We finally made it!

We're here, at the hotel in Taipei. We're off to pick up Sarah-Grace in a few minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!  

We should have known it wouldn't be that easy

Turns out I was wrong.  I got to know the real Japan just a bit better.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:15. Shortly after 6:15, they announced that there was a problem with the fuel that they were working on fixing.  We sat as they called in maintenance.  After a bit of waiting, they turned on the in flight entertainment.  I watched Quantam of Solace, interrupted every 15 minutes or so with helpful updates such as, “Thank you for your patience.  We apologize for the inconvenience.  It has been 15 minutes since our last update.  At this point in time we still haven’t solved the problem.  We are talking to maintenance and they are helping us solve the problem”, followed by very confidence-building announcements such as, “Well, we’re going to try to move the fuel out of the center tank, and then we’ll give it a try.”  Give it a try?  Please don’t take any risks on an airplane flight, thank you very much.

 

 

I finished watching Quantum of Solace.  They were still giving us extremely helpful updates.  “We are now headed back to the gate to take off” “It turns out, the problem was not fixed.  We will now be offloading. “  We will not be offloading yet, we’re going to try one more solution”.  We waited through close to 2 hours more of false alarms and very unhelpful announcements as the atmosphere on the plane got more and more tense.  Finally, at 10:30, after sitting for more than 4 hours on the runway, we walked back into an airport that looked eerily familiar.  United put us up at the Norita Hilton overnight, where we had free dinner, two 3-minute free international calls, and NO free internet.  The free dinner happened to be spaghetti- we came the whole way to Tokyo to eat spaghetti?  Oh well.  It was pretty good.  We finally got to bed around 1am, and had a wake-up call bright and early at 5:30.  Our plane starts boarding in 33 minutes and we should be in Taiwan around 12:30.  I suppose by the time this is posted, we’ll have much more exciting news to post, since we should still be meeting Sarah-Grace TODAY!  

So near yet so far

Just a quick post from the Dad.  Deb and Annie were delayed in Tokyo, Japan last night.  Seems that their jet was grounded with a faulty fuel pump.  Kai Wei has been saying all along that he

hopes bad things don't happen when they are flying.  At least this bad thing was on the ground.

Kai and I called the hotel in Taipei to let them know of the delay.  When the desk clerk answered in a long string of chinese I asked for an english speaker.  She answered in return that she spoke a little English.  So I asked Kai to translate for me and his first words to her were "hello"...... In chinese I admonished him to which he then replied 你好. The conversation was to awkward for him so I ended up on the phone explaining the delay and letting the hotel know to expect them today. I think they understood. Deb and Annie, I hope if you are reading this, it is from the comfort of your hotel.

Welcome to Japan

Well, we made it to the Tokyo airport!  It seemed doubtful for a few minutes. Apparently the Japanese government recently decided to screen all passengers for swine flu symptoms and has plans to quarantine anyone who doesn’t pass their test.  Well, my Mom and I both came down with colds on Thursday, so when we filled out the health forms I dutifully checked yes to sore throat and runny nose.  Everyone else was issued a marigold paper declaring they had passed the health inspection.  I had 2 red stickers stuck to my seat.  Some uniformed health inspectors came and looked at me suspiciously and one of them finally asked politely if she could take my temperature. Of course, I complied, and she proceeded to pull out an old-school thermometer, which she instructed me to place under my armpit.  We waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  I jokingly suggested that an ear thermometer would be better.  She had one!  It didn’t work.  We waited a bit more.  The thermometer finally beeped.  (Ok, I realize a digital thermometer is not THAT old school, but I expected Japanese health officials to have the ear thermometers)  I was fever free.  She said, “ok, no problem”, and started to walk off. In a moment of near panic, I said, “wait! DO I get a yellow paper?” plaintively pointing at my Mom’s. She gave me one, and we eventually were all allowed to disembark- every single one of us wearing masks issued by the health inspectors that they requested we wear.

 

Other than that our flight was rather uneventful.  We flew over Russia and crossed Siberia.  Being exiled to Siberia takes on a whole new perspective after that view. 





