We are finally on our way to China! We dropped our kids off at my parents’ house Thursday evening, and they seem to be settling in very well. My parents have all kinds of fun activities planned for them, and I think they are going to have a great time. We went back home to a very empty house, packed up the rest of our stuff and then attempted to get some good sleep. I fell asleep immediately and slept very deeply at first, but was wide awake by 4:45, and never got back to sleep at all. We finally got up about 6:30, and had plenty of time to get ready before our pastor arrived at 12:00. He took us to CVG, and we made it through security so quickly, that we ended up with two and a half hours to kill before our plane boarded. The plane was packed, and they asked for a few volunteers to check their carry-on baggage to their final destination at no extra cost. Greg and I both agreed, because we thought it would be nice not to have the extra pull-behinds and strollers as we navigated the LA airport. The flight from CVG to LAX was uneventful, and we arrived here with no problem. We grabbed some dinner, and then went to check in at the counter to print our last couple of boarding passes. That’s where we ran into our first major snag. It turns out that the carry-on luggage CAN’T be checked all the way to our final destination, because we didn’t pay the extra fees, so they need to pull those items off and have us carry them on. That wouldn’t be any problem, except they can’t seem to find our bags at all. They have been looking for them for an hour now. They told us to come back at 9:00, and we really hope they have found them by then, because the plane boards at 10:00. We are both so tired already, and we know that the hard part of this journey is still ahead of us. We just keep trying to focus on Hallie, and knowing that we will meet her for the first time in about 48 hours. (We are obviously focused on Isabelle too, but since we don’t get to meet her for another week still, it is more helpful to focus on Hallie right now). We are so thankful to be at this point in our adoption, and so grateful to God for everything He provided to make this possible for us. Right now we are just really tired. And we miss our kids. Three weeks is a very long time to be away from all of them. The internet connection at LAX is pitiful, so probably by the time I actually get this posted, we will have resolved the situation with our bags and everything. But please pray for us anyway. Pray for us as we fly that God will keep reminding us why we are doing this and that we will rely on Him to sustain us. Thanks!

Kristie