December 6th started bright and early with much humor when we loaded up in Denanne Heil’s Durango for the trip to St. Louis airport: as dad climbed in, he sat on his yogurt cup, causing it to burst and making a mess of the seat of his pants. Considering the fact that we were already behind schedule, he didn't have time to change. We all got a kick out of that! Before we had even crossed the Mississippi, Merriella had already begun her long and perpetual question that would be asked over the next twenty four hours seemingly every five minutes; "Mommy, are we to China?!?
Pop Quiz: Does anyone know how long it takes to get a family of 6 and a grandma through airport security? Hint: A LONG time!
Even though we boarded the plane on time, our flight was delayed by over an hour. Safe arrival in Chicago. We made it through and boarded the flight to Beijing. Now, for the really tricky question... "When leaving Chicago, which way do you fly to reach destination Beijing?" WRONG! You fly north-north west. Then, take a plunge south west. The earth is a ball that rotates!
6pm, St. Louis time: Just above Queen Elizabeth Islands, just 8 hours and 8 minutes to go. Ground speed of 514 mph, 3,987 miles to destination! When the fourth movie was over, (yes, the 4th one!) we were flying over Siberia and still had 5 hours to go! I'll spare you all the details, but as we landed in Beijing, we could see the famous Great Wall of China. Through aisle walking, we learned that there were 28 other adoptive families on our same flight. In the airport in Xi'an, we aquired many stares and fingers, due to our large luggage train and enough people to start an army. Not many people in China have a family with 4 children, 3 of which are girls. We all arrived at the hotel cold, aching, and lacking sleep.
