It was a grueling trip--one that almost was delayed, but we decided to push forward and go anyway. Long story short, 15 minutes before we were to leave, we received a call from AGCI saying that all of our appointments in China had been cancelled for unknown reasons. They had not yet been able to reschedule anything, and AGCI did not recommend we fly "blind" with no appointments and not knowing when we could leave China.
Since four out of our six tickets were purchased with frequent flyer miles, we learned that it would cost us up to $15,000 to reticket the trip. We could go ahead and leave, just changing our departure date for less than $1,000. After a frantic afternoon, we decided to go ahead and chance it.
We are now here, but do not know when we will be able to return home. Hopefully we will receive our appointments in the next day or two so we can know what to expect.
The trip was certainly an adventure. We arrived at Port Columbus Thursday morning at the prescribed 2 hours before departure, only to discover the counter did not open until 4:45 am. Love to hurry up and wait. Our first plane was a small commuter jet. We had to cross the tarmac to board. We watched the sun rise over Washington DC.
The second flight was from DC to San Francisco. The kids did great. They got to watch Cars as the in flight movie. They also watched Robots on a portable DVD player while we watched The Lakehouse as the in flight movie.
In San Francisco, we ran to the International Terminal so that we would have time to call AGCI for any updates before we boarded. Tiffany told us that we would not be receiving Elijah ZuBin until November 8. We still do not have all of our appointments scheduled, so we still do not know when we can return. We are praying for the possibility of 11/16, but if that is not available, it will not be until 11/20 or 21. That is for the appointment, not the return date. We would return a day or two after the Exit appointment. We are totally trusting God on this.
The flight from SF to Hong Kong was, well, let's just say I had no idea 14 hours was so long. We had gotten the kids up at 3:30 am Thursday morning to leave. They did not settle into sleep until almost midnight Ohio time. They did great, but they are exhausted. It is rough sleeping on a plane! They showed 4 in-flight movies on that leg!
We are now at the hotel in Hong Kong. Greg went to bed. The rest of us went to get a bite to eat before tucking the kids in. They are all in bed now, but I wanted to be sure to update you all on our adventures!
We will have access to emails, so feel free to email us while we are gone! Please also keep praying that God will be working through all the details to His Glory.
Thank you all. We can feel your prayers supporting us.
2 comments:
How well I remember the 15 hour flight back from Ethiopia, with Keziah in my arms the whole time. Yow. Not fun. I hope the rest of your trip proceeds well and quickly. This is quite an adventure for everyone!
Sorry...the last comment was made by Lori at home. I realized that you probably would have no idea who I was from my blog.
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