We were in the very back row of seats, so they didn’t recline much, so my Mom is catching up on some much needed sleep while I write this in the Tokyo airport (unfortunately the “free public WiFi” that shows up on my list of internet providers apparently isn’t really free, so I’ll have to wait to post it later.)  I’m also keeping half an eye on the sumo-wrestling match on tv.  That, the surgical masks, the take out sushi bar, and the shop selling kimonos is as close as I’ll get to the real Japan on this trip

How appropriate!

I passed this sign outside of a church Saturday, and thought it was particularly appropriate. 

We're flying out today!  Next post should be from Taiwan!

We're Traveling, for REAL this time! --i think. . .

I'm excited and nervous and it seems unreal. After months and actually years of waiting we are set to go to Taiwan and get our daughter, Sarah-Grace Ssu Ya. It hardly seems possible. Once they had all our paperwork in Taipei we were able to get an appointment to get Sarah-Grace's visa and make arrangements to travel.

We had a webchat tonight and Sarah-Grace seems just so nervous. Even more so than me! I just wished I could reach out and give her a hug and tell her it was going to be OK.

So, soon we will be a family of 9 all on one continent. Praise our God who has worked this all out. I am also so thankful for all those in our path who have helped us and supported us and kept us going along the way--all the agency workers, social workers, office workers, government workers, postal workers--friends and family--and even complete strangers-- who have reached out to us and wished us well.

Tonight was our last Bible study for the summer with the believers we have come to know and love from the Chinese Church. It was such an appropriate send off for me to meet with these dear sisters and brothers in Christ. Our leader asked us all to share a bit about what the group has meant to us. It was such an honor for me to do and also so hard to put into words. These folks have prayed for us, cared about us, embraced Kai Wei and the rest of the family and been there in spirit and understanding. I know their prayers have really sustained us on this long journey. And they, of all people, know what my children face as they leave a life and culture they have known for the unknown.

Of course I am unbelievably happy that our journey to adopt is coming to an end and our life as a completed family of nine is unfolding. But within my happiness there is a sadness for all the adjustments and losses this will mean for my precious kids. But I believe they will survive. They will grow in love and grace and security and God will call them into his will and his kingdom. What more could any of us want for a happy ending?

Many Blessings, Debbie

All About Annie and a bit more. . .

So, someone asked for some information on what Annie's doing. And since I love to talk about my kids . . .
The Discipleship Training school (DTS)Annie is going on is through YWAM (Youth With a Mission) They are 5 or 6 month long classes that are designed to help people stretch and grow in their faith and learn more. They are required for anyone volunteering for a YWAM ministry for more than 6 months. They have a "class room " component, where you learn "stuff" and then an outreach component where you do "stuff". Hopefully putting into practice some of what you learned.

YWAM offers these courses all over the world and they are on all topics of interest to missionaries and people who want to help impact the world in a positive way. And you can even earn college credit through many of them. The first part, the learning part, would be at a discipleship train school location. During the second part you take a "road trip", often to another country. Annie's "road trip" part will focus on underprivileged kids in an urban setting. Which is perfect for her next step. After she finishes the DTS Annie will have a chance to come home over Christmas (YAY) and then in January or February she will begin her new life as a volunteer to a ministry in Bogota Colombia for two years that offers help and love to kids on the street. But I'll let her tell you more about that. She'll be setting up a new blog and asking for prayer support.

I'm really proud of Annie and excited for her. This is something she has had on her heart for years. She has actually put this dream on hold so she could be part of our family's dream of adopting a brother and a sister. She really wanted to be around to get to know our new family members. That's one reason we really want to travel soon!

We did get our fingerprint extension and our official approval. Now we just have to make sure it gets to Taipei and then we can go! Hopefully soon!

I'm proud of all my kids. Those big ones who have so graciously welcomed little siblings into their midst with joy and love and acceptance and those little ones, who while they have also welcomed siblings with joy, thave had to deal with a rearrangement of their lives and big changes in so many ways.

God is good and his love endures forever :-)