Amazing

Hello Friends and Family,

Today was a long but amazing day. We went to bed yesterday at 8:30 and woke up at 11:15 and decided to FaceTime the kids. Around midnight we fell back to sleep only to awaken at 3:00 to pray. Around 4:00 we fell back to sleep and woke up to our 4:45 alarm. We met our group in the lobby at 5:30. We arrived at the airport at 6:30 and we dropped off 6 other families at security. Our guide Tom then guided us through checking our bags and to security. It was bittersweet to say goodbye to so many new friends from Bethany as they each headed to their province to meet their child. The sweet part is we will see everyone again on Friday!

We were all alone at the Beijing airport in a sea of Asian faces. Once we arrived at our gate a friendly Chinese daddy and his 14 month old son began to talk with us. He was so kind. He spoke wonderful English. He currently lives in the Netherlands and was traveling home to visit his parents with his son. His wife remained behind in the Netherlands.

Shortly after this we met 7 families who were on our same flight heading to the same hotel in our province.....How cool is that? We left one group of families and God gave us another group of families to travel with. He also gave us our kind Chinese friend to translate for us. At 9:00 we were told that our plane was delayed indefinitely due to fog at our destination....they gave us a box breakfast. At 11:30 they served us lunch and told us the flight was still delayed. We continued visiting with these amazing families and were so encouraged by their love for the orphans of the world. Almost all the families we met were in the process of adopting their second or third child and two families were even bringing two children home on this trip. Wow!!

By 2:30 we were told that they were not sure our fight would leave that day and to please go get new tickets for the next day of get a refund. They offered to transport us to a hotel. Tim and I were so thankful that this group adopted us and were willing to let us stay with them throughout the process of trying to figure out a way to travel to our province. We even discussed taking the bullet train.

While waiting for our checked luggage to be returned a young lady approached me and asked me if I knew Susanna? How amazing is that? Susanna for those who don't know her is a dear friend from our church. Their family has a miraculous adoption story that everyone should read. You can check it out at blessing of verity Well this woman ,Erin was someone who has never met Susanna but who reads her blog. When Susanna realized that we were both traveling to the same country at the same time she shared links to each other's blogs with us. Well just that morning Erin and her husband Jeff had looked at our blog and after seeing our photos recognized Tim from the photo at Tienanaman Square. WOW!!!!   Her husband read about how I had an ear infection and he just happens to be a doctor and he offered to look at my ear with his otoscope right in the middle of the airport. He diagnosed it and gave me a nasal spray to use. Talk about the fathers hand of providence. He is so good too us, he even makes "airport calls". (My ear feel so much better, thank you Dr. Jeff)

Our group gathered together and prayed that we would see the Red Sea part and that we would be able to travel to get our children. We then headed to a local hotel and after about 30 minutes we were on our way back to the airport since the flight was now a go. Back through baggage checking and back through security and to the gate with only minutes to spare. We safely made it to our province by the hand of Providence. We rejoice in His goodness to us. Please join us in praying for tomorrow as we get our sweet Wyatt!!!   We leave here at 8:00 in the morning to begin this new chapter of our lives as a family of 11! That sounds like a big family in the making! Tomorrow Lord willing we will post photos and a video of our "Gotcha Day".

Off to bed now it is 11:14. Please pray for sleep! Thank you!

In the grip of His grace,

Tim and Dawn