Our First Journey Together

When the infamous…”that’s ‘in famous’…it means ‘more than famous” …interview was over, our guide Grace told us that the agency had been pursuing this heart attack expediting situation and wanted us to leave that same day (Wednesday) instead of the planned Friday departure. They were moving up our consulate appointment to Monday and if we were to make that work, the kids would have to have their physicals and TB testing done the following morning.

So we rushed upstairs to pack, then headed out to grab some lunch…by ourselves…no guide.  Thankfully we had pictures to point at and ended up with some pretty good food.  We laid the kids down for their first nap as their parents and waited to leave. After grabbing the notarized documents from another government agency, we headed to the airport…more than just a tad anxious about the flight with these 2 that the Father had placed in our care.

It wasn’t a good sign that the entire way to the airport, Zoe kept saying, “I want out of this car!!!”…in Chinese of course…but the message was already clear even before the translation.

Checking in took quite a long time because we told them about her heart condition so people were running to and fro (impressive phrase usage…) trying to get every waiver possible signed, blood collected from the finger pricks, and a witch’s brew concocted from a lock of her hair. Ok…extreme…went too far…I’ll leave it to you to decide where I left reality.

The kids were fine getting on and chillin with me while they ate every snack I’d brought…until it was time to fasten seat belts and sit alone. Holy cannoli. If any of you were pr*ying for us around 6:00 pm on Wednesday evening, please stop…you live in opposite land. Cease and desist immediately.

Sooooo very thankful for the flight attendants who provided some seat belt attachments that slid onto our seat belts and strapped them in tight. They were able to sit on our laps as needed. Zoe never left mine…Zane, not so much. That kid…seriously…I’ve never in my life seen anything like it. He’s amazing brilliant with an enormously mischievous side. He takes…or rips…everything apart in order to see how it works. At all times, things are flying through the air or dumping on the ground!  Then he looks at you with this crazy grin like, ”are you watching me?!?” He’s also got a vice grip so you better be committed if you’re going in on a retrieval mission.  He’ll either be a genius millionaire or end up in juvi by age 4.

Zoe was, of course, the big concern and seemed ok, for the most part. I’d turned her around to lay on my shoulder before take-off (still kept the belt on for you obsessive safety people), and when we began to taxi to lift off, she threw a death grip on my neck the likes of which Hulk Hogan would be proud.  I did the only thing I could think to do…sing. My tune of choice won’t be too impressive, but it’s the only song that would come to mind.

1-2-3 J*sus loves me

1-2 He loves you too

3 and 4 He loves you more… more than you’ve ever been loved before

            (I had a hard time getting passed this line so I just kept singing it

            until I could move on)

5-6-7 I’m on my way to H**ven

8-9 Truly divine

Now I’ve sung right up to 10. Let’s go back and sing it again.

            (and I did…over and over)

She finally fell asleep again so I did what I could with my one arm to hog tie the little varmit beside me.

Unfortunately, the word turbulence doesn’t seem to fully explain to you what we endured during that 2 hour flight, but that was indeed the word they continued to use.  I mean, seriously…when things are flying through the air and you’re using actual muscles in your body to hold yourself in place as well as the toddler on your lap, do I really need you to explain to me that we’re experiencing a bit of turbulence?!?! Dude…just get us there and land this thing.

As Zoe grew more and more agitated (which we cannot allow her to do given the heart condition), I just kept singing that same song…and pr*ying that He would spare her life and allow the plane to land safely. He did both. I’m trying not to take that for granted. My concern is now that we will have to drag her kicking and screaming on the long flight home because she will remember that flight and how scared she was.

We arrived at our hotel around 10 pm…thrilled at the sight of modern conveniences, luxury, and English-speaking guests. No joke. This place is straight-up 007. Having been “roughing it” for 4 days, yours truly was stoked to walk in to an air-conditioned room. I will seriously never take this for granted again. Every good and perfect gift…pretty sure this place was not on that list, but it truly felt like a gift...so it counts in my book.

The kids zonked out immediately…and so did their parents.  Little did we know the difficulties we’d all experience the next day…one night’s sleep was not going to be enough.