Brutal

That's the one word I could come up with to describe today. Just brutal.

Rush never went to sleep....I got 2 hours. We were out the door at about 4:15am to go the airport, flew to Newark and had over a 5 hour layover. We pretty much found a spot just to hang out for a while and parked there for most of the time. It just so happened to be near a gate for a flight heading to Phoenix and we saw Cindy McCain waiting to board!

Anyway, our flight to Beijing left around 1pm, set to arrive about 13 hours later. That flight is just killer. I remember thinking that surely, we were close. Instead, we were only 1/3 of the way there!

It doesn't help that I am sick. :( What's up with that timing? And the dry airplane air, lack of enough to drink, and no meds did me in. Now I have water and my little pharmacy, so hopefully that will help.

We met another lady on the flight from North Carolina who is adopting as well. This is also her second adoption. We have the same Consulate Appointment at the end of the trip, so we will see her again!

Anyway, we are here in Beijing, tired....but safe and sound.

Jonah did great on the flight. He watched some movies, slept some and read some. Now, he is bouncing off the walls...I think this time adjustment should be interesting!

He and Rush walked this evening and found a McDonald's for dinner. I crashed in the room for a bit. I'm hoping that a good night's rest will help me feel a little better.

Anyway, tomorrow morning (Saturday) we'll meet our group and head to do some sightseeing with our guide. We're set to see Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, a Jade Factory, and the Great Wall. We did the same tour where we were here adopting Rylie, but it should be cool experiencing it again with Jonah.

Then, Sunday we will fly to Guangzhou and Monday afternoon we are set to get Jude!

Please pray that I would feel better!!! It's really tough being here and not feeling up to par. I don't want to miss out on anything on this trip, nor do I want to be feeling bad as we get Jude!

Here are some pics from the trip....some of them were just taken with our little digital camcorder, so the quality is not very good!

Waiting in RIC at the crack of dawn

Our flying home for the next 13 hours

Jonah in our hotel lobby. This is the same Beijing hotel we stayed in when we

came to adopt Rylie.

McDonald's in China....he said it tasted the same as home!

Looking outside of our hotel

By the time the rest of the pictures uploaded....he was out!

Reagan and Rylie- We miss you girls so much!!! There was an advertisement in the Newark airport that had a picture of a little girl who was THE spitting image of Reagan! It looks like you guys are having fun. Are you using your countdown chains? Be good for everyone!! We love and miss you and hope we can Skype soon.