle to try and figure out.

Anyway, Phil got all our bags loaded and he and Lily pushed the carts out to a waving Celine. I was still wheeling Jemma because unless she was going where SHE wanted to go, she was going to sit on the back of her walker and be wheeled. It was really nice to see Celine again. She didn't remember us at first. We stopped to use the bathroom.

Oh I forgot to blog about that. Lily and Phoebe have very much anticipated the squatty potty. I've been putting it off because I've usually had Jemma in the wrap. However, when we went to get our Tanghulu and Candy painting, the girls needed to use the bathroom and the one available was like this deserted mall or something and the filth was outstanding. So, I figured it was a great time to squat and touch as little as possible. I had already given them the explanation on how to do it, but I coached them again that you have to make sure to ONLY pull your pants down to your knees and squat. If you pull them down further, you will tinkle on your pants or fall in. They both LOVED it and did great! Since then, they both seem to prefer the squatty potty and honestly, I really don't blame them. If I weren't wearing Jemma typically while we're out, I'd prefer it too. I think it's more sanitary.

We walked to the parking lot with Celine after Phil took Titus to the bathroom and our driver loaded the car with Phil and we piled in. It was about an hour drive to the hotel so the kids played with things from their backpacks and Jemma did stickers next to me. Everyone was SO thirsty but we hadn't had a chance to get their water bottles filled up yet.

I love where our hotel is! It's in the city center. 3 minute walk to the Drum Tower. 4 or 5 minute walk to Muslim Street. If you didn't know what you were looking for, the door to our hotel would easily be missed in the middle of all the food shops and family businesses on our street. Our room wasn't ready when we arrived so we sat for about 20 minutes until it was finished (although they could have mopped if I had one complaint). Anyway, Celine got us our breakfast coupons and showed us to our apartment.

Our apartment is HUGE! It has two main bedrooms, two full baths, a full kitchen and living room, and an office that has a futon. The kitchen has a washer/dryer in it. I've been washing and drying pretty much non-stop because I can fit like 5 things in the tiny unit, but it beats doing laundry for 7 or 8 by hand in the tub and then Phil stomping the water out with bath towels like we've done in the past. There is SO much storage in this apartment. Every room has a full wall of closets, which means everyone has their own personal closet. Everyone has their own drawer for their toys. Everyone has a dirty laundry spot. It is great!

Ian's room will be the office with the futon. The only issue is that the wall and door is all glass. I'm thinking we can fashion a sheet up with my removable wall hooks and rope I brought (or just get some duct tape from walmart).

The two older girls are sleeping in one of the bedrooms and the two little boys are sleeping in the living room. Jemma is in a crib in our room presently, but if she starts sleeping through the night, we might move her over by the girls. We'll see.

While we got settled and unpacked, Phil went and got dinner. He came back with spicy beef pizza and hawaiian pizza from Pizza Hut. While he was gone, the kids and I played a shopping game where they came to me to buy something out of my suitcase that I told them where it needed to go and they put it up against the fridge and said beep and then took it and put it away. Hey, whatever works for being helpers and working together to get a job done. :D

Once Phil got back with the pizzas, I think our family's greatest melt-down happened. Phil was the only one not crying and had to rein us all back in and give us a pep talk. The jet lag and traveling and everything had taken a toll. Phil was amazing and helped get our family wheels back on the track again. Everyone ate and then got ready for bed.

Jemma fussed a few times through the night and I got up with her, but ultimately got more sleep last night than I have been getting so that is good. I'm honestly not upset about the lack of sleep. I'm just thrilled not to have the dizzy out-of-body feeling that I've always had with jet lag and long travel.

If we need to be busy, Jemma has no problem entertaining herself!

Mommy and Daddy got tired of trying to keep the kids occupied and quiet-ish so we turned on stories to listen to and had them all lay down while we waited for it to be 8:30 - time to leave for Xi'an.