We made it! We are in Beijing!

We have arrived at our hotel after the longest plane ride we've ever imagined... I didn't know a plane could run that long without running out of fuel. Amazing! We were disappointed prior to boarding our flight in Chicago as we were not able to get seats next to each other for the Beijing flight. Thankfully when we boarded the plane a very nice Chinese gentleman switched seats with me. Even better, the seats we were assigned to were economy plus just a row behind first class. The leg room was phenomenal! I'm very thankful for that! We flew over 6,500 miles today, over 15 hours, over the upper northern hemisphere including Canada, Alaska, Siberia, the Arctic Ocean an a whole bunch of mountains. It was alot of tv, reading, gaming, standing up, walking to the other end of the plane, sitting, stretching, yawning, talking, eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating and so on...

After we successfully landed the airport was amazing! I didn't realize that it is the largest airport terminal in the world. It is something else...

After a long bus ride to the hotel (the driver got lost) we are finally here. Although very tired we found ourselves very hungry so we tried to go downstairs to order some food. Seems that we aren't quite ready to be on our own as we had trouble figuring out prices and menu items. We ended up coming back to our room for Wheat Thins and a snack bar. mmmmmm goood! Guess will have to figure out that stuff in the morning.

Much more to share but very, very tired. Take care and we hope to hear from you while we are here. Please post a note or drop us an email. Just a little bit closer to our little girl. We saw so many littler reminders of her on the plane all around us. Families adopting for the first and second time along with other chinese families traveling home. We're coming Bethany!

More tomorrow as we are going to the Summer Palace (in the winter), the Jade factory and the Great Wall (just a part of it). Hopefully I can learn some more of the language and how to handle my Yuan Renminbi.

Amen! (that wasn't a prayer exactly but it feels like I should say that after today!)

Dan