We have a few more minutes before we start boarding. Yesterday night we decided to leave very very early since the weather was not good and we were supposed to meet another family in Detroit. At 11 PM we decided to leave between 1:00 and 1:30 AM. It ended up being 3:00 AM because of many unplanned issues like library books showing up that needed to go to the drop box, MP3 players that were not cooperating, ideas about changing our packing pattern, a sudden unexplained drop in motivation and many other things. But we were lucky and made it to the destination in about 5 hours. Usually it would take three but it was 19F and winds blew at time with 30 to 40 mph. However, with some patience we made it and the kids slept all the way.

The family that is traveling with us for portions of this trip has a 3 1/2 year old daughter Amy and an 8 Year old daughter Sarah. .It is a pleasure to have them with us. Their parents are Gregory and Joanne. They were so kind to let us park our car at their house (10 mile off the airport) and even arranged to have Joanne’s sister Nancy drop us off at the airport and take our car back. We will have a similar travel schedule as Greg and Joanne and will spend some time in Hohhot and Guangzhou together. But flight schedules and hotels are slightly different.

On the Airplane:
It is January 18^th 4:30 pm some where on our route from Detroit over Alaska to Tokyo. We have no idea where we are, all we know we have more than 8 hours to go and we feel that this flight already is taking forever. Flying coach class with Northwest is just a special experience. Sardines must have more space in their tin cans than we have and they don’t deal with flight attendants running around. When they ask if we wanted a newspaper weI had the choice between 6 or more Japanese newspapers and the Financial Times in English. We were delighted. The dinner choice was chicken or beef. But by the time it was Sue’s turn, it was only chicken left. But, we got a good deal and that is all that counts. This trip is about XinXin and not about us. 

Anna is very pleasant and lovely. She was excited about the food and exclaimed a few times how delicious it was. We have to admit, it wasn’t too bad. She must have liked the presentation in all these different little cups and bowls. She was sitting with us all the time and playing with her toys, giving us occasional hugs and kisses. Yesterday she admitted that she is a little nervous about the adoption. She had mentioned this before but she never told me why. Yesterday she finally said in a very low voice that she is worried that XinXin loves Toby and Josh more than she does. (Note: She is not afraid that Josh and Tony love XinXin More than they would love her. She is afraid that XinXin loves them more. What an interesting thought process this is.) It took all her courage to say this. We talked about it and we think she feels better now. But, she asked Daddy already twice today if he loves her. When he says yes he gets a big hug. What a brave little girl, this process is taking all the courage she has but she knows that the outcome will be a good one. She will have a sister. 

Right now, she sits a few rows behind us with her new friends. She is very fond and caring about Amy, the 3 ½ year old. They watch some movies together and do other things. She hasn’t connected too much with eight year old Sarah. Sarah is more the quiet type and a very nice girl. But, this is typical for Anna. She loves the younger ones that she can care for and mother them.  

Toby and Joshua sit together separated with two seats away from us. They are so independent. Joshua is awake and watching Ratatouillie(?) right now. He loves the noise cancellation headphone. Toby has been sleeping most of the time. 

That’s it for now; we return to our boredom and see if we can catch a nap.

1/19/2008 -3:00 am Beijing Time:
Wow, another four hours from Tokyo to Beijing. We all are so tired. Mom gave out the order not to sleep on the airplane so we can better deal with the time change. Guess who fell asleep first. At the end of the flight we all wished for a few hours of flight more. Just so we would not have to wake up. But everything comes to an end and so did this flight.

The airport in Beijing did not change very much on the outside but it was very efficient. Several flights came in around the same time but immigration was quite fast. Amazingly, Beijing airport has an evaluation system for their immigration officers. They encourage you to evaluate them on a scale from 1 – 5 (0 to 4 starts) and also publish a list with photos who are the ones that do well. The posters had a few dozen employees with passport photos and the numbers of stars listed. 

We talked a lot about Anna being back for the first time and she was kind quiet about it but you knew this little mind was working. She is very excited and very happy. This is her trip back to China and she enjoys it. She has lots of questions and even some of her own answers. It looks like she enjoys most the fact that Toby and Josh are around all the time. She loves her brothers and enjoys being with them.  

 Last time when we were in Beijing, we took a bus to the hotel. This time, we were determined to take a taxi bus from the taxi stand that has a meter. Well Sue went to the taxi stand and we got a bus with a taxi sign on it and a meter inside. We loaded up the bus with our luggage and got in. The bus had seen better days and the driver must have been unaware of the invention of seat belts. First thing the driver did was taking the taxi sign of the roof and the meter was running some numbers, but they had nothing to do with the fare. However, at the end the driver was driving very good, charged us the promised price which was reasonable and we all arrive safely by around 10:45 pm local time (11:00 am Michigan Time) at the Taiwan hotel. The family was kind of happy that one of us speaks the local language. 

The whole evening dragged on into the morning hours because nobody really knew what time it was and we were not so sure what day of the week it was either. The kids chatted with their friends over the Internet. The parents tried to update the blog, which seems to work, but had to find out the blog cannot be seen in China. We find a way to post, but you can imagine how frustrating it is not be able to see what you have posted. With the help of Bert's brother through online chat, we found out the blog is working. Udo could see the blog and read what we posted.

Check out our photos of the day.