We're Home!

We made it!  We’re home!  Yay!

 

The last flight home was very long, but not as bad as I expected.  Jia did pretty well.  The only time she had a problem was shortly after she fell asleep the first time.  Her head was on my lap and her feet were on Rachel’s.  Half asleep, she cried and cried, wanting to stretch out and sleep flat.  (I don’t blame you, girlie.  I wanted to stretch out flat too!) 

 

As I rocked her, I put Toy Story on her TV and she slowly came out of it as she watched.  Right about that time, they served dinner along with a nice serving of distraction.  From then on out, she played, slept, and watched cartoons.  I have to say, I’ve read stories about kids who cried the entire flight and I was prepared to deal with that.  (The people sitting around us sure weren’t.)  But I’m so thankful that she settled in and made it OK.

 

She adapts pretty quickly to new schedules.  After a few nights in Shenyang and Guangzhou, she knew the bedtime routine and what to expect.  Well, last night, everything was new and weird, and so very different.  As in, where is Rachel and why is she not sleeping with us, Mommy?  After a long bout of crying at 4 am, I finally woke up poor Rachel and asked her to sleep with us.  (Daddy got banished to the couch.)  Jia went right to sleep.    

 

I was able to sleep til about 1:30 this afternoon thanks to the fact that Jia LOVES her new sisters.  So much so, that she’s not all that interested in me at the moment.  She wants the girls to carry her around and go up and down the basement stairs with her.  Alli and Erin had Jia duty for about four hours and they were wondering if she might like to watch Sesame Street for a while.  haha…I think Jia wore them out.  So, the three of them are sitting on the couch watching Sesame Street together.  Rachel and I are still stumbling around the house in a jet lag stupor.

 

Here are a few pictures of the trip home.

 

We had such fun with her little friend.  Here they are pushing the luggage carts in the Beijing airport during our layover.

Lots of fun together.

 

They hit it off so well.  We’ll be staying in touch with his family.  We may even see how they do on Skype.

 

We just want to thank all of our friends and family who lifted us up in prayer during our trip.  It meant the world to us and we felt those prayers.  It was such a blessed time.  Also, thank you to the families who watched Alli and Erin and made their time away from us special.  Thanks to Susan for being the best dog sitter ever. 

 

We can’t wait to have visitors in a few days.  We are eager to share Jia with you.  We’re going to play it by ear though, and see how she does with strangers visiting. 

 

Much love,

Kelly