We arrive

Well, we're here! Heading into Day 3 of our Hong Kong adventures, and it's 3:00a.m. Darn jet lag! This time the girls are sleeping and it's us that are awake. Mike's on the phone with our bank at home. We've run into complications setting up a bank account and getting money over here, which needs to be done in a timely manner so that we can get into our new flat. We know eventually it will get sorted out, but it's a bit confusing and frustrating.

So the trip...

I had so many worries about it all. I was trying not to worry and mostly we had a great sense of peace that God would be with us through it all, but we had nine pieces of luggage to check, and were concerned that they'd be overweight. Well, they weren't overweight, and they were able to be checked all the way to HK.

Our first flight to Vancouver was nice and short, and the girls were eager and excited. When we got there, it took forever to exit the plane, and get our stroller, so we were worried about getting to the gate for our next flight. We were walking really fast trying to get to our gate, when who should we see but Kristen! It was a crazy quick little reunion. Jen was sitting with their stuff, and I guess they just saw us walking by. So crazy that they had just returned from their 11 hour flight from Incheon as we were leaving for ours to go there. He walked with us a little ways, and then we had to say good-bye. The thing is, I knew they would be in Edmonton airport that day, so when we were leaving, I had a strong feeling that we would see them. I almost wasn't even surprised!

It was a good thing we didn't visit long, because they were boarding for our flight when we got to the gate, and we still needed our boarding passes to be printed. We got on that flight easily, and despite it being 11 hours long, the girls did AMAZING! They played with all the little activities we brought, and loved opening all the little gifts that my Aunt Jo had gathered and wrapped for them. They ate their supper, and once the lights went out, they both fell asleep in our laps. It was too uncomfortable for us to sleep, though. On this flight, the seats were three/four/three. I don't know why we weren't put in the row of four, but instead were three on in the left side, and one across the aisle. I sat between the girls, and Mike was sitting across the aisle, but he ended up sitting next to a girl who was on her way to Korea to teach English. She hadn't been there before, and really didn't know anyone who had ever done that, except for an acquantaince from high school. She was so grateful to talk to Mike, and had tons of questions about everything to do with living there, and teaching. We swiched off a bit sitting beside her.

I knew that our layover in Korea would be around two a.m. our time, and it was a two hour layover. Which isn't that bad, but I was curious what state we'd all be in. The girls were wide awake, so they just played on a playset. It was nostalgic being back in an airport that we had been in a bunch of times six years earlier! Once we got on that final 3 1/2 hour flight, they girls just slept. We were in the exact same seating arrangement, so actually all three of us slept, but Mike who was across the aisle couldn't sleep at all.

Once we arrived, the line-up for immigration was incredibly long. I don't know if it's because we were pushing a stroller with two young girls, but for some reason, we got pushed to the front, and sent right through. I was also feeling paranoid that our luggage would be lost. I don't know why I was concerned, but it's never happened to me, so it seems like it will eventually. And we had NINE pieces, which is so excessive. But amazingly, they all came through. I knew that there was no way that we would be able to push the stroller and manage all our luggage. We had Mike's parents to help us with this in Edmonton. I was hoping we could find someone who could kindly help us, and an airport staff did. We finally exited and easily found the representatives from the school. They had brought a little bus (smart!) with plenty of room for us all. Then we had an hour bus ride (it was 11:30 p.m. Hong Kong time by then), and got all of us up to the 30th floor of the flat that we are staying in until we get one of our own. I was so happy that the traveling had gone so smoothly. We knew that many were praying for us, and the night before we left, Mike's family surrounded us and prayed, and helped us have such peace that everything would be okay.

We got to bed by two and slept until six. Although Mike wasn't able to sleep at all. Poor guy. Too much still to worry about.

Well, now Leila's awake and it's three-thirty. Sigh...

Hopefully we can get back to sleep before morning rolls around. I was sure that this night would go better because we kept them up so much more during the day. Eventually we'll get back on track.

I will post about our house hunting adventures soon!