Hello 3:00k in the morning. :)
So I'm not exactly over my jet lag yet, but hey. . .i will get there. I'm thankful that my boys are doing great and Gary can sleep almost anywhere. Last night we were so tired and everyone was asleep by 8:00. Good thing we were tired. The firmness of these mattresses can not be described.
Yesterday was filled again with joy, tears, and tons of God. After breakfast we were finally able to connect with my mom via FaceTime. We had been trying and just couldn't make it work. Talking with and seeing her was so good for this mama. Then before bed last night, we were able to see and talk with the girls as they were getting up. Boy do I love them! It feels so strange to have lived a day and then see my kids as they are about the live the same day.
I'm still blogging through my friend. We discovered that we should have purchased a VPN while still in the states. We are unable to do so here, but we have a couple of ideas the make that right. I'll let you know if we are successful.
So although God was all over yesterday, we certainly saw Him work something huge for us. Rather than take a plane to Changsha (where we are now and where we will get Michael tomorrow!), we asked to take a train. We thought it would be fun and is much cheaper. John our guide met us and took us to the train station. I think it is the largest building I've ever been in. It was so huge there were 3 McDonalds in it. We successfully navigated our way to our train and we took off. Seeing the countryside was wonderful. John had told us that we would arrive after 2 1/2 hours, so around 2:30 we were coming to a stop. Garrison asked a woman who was getting off if this was Changsha and she said yes. We gathered all of our luggage and got off with many other passengers. It was not Changsha. Not. We wandered around looking for our guide. It is such a helpless feeling to be somewhere where you can't communicate with anyone, you have no phone, you can't read anything, and many many people are staring at you. Gary took this opportunity to be in charge and he did such a great job. I took this opportunity to follow Gary and pray a lot. I also kept telling the boys not to pet the stray dog.
Gary found some women who worked at the KFC and tried to ask them if this was Changsha. They could not understand him at all and kept pointing. (It made me smile a bit as I re breed our layover in Tokyo where we had to go through security again to make our connection. We hadn't know that and had our water bottles with us. As our bags went through the machine, they would come out and a security agent would pull out the bottle and then cross her arms to make a big "X" while shaking her head to let us know that these were not allowed. Gary and I have been regularly making the big arm "X" at various points since then. Funny stuff.)
Anyway, back to our dire situation. Suddenly this older man steps up and asks if we need help. He spoke English and had just returned from Nevada three days ago. He told us we were indeed in the wrong place and then led us up four flights of stairs and even carried one of our suitcases. He got us through security again and tied to pantomime what an aerosol can was as security wanted to go through our luggage. He then led us to the guards, showed them our tickets and explained our situation. He even showed his identification to explain who he was to them. I'm not sure what all that was about, but I kept on praying for him and thanking God for sending this man to us just when we needed him! We went through the gate then with a security guard and as we said good-bye to our Nevada friend, I couldn't stop thanking him enough.
It was here then that Garrison stepped up and began to use his mandarin. He was talking to the guard and as the guard made fun of Simon for looking like a girl, Garrison kept smiling and insisted that Simon was his brother. Every guard we met along the way, our guard would point and laugh about Simon and Garrison would talk about his brother. Simon's mandarin became non-existent and frankly, I don't blame him. While on the next bit of train ride where we didn't have a seat but had to stand (I was fine with it considering our circumstances! God had provided a way for us to get to where we needed to be--Bless Him!), Gary and I had to do a little processing with the boys including assuring Simon that we love him tons.
Getting off then in Changsha I was very nervous. There were thousands of people in this station and as we moved along we kept scanning for a sign. Then suddenly there it is. SPRICK
Oh how I loved seeing that sign! I belonged. I would be taken care of. I suddenly felt very secure. We met our new guide Stacy and she shuffled us off to our driver. She wouldn't be going with us because she hadn't seen on her paperwork that we were a family of four. The car she hired wasn't big enough for everyone and our luggage. We had to wait awhile at the hotel too because Stacy hadn't made reservations for the boys.
Anyway (this is getting long!) we went to dinner with a family here from Long Island. Our dinner wasn't great, but it felt good to be here, so unpack the suitcases, and to settle in to our new home for the next six days.
Stacy won't be with us today as our paperwork says it is a day of rest for us, so we are on our own. There is a grocery store nearby and we'll go and buy lots of bottled water. We hope to check out the pool--we have to wear a swim cap. I think we'll also take a walk at some point and explore our new neighborhood. Our new friends from Long Island are in this hotel for the fourth time, so they might have some ideas for us as well.
Please pray for our day that we enjoy each other and find fun things to do and see. Please pray that I can get on a regular sleep schedule. Please pray for Michael as this is his last day at his home before he goes to his new home. We meet him at 10:30 tomorrow morning, so tomorrow night if you are awake at 10:30, pray for us and for him as we'll become family.
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