The cool part is, it was all captured on video (not for reasons we would've ever wanted, but hey, I guess God wanted to use an emergency plane landing as a way for all to see our adoption story)!!! What a blessing that although you couldn't all be at the airport to see Ellie come home, you could see it all captured on video via the news!!!
Tokyo-To-SFO Flight Makes Emergency Landing In Alaska « CBS San Francisco
So...let's see where I left off on our last blog... Oh yeah, Tokyo, Japan!!
We had fun playing in the play area, then boarded our flight!!! I can tell you that at this point, we were so ready to be at home and see our boys!!! We were also exhasted from almost 24 hours of travel thus far... Just 12 more hours to go and then we were home...
But God had far different plans!!! About 5 or so hours into our flight we started experiencing some heavy turbulence! We were eating dinner at the time, and let me tell you it was a little bit like eating dinner while riding a roller coaster... Had to hold our food trays and drinks down :-)...
Then it settled down and a few minutes later we heard a bang followed by a rumble (kind of a similar sound and feeling to when the landing gear comes down). Tim had the flight tracker on his tv screen and we noticed that the plane had started descending. I immediately felt the terrible feeling that something was wrong!! A few minutes later and more descending, I asked Tim to go ask the stewardesses. He said they didn't know, but all of them seemed chipper, so not to worry. We then noticed on the flight tracker that the airplane had diverted from the original path and had turned towards Alaska.
At this point I wish I could say that I had great peace and a steadfast faith that everything was going to be okay, but I was genuinely scared!!! I just wanted to see our boys and give them a hug one more time!!! Tim stayed incredibly strong throughout the whole ordeal and I was so thankful for that!!! After a little bit, I had to go to the bathroom and mustered up the courage to go despite being very afraid!!! While in the bathroom I began to think of what I would tell the boys if they were with me... I started smiling and sang one of our favorite songs that we sing as a family (a camp song Tim and I learned when we were younger taken straight from the book of Isaiah), "Fear not, for I am with you! fear not! for I am with you! fear not! For I am with you says The Lord!!!"
I am thankful that although my initial human response was fear, I was able to get to the place (after a long while) where I could carry out Philippians 4... "Do not be anxious about anything..."
After what seemed like a very long time, the captain came on and shared that the loud sound we heard was an engine problem and that we were okay and the engine was still working, but we needed to make an emergency landing in Cold Bay, Alaska. Yikes...still totally freaky as we were over the ocean and Cold Bay was the closest to land we could get (we prayed hard that the engine wouldn't fail)!!!
We then landed and were told that we had to stay on the plane for at least 6 hours due to the fact that there were no customes in Cold Bay...
I can tell you that it was nice to be on a plane that had individual TV's and the airline did it's best to keep us comfortable and fed.
After what seemed to be an eternity, we were finally able to get out and walk on land...woo hoo!!! They bundled Ellie and I up in a blanket and comforter for the cold walk down the stairs to the shuttle bus. It was freezing outside, and I, being a California girl had my flip flops on :-)!!! It was totally beautiful too!!! I have always heard that Alaska was beautiful, and I can now attest to that!!! We then boarded a little shuttle bus and drove about 100 ft. :-) (maybe a few feet more, but not much) to the Cold Bay School. There were 8 kids total in the school (Cold Bay's population is around 100).
The school was gracious enough to let all of us use their internet because none of us got reception, so up until now we had no way to contact our families!!! I felt so bad to hear that my family had already drove the hour and a half to get to the airport because the flight said we were on time...of course by this time it was already 2:00 PM and our flight was supposed to land in the morning. Thanks Gramps and Gramma for entertaining the boys ALL day and night in San Fran!!!
Oh, I left out a funny (at least funny now) part of the story... While we were on the ground sitting on the plane, Ellie started having an allergic reaction and broke out in hives over her whole body. Of course we had Benedryl, but it was in the checked bag because it was too big of a liquid item to go in the carry on.
Tim asked the flight attendants if they had any, and of course they did, but it was in the "lock box." In order for them to get it, they would have to put the plane in lock down mode and lock the pilots back up in the cock pit (no problem if we were flying in the air, but we were on the ground...). They made an announcement to ask others on board, and all the Benedryl that people had was in pill form. We decided to chop up a little piece of one pill and put it in her bottle, but of course she wasn't having it!!
