And the Adventure Begins...

We went to bed Thursday with stomach butterflies...so full of anticipation. So ready to hold Dottie, trying not to think about the logistics to the to the other side of the world, checking and checking again that nothing has been left, and so sad about having to leave our three precious children in MS.



Friday:
Pops and JoJo arrived at 7:00 am Friday morning to pick up 3 special people....Beckett, John Scott, and Cathryn.


(Say a special prayer for each one of them.)
Brian and I headed to Atlanta to catch a 4:19 flight. We had a small stop in Birmingham, AL. When we got back on the road, several miles down the road, and we noticed the air pressure in one of the back tires was very very low. Prayed that we could make it to the next exit and that the next exit would have a gas station. Next exit was 1 mile away. We got off and there was a huge car dealership on the right and a gas station on the left! We prayed for what we thought we needed, God gave us what He knew we needed....isn't that the same in life? The car dealership took off the flat tire only to have found a bent inside rim. The kind and quick service man put the donout on the car. Just some air from the gas station was not going to get us very far.....






(New Tire: very small.)

We where both a little
uncomfortable about the limited time we had to get to the airport on the very small tire (did you see the picture of all of our luggage). Made it to the Atlanta airport at 2:00...good, time to spare. So we thought! At the self-check in, my passport could not be read. We stood in another line, the lady at the Delta counter pointed me to another tremendously long line. Brian was checked in, I was in the other line (which was not moving). I think Brian began to panic about going to China alone, he told another kind man the urgency of the situation...it was 3:15 and we still had to go through security. Very long story, lots of begging, explaining, running, and sweating. we made it to our gate. Just in time!!!

We flew from Atlanta to LAX, had a 3 hour layover in LA and then a 15 hour flight to Guangzhou.
We arrived I. Guangzhou at 5:30am Sunday morning. Thanks so so so much for your prayers...the flight was not near as bad as anticipated.

We had a car pick us up at the airport and we checked in to our hotel. Brian and I immediately got something to eat.



(Slurping some noodles)

After a shower and a little rest, we decided to walk around and see the city. It's beautiful in such a different way than USA. Guangzhou is a city with 17 million people in it...I was expecting something like NYC, but it's much bigger and very very different.









No hotdogs for sale on the corner....squid!



No thank you!! 😁

Brian and I were exhausted at 3pm. We went back to the hotel and ordered room service. We at at 4:30 and went to bed at 5:00pm. So, now that it's 2am, I'm wide awake blogging.

Thanks for being on this adventure with us. We know you are praying for us...we truly feel covered in prayer! We know that we love and serve a faithful God that hears and answers our prayers.

Challenge: flat tire/busted rim

Celebration: "And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:19

Gotta get a little more rest!

Tomorrow is GOTCHA DAY!!!