We're in Beijing!

We made it! Our flight last night from Shanghai to Beijing was delayed by about an hour so we didn't actually get to our hotel until midnight. We were three whipped puppies! The upside to that is that we were all able to sleep through the night until 6 AM (which is actually 5 PM at home). I think we have a good start on kicking this jetlag!

Mom handled the trip like a champ. Before leaving, we were a little concerned about what 21 hours of travel would do to her legs. However, she had very little swelling and we are attributing that to the wonderful leg massage she had at the Atlanta Airport (in front of the electronics store).
Our hotel is absolutely beautiful and over-the-top comfortable. Once again, FTIA came through for us. They requested adjoining rooms for Mom and us and the hotel delivered. Having the adjoining rooms just makes or space feel so much bigger! The photo below is the doorway from our room into Mom's room. These pictures don't actually do the room justice. There is rich woodwork everywhere.

I did manage to blow up a circuit or fuse or something last night. I plugged our power converter into an outlet and then plugged in a 6-outlet power strip from home and it ticked off the "power gods". All the lights in one corner of our room flipped off. Everything works again this morning except for one lamp and I think we can live without that for now. We did all kinds of testing before actually plugging in our computers this morning. I learned my lesson! (Note to others who will be traveling sometime in the near future... some adoptive families who have been here before have been able to get those power strips to work. I have not. Use at your own risk!)

The rest of our travel group arrives this afternoon. We're looking forward to seeing Kris, Shawn, and Kaycee, and meeting the 8 other families in our travel group. The rest of today is a free day as we continue to adjust to the new time zone. We will venture out in a bit to visit some shops and to find a bite to eat. Much to Doug's delight, there is a McDonalds just down the block from our hotel.

Thanks, dear family and friends, for celebrating this journey with us and for the many Facebook messages and emails. We don't have the time to respond to each one individually but so appreciate every message and all of your prayers. More pictures from the first leg of the journey can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/grabersnow/ChinaDay1.

Much love,

Beth, Doug, and Mom