She was super itchy, and I really didn't know what to do!!! When we finally got off the plane and arrived at the school, I decided to ask the principal of the school (who also happened to be the teacher, special ed teacher, and janitor of the school...lol!!!!). She was the sweetest, kindest lady ever!!! She got on the phone to contact the small store (who had it, PTL!!!), and then called another lady to go pick it up. The Benedryl arrived within 3 minutes I think!!!
I then went in to the small classroom of 8 kids to say thank you!!! The principal/teacher/janitor asked me to share with the class about our adoption and all the different parts of China we went to!! They all LOVED Ellie and thought it was so cool that we adopted her!!! They even got my email address so they could write to us!!!
I told them that although she is Chinese, she becomes a US Citizen upon touch down into the U.S....how cool is that that she "technically" became a US Citizen in the small town of Cold Bay, Alaska (although since there is no customs there, it didn't become official until San Fran). The kids at the school thought that was so cool!!!
I joked with Tim that there would probably be reporters when we arrived in San Fran, and I guess maybe we could spread the word about the orphans that way...little did we know!!!!
Soooo, we finally boarded the new airplane and as we watched the people try to transfer our check on luggage into the new airplane using tractors and forklifts, the most beautiful rainbow Tim and I have ever seen appeared in the sky...It was a full one!!! Our God is big, mighty, and faithful!!!
As we headed back to San Fran, I can honestly say that we were soooo exhausted!! The Benedryl conked Ellie out, so she slept the whole way home!!! We tried to sleep, but it was difficult...
Arriving in San Fran, Tim and I realized that it had been almost 48 hours of travel (From Guangzhou, to Beijing, Beijing to Tokyo, Tokyo to Alaska, and Alaska to San Francisco) with no sleep...
We got off the plane over 12 hours later than was scheduled, headed through customs and immigration, then to the baggage claim... we were so excited to finally see our boys!!!
We headed to the waiting area only to be greeted by our boys, my parents and about 12 cameras and reporters all waiting for our story.. welcome to America Ellie!!! :-) (They apparently had already heard about Ellie from the kids at Cold Bay school that the reporters had talked to!!!)
What a homecoming!!!! And as I said, you couldn't all be there to see the homecoming, but because it was all captured on video, you can see it now!!!
As a side note...we are all completely exhausted... emotionally and physically!!! I honestly don't know how many days it will take for us to feel "normal" again, but we're so glad to be home!!! Ellie's doing great, and is enthralled by her big brothers!!!
Tokyo-To-SFO Flight Makes Emergency Landing In Alaska « CBS San Francisco
So...let's see where I left off on our last blog... Oh yeah, Tokyo, Japan!!
We had fun playing in the play area, then boarded our flight!!! I can tell you that at this point, we were so ready to be at home and see our boys!!! We were also exhasted from almost 24 hours of travel thus far... Just 12 more hours to go and then we were home...
But God had far different plans!!! About 5 or so hours into our flight we started experiencing some heavy turbulence! We were eating dinner at the time, and let me tell you it was a little bit like eating dinner while riding a roller coaster... Had to hold our food trays and drinks down :-)...
Then it settled down and a few minutes later we heard a bang followed by a rumble (kind of a similar sound and feeling to when the landing gear comes down). Tim had the flight tracker on his tv screen and we noticed that the plane had started descending. I immediately felt the terrible feeling that something was wrong!! A few minutes later and more descending, I asked Tim to go ask the stewardesses. He said they didn't know, but all of them seemed chipper, so not to worry. We then noticed on the flight tracker that the airplane had diverted from the original path and had turned towards Alaska.
At this point I wish I could say that I had great peace and a steadfast faith that everything was going to be okay, but I was genuinely scared!!! I just wanted to see our boys and give them a hug one more time!!! Tim stayed incredibly strong throughout the whole ordeal and I was so thankful for that!!! After a little bit, I had to go to the bathroom and mustered up the courage to go despite being very afraid!!! While in the bathroom I began to think of what I would tell the boys if they were with me... I started smiling and sang one of our favorite songs that we sing as a family (a camp song Tim and I learned when we were younger taken straight from the book of Isaiah), "Fear not, for I am with you! fear not! for I am with you! fear not! For I am with you says The Lord!!!"
I am thankful that although my initial human response was fear, I was able to get to the place (after a long while) where I could carry out Philippians 4... "Do not be anxious about anything..."
After what seemed like a very long time, the captain came on and shared that the loud sound we heard was an engine problem and that we were okay and the engine was still working, but we needed to make an emergency landing in Cold Bay, Alaska. Yikes...still totally freaky as we were over the ocean and Cold Bay was the closest to land we could get (we prayed hard that the engine wouldn't fail)!!!
