The End (or is it just beginning?)

I had this great idea for our trip home on a long Christmas Day -- I should keep a notepad handy and jot down all the memorable moments of our trip so I could make an entry on the blog to capture the ups and downs of our journey. Of course, as an elite procrastinator, I neglected to follow through on that great idea. By the time we arrived home and I found time to write an entry, I had forgotten most of those moments.

We are incredibly happy to be home. There were moments during our return trip where I reflected on how sick I was of China. Angela and I both joked about a comment one of the flight attendants made about how rude the passengers were as she passed us. She was speaking English aloud to a co-worker so we assume she wasn't speaking about the Americans. Several times attendants asked the Chinese people to sit or clear the aisle or flush a toilet, and each time they would nod their head and completely ignore the request.

I had a bit of a breakdown when we finally landed landed in Chicago. I was standing in the aisle to gather our carry on luggage and coats to allow Angela to manage with just Leah when we exited the plane and begin our trek through immigration, baggage pick-up, customs, and transit to a separate terminal for our flight to Charlotte. The door of the plane had yet to be opened, and people were gathering their things. A Chinese women pushed herself past me in the aisle in order to exit quicker and other foreigners were pressing against me as if they could will the door open quicker that way. I snapped and overreacted by pushing back against everyone around me. They all began chattering in Chinese and looking at me aghast. My response was to yell at everyone to just WAIT and GIVE IT A REST! Of course, I probably sounded like the teacher in Peanuts cartoons to them, but they all eyed me warily after that and kept their distance. I kept a grim look on my face and prayed for enough patience to get me out of Chicago without additional incident.

On the positive side, I did go out of my way to thank the flight attendants and airport staff that I encountered throughout our trip home to thank them for working on Christmas Day to allow us to reunite with our boys with a few hours of Christmas to spare. In Chicago, a security officer offered all adoptive families to stand in the US citizen line for immigration regardless of the fact that the children were technically foreigners at that point. The immigration staff then went a step further and opened up two additional checkpoints exclusively for our families. We got through immigration in record time, and all the people working in the O'Hare airport were very knowledgeable about the adoption process. Aside from an officer checking Leah with a wand for banned items at the security checkpoint, we moved quickly to the terminal for our flight to Charlotte.

Our arrival in Charlotte also had its ups and downs, but by that time I was so glad to be home that nothing was able to bother me. As has become the standard among our friends, many families were waiting in the baggage claim area to welcome us home. We had previously joked about how ironic it was that other families who had made a trip to China to adopt themselves, and knew how tired we were after 30 hours of travel, would still show up to delay our sleep just a little longer, but the truth is that nothing says "Home Sweet Home" as much as having loved ones waiting to say "welcome" and "congratulations." We had no trouble finding the energy to enjoy an hour or so with family and friends from church to celebrate the newest addition to our family. The hardest part of the reunion was intentionally ignoring friends long enough to give our two boys hugs and kisses among a few (happy) tears! Eli had our old camera and was acting as the family photographer while Jeremy personally welcomed Leah into our family and made her smile amid all the congestion going on around us.

At one point, a few friends offered to help me collect our checked suitcases at which point I realized that our baggage was still in Chicago. Other travelers behind me grumbled about their lost baggage, but I just smiled, wished the airline employee a Merry Christmas, and joked that it would save me from hauling the heavy bags out to our car! You would have thought I was wearing rose-colored contacts, but really I was just too happy to be home that nothing could change that feeling. (We had our missing luggage deliverd to our home the next morning with nothing missing or damaged.)

After many gifts and warm wishes, we finally got to our car and managed to get to the house. My mother had left a pot roast in the slow cooker for us which was most welcome even though it was way past bed time. We enjoyed our hot, all-American meal prior to opening homemade presents the boys had made for us which included decorations for the tree and handmade cards to welcome us home. I don't think we made it to our beds until nearly midnight that night.

Friday was all about rest. Other than driving to get my car from a friend's house, and swinging by the grocery store