Just a memory now...

We left last Wednesday March 19th...China time. We made a decision to not go up at breakfast time and say goodbye to the children. It would have just been too darn sad and we used the excuse of the chaos of breakfast time, which was true. At best it would have been more quick kisses and hugs and the kids would have been upset with just a short visit. That was our rationale.

We also didn't want to have to say goodbye to Brittany so we let her sleep.  Amanda came down to get the mail...she said...but had a note to thank us for coming. By 830 am we were in a cab and on our way.......or so we thought. After a 2 1/2 hour delay due to winds off the Gobi dessert we officially were too late for our connection in Beijing and  ended up in a pretty seedy hotel there courtesy of Air China...........until the next day .....24 hours later. Ended up in the police station at the airport because we thought the airline had paid the cab driver and we refused to. He was all set to beat me up and big scene etc etc. Just more excitement on our trip and we sorted it out and laugh about it ........now.

Flight home was good and not as torturous as I had thought.........only 11 hours long!!

Before we left I had booked us into a hotel in Vancouver to get over some of our jet lag before we began our usual Easter celebrations at Derek's brothers home in the city. We had so lost track of time we were moving forward in time and were shocked when we arrived to find we had gained and not lost a day. More importantly we still had our reservation and if we hadn't missed our flight we wouldn't have had the hotel because I booked it for the wrong day. Ha, ha,ha. seemed hard to believe it was thursday and not Friday.

so we stocked up on goodies and magazines and books and headed to our lovely hotel. Fluffy clean pillows and duvets and pristine bathrooms with water we weren't afraid of. Bliss.

We had room service and watched TV and read and slept and it was lovely!!!

A little piece of our hearts are with our children in a province in China nad will be until they all have a home. If things go according to plan I pray I can fulfill my promise to Grace and next year take her to meet the kids........and then it will be Beth's turn. Isabel would love to go back but she may have to do that when she is bigger........maybe with her sisters for a summer?

I will be forever grateful we had this opportunity. It has meant so much on so many levels.

So now it is time to wrap up our blog. Isabel has her final thoughts and I would like to add some more photos  but we are closing the page on this most interesting chapter. Thank you all for following along on the journey and excuse any typos or thoughtlessness on my part.