We then landed and were told that we had to stay on the plane for at least 6 hours due to the fact that there were no customes in Cold Bay...
I can tell you that it was nice to be on a plane that had individual TV's and the airline did it's best to keep us comfortable and fed.
After what seemed to be an eternity, we were finally able to get out and walk on land...woo hoo!!! They bundled Ellie and I up in a blanket and comforter for the cold walk down the stairs to the shuttle bus. It was freezing outside, and I, being a California girl had my flip flops on :-)!!! It was totally beautiful too!!! I have always heard that Alaska was beautiful, and I can now attest to that!!! We then boarded a little shuttle bus and drove about 100 ft. :-) (maybe a few feet more, but not much) to the Cold Bay School. There were 8 kids total in the school (Cold Bay's population is around 100).
The school was gracious enough to let all of us use their internet because none of us got reception, so up until now we had no way to contact our families!!! I felt so bad to hear that my family had already drove the hour and a half to get to the airport because the flight said we were on time...of course by this time it was already 2:00 PM and our flight was supposed to land in the morning. Thanks Gramps and Gramma for entertaining the boys ALL day and night in San Fran!!!
Oh, I left out a funny (at least funny now) part of the story... While we were on the ground sitting on the plane, Ellie started having an allergic reaction and broke out in hives over her whole body. Of course we had Benedryl, but it was in the checked bag because it was too big of a liquid item to go in the carry on.
Tim asked the flight attendants if they had any, and of course they did, but it was in the "lock box." In order for them to get it, they would have to put the plane in lock down mode and lock the pilots back up in the cock pit (no problem if we were flying in the air, but we were on the ground...). They made an announcement to ask others on board, and all the Benedryl that people had was in pill form. We decided to chop up a little piece of one pill and put it in her bottle, but of course she wasn't having it!!
She was super itchy, and I really didn't know what to do!!! When we finally got off the plane and arrived at the school, I decided to ask the principal of the school (who also happened to be the teacher, special ed teacher, and janitor of the school...lol!!!!). She was the sweetest, kindest lady ever!!! She got on the phone to contact the small store (who had it, PTL!!!), and then called another lady to go pick it up. The Benedryl arrived within 3 minutes I think!!!
I then went in to the small classroom of 8 kids to say thank you!!! The principal/teacher/janitor asked me to share with the class about our adoption and all the different parts of China we went to!! They all LOVED Ellie and thought it was so cool that we adopted her!!! They even got my email address so they could write to us!!!
I told them that although she is Chinese, she becomes a US Citizen upon touch down into the U.S....how cool is that that she "technically" became a US Citizen in the small town of Cold Bay, Alaska (although since there is no customs there, it didn't become official until San Fran). The kids at the school thought that was so cool!!!
I joked with Tim that there would probably be reporters when we arrived in San Fran, and I guess maybe we could spread the word about the orphans that way...little did we know!!!!
Soooo, we finally boarded the new airplane and as we watched the people try to transfer our check on luggage into the new airplane using tractors and forklifts, the most beautiful rainbow Tim and I have ever seen appeared in the sky...It was a full one!!! Our God is big, mighty, and faithful!!!
As we headed back to San Fran, I can honestly say that we were soooo exhausted!! The Benedryl conked Ellie out, so she slept the whole way home!!! We tried to sleep, but it was difficult...
Arriving in San Fran, Tim and I realized that it had been almost 48 hours of travel (From Guangzhou, to Beijing, Beijing to Tokyo, Tokyo to Alaska, and Alaska to San Francisco) with no sleep...
We got off the plane over 12 hours later than was scheduled, headed through customs and immigration, then to the baggage claim... we were so excited to finally see our boys!!!
We headed to the waiting area only to be greeted by our boys, my parents and about 12 cameras and reporters all waiting for our story.. welcome to America Ellie!!! :-) (They apparently had already heard about Ellie from the kids at Cold Bay school that the reporters had talked to!!!)
What a homecoming!!!! And as I said, you couldn't all be there to see the homecoming, but because it was all captured on video, you can see it now!!!
As a side note...we are all completely exhausted... emotionally and physically!!! I honestly don't know how many days it will take for us to feel "normal" again, but we're so glad to be home!!! Ellie's doing great, and is enthralled by her big brothers!!!
Making the most of our time on the plane!!!!
Finally our family of 5 together!!!
Biggest brother holding me!!!
Big brother giving me my bottle!!!
Super Hero's and an adorable ladybug!!!!
Looking adorable!!!
Welcome Home!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment