Arrived Safely - TYJ!!

We arrived safely in China and are very thankful for your prayers!! All went well with our flights and no real problems at all.

Well, except the minor problem of a forgotten suitcase, that is.  ;o)  Yep, the airline didn't lose it, we just left it in our van. All morning long, I'd been thinking how easy it was going with getting our carryon's thru the airport and such, and JUST before boarding our first flight, I started taking stock and discovered why.  My hero Bill raced all the way back thru the airport, all the way to security, as we racked our brains trying to remember where we'd left it... way back where we checked our big suitcases?... at security (amidst getting the stroller thru, the laptop (netbook, btw, so pardon all typos), Faith's CI, shoes, etc)?, at the bathroom?... where did we leave it?... and did TSA now have it with bomb sniffing dogs? Thankfully, no, it was safely tucked away in our van in front of Sam's carseat. When we arrived at the airport, we let Sam out on the other side of the van (out of traffic, of course) and just never saw it there.  Very very thankful that as we were trying to get the car loaded up, since my carryon was full with clothes before I'd finished with toiletries, I went ahead and sent it out and put toiletries in another suitcase. So quite literally, the ONLY thing we're missing is my clothes... yes, very essential, but very make-do-able. Found both a sweatshirt and a sleepshirt at the Chicago airport... ON SALE... at an airport, no less!!  And, since we've BTDT to the Great Wall and such, we're doing a slightly different tour in Beijing, which will afford us some time to shop... and a girl can always use a new pair of jeans, right? Thankfully, we usually only pack a few items anyway, along with some Woolite for washing, so it's really not even much to replace. You can pray that we'll fine some American sizes tho.  :o)  Special thanks to my good friend and now travelmate (so excited to be traveling with them!) who had just bought new unmentionables for the trip, so I even have something to wear to go shopping in!!  Is God a great Provider or what?? Talk about being a God of the details.

When we arrived and joined up with other families, Faith even discovered a teen friend to chat with... who can sign a little and is a great learner... daughter of said good friend mentioned above. They've hit it off already (TYL!) and cool thing is, their new daughter is at the same orphanage as David and Andrew, so we'll be together the whole trip!!

Had dinner from an Irish Pub last night... yes, I said Irish Pub... in China. Of course, the only thing Irish was the pub part - the menu had pizza, chicken/FF's, hamburgers, etc. I'm sure the name is exactly what gets people to come in - it worked for us. The chicken strips were sorta rubbery, so I have NO idea what to make of that, but it filled the empty spot and we all crashed by 9 pm local (8am our time). Believe it or not, I think we all actually slept until at least 4am, so that's maybe even more sleep than I usually get.

This morning after breakfast, we're hoping to Skype with the kiddos - :o)  - miss. them already!!! (Hi guys!!! We love you!!!)  Then today, we do a Hutong tour, not sure what that is, but it's not the Great wall (btdt 4 times), so that's good. I think its something like a tour thru a typical Chinese village, meeting real people etc, rather than the fancy touristy stuff you'd usually see, and shopping. We will still get to eat lunch, and the famous Peking Duck dinner with the other families, so we're excited about getting to know each other.

I think that's about all for now - tomorrow we fly for Gansu and meet David and Andrew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Thanks so very much for praying - it's VERY apparent that you are!!! Please also include the kiddos back home.

Please someone check our blog to see if this is posting ok - www.cantwaitbentons.blogspot.com. 

Love,

Toni for the Benton's