We made it.

Well, we made it.  Let me tell you, that is one lllllooooonnnnggggg trip!  We had to really move to make our connection in Detroit.  They were doing their final boarding call as we huffed up to the gate, but we made it.  That flight was almost 13 hours long, and it was light the whole way.  Eventually, the flight attendants ask everyone to shut the windows shades and turn down the lights, so people can rest.  Ha,ha, that was not happening very well for me.  I only slept from about 12:30 until 2:30 when they woke everyone up to serve us breakfast.  Then we get off the plane an hour later, and it's 4:30 in the afternoon in Tokyo.  We got on our flight to Manila an hour later, and they immediately serve us supper.  It was wierd!!!  The flight to Manila was better because I managed another hour and a half of sleep.

We met Darren, the missionary from the home, with no problem.  Traffic was really crazy for midnight, but he got us to our accomodations safely.  By the time we got to sleep it was about 2:00am, and the neighborhood rooster woke us up about 6:30. 

This morning was a rough start with no phone, no internet, not tv.  Oh, how spoiled we have become!!!!  At least we had a hot shower.  Our manager has helped us with the internet, but it still seems a little sketchy to me.  At least I can post and contact our driver who is supposed to pick us up in the morning.

At lunch time we took a taxi to the closest mall, Santa Lucia.  It's a VERY westernized mall, not really where we wanted to shop. However we were able to pick up a few things.  It was packed, and let me tell you, we stuck out like crazy!  At least we could have some McDonalds.  I've never thought of McDonalds as comfort food, but oh how good that tasted.  We spent most of the afternoon there and took another taxi back. 

Now we are crashing again.  We have to be up early in the morning, so we are planning to hit the sack soon.  As a matter of fact, it's not quite 6pm, and Scott is snoozing on the couch while I type.  Tomorrow is the big day.  We get to meet our daughter.  Darren has already warned us to not have high expectations for a couple of reasons.  First, he said she is really shy, around everyone but especially around strangers and men.  He said she doesn't even warm up to him very quickly, and he is there all the time.  Second, the social worker is insisting on bringing us out right before morning nap time.  Meaning, she has been up and busy already for 3 hours or so and will really be starting to wear down, needing her nap.  Not the most opportune time to have new people thrown at her. 

So keep praying for us.  Tomorrow will really be our introduction day only.  Hopefully as the day goes on, we can get her to warm up to us a little. Then Tuesday we will again spend a day with her.  Will that be our "gotcha day" when we get to take her.  We will just have to wait and see because, starting tomorrow, our world will once again be ruled by an almost 2 year old. ;)