Landed

I am sitting on the porch of our friend Jan's 19th story apartment and we are waking up to our first full day in Shanghai!

The plane ride was OK if we were not expecting to sleep. Once I decided I just wouldn't, I had a much better time:) Kevin was a trooper with his 6 foot 1 frame crammed in the middle of economy, he could barely move. But he didn't complain. We chatted a bit with a fellow from Wuxi (semi close to Peng's city) - but who lives in Boston now. We pelted him with questions and he was happy to share. He was interested in hearing about our adoption journey as well.

If any of you were praying for a lack of jetlag or good sleep....thank you! I am overwhelmed with how relatively 'easy' the transition has been so far. We stayed up pretty much on the plane, then were able to get to bed by 8pm last night. I took three sprays of my melatonin and both of us slept pretty well. I had heard terrible stories of waking up every few hours, being hungry, not being able to get back to sleep....but we were able to go back to sleep when we woke and slept pretty much from 8pm - 6am China time. So awesome. This was also great because, as Jan warned us, the horns really start beeping around 6am. The Chinese driving apparently uses horns in place of blinkers. Just imagine how many times you use your blinker when you're out driving. Now replace that with everyone using horns instead! It's true, we're listening to the music right now :) But we slept right up until the horns, so all is well.  I'm spending an entire paragraph telling you about our sleep, I realize, but if we are not well rested, we will not be at our prime in taking care of Peng, so I'm thrilled for our experience so far.

Jan and his girlfriend, Michelle took us out to dinner last night for Peking Duck. My first time eating duck! It was really good. And the veggies were terrific also. A great local restaurant and fun to catch up with Jan and get to know Michelle a bit. With Jan being Polish and Michelle from  L.A., they are sharing their perspectives on what it's like to live in Shanghai. Learning lots!

Upon arrival, I thought it would be fun to get a picture of the welcome sign at the airport. I got a firm reprimand for this. whoops. Things are a bit tighter here.

A highlight so far was connecting the my mom and dad and the kids this morning via Skype. Their Friday night, our Saturday morning - timing was perfect. There were surely tears last Thursday when we all said good-bye. But it seems like they're adjusting OK and mom and dad said there have been no melt-downs so far. Jude did share that he wants to fall asleep and wake up 14 days later though :) Sweet kid.

We're looking forward to seeing the city a little bit with Jan and Michelle today. It rained a bit yesterday so that cooled the temps. The skies are hazy, but hard to tell if it's smog or just from the rain.

Right now we're on Jan's internet access, we'll see if we can figure it all out on our own once we head to Nanjing on the bullet train tomorrow.

Trying to wrap up the post - no time to edit - I've gotten booted before, so I want to post before I get booted again.

Both Kevin and I are feeling at peace being here and thankful for God's protection over us and our kids. We are also anticipating God's continued faithfulness as we meet Peng in a few short days. Blessings on all of you and your families!