Update #10: Day 10

Day 10 (Aug 2) – Flight to Guangzhou

 

After an early morning walk and watching some tai chi, we got everyone ready and headed downstairs for breakfast.  We’ve been blessed to have a breakfast buffet that has worked well for all of our crew.  After breakfast, we worked on packing for our trip.  This took longer than anticipated, and took the whole time up to when we had to leave.  Joanna handled things really well, especially since she doesn’t know where we’re going or why.  We have been reading her a children’s book about flying that we had brought from home to help prepare her for what to expect.  She seemed excited to fly.  We loaded into the van, and headed for the airport around 1:30pm, after receiving her passport and paperwork.

 

The check-in at the airport went smoothly.  Our rep had us go to the business/first class check-in line – nice and fast!  Many flights were delayed going into Guangzhou due to a typhoon passing nearby, causing some rough weather.  Our flight loaded at the scheduled time, while some new friends of ours had their flight cancelled and travelled 4 hours later!  We loaded on time (via shuttle bus), but then sat on the plane for about 45 minutes to 1 hour before moving into line for takeoff.  Takeoff was about 90 minutes late, I think.  It was Joanna’s first flight, and she did great!  She loved having a window seat, getting a meal on the plane, and playing on Lynette’s Kindle (she figured out most of the apps…good thing we didn’t have wi-fi or we might have ended up with some unwanted purchases!).  Landing was pretty smooth, not really much turbulence during the whole time.  In the baggage claim area, we had a lady insist that our bag was hers.  Not sure how she came to that conclusion…the tags on the bag read our name.  I showed her the tags, at which point she left to look for her bags.  We are quite a sight for the locals, with 4 kids and 9 bags (not counting our small backpacks).  They think it’s quite humorous.  Our host in Guangzhou was ill and couldn’t make it to the airport, so a colleague of hers met us and got us on a private van to the hotel.  By the time we got checked in, ate a snack, and got ready for bed, it was about 10 pm.  We let the kids watch a little of the cartoon network on TV while we finished getting ready.  Apparently, when you’re really tired, Tom & Jerry is really funny.  Hannah was laughing so loudly that the next room’s occupant came out and rang our doorbell (they have doorbells on these rooms)…oops.  So ended the evening’s entertainment for the kids!

 

Joanna had some quiet moments during the day.  It seems like every time we get in a van, she gets very introspective and non-communicative.  She knows things are dramatically changing for her.  She tries so hard to be brave and not cry.  Please continue to pray for her to be comforted by the Lord, and that we’ll know how to help comfort her as best we can.  She shed some quiet tears at bedtime tonight.  I can only imagine what is going on inside her head.  She tolerates my attempts at comforting her, but doesn’t seek my comfort or warm to it.  If she would only allow us to walk through her grieving with her and not try to carry it on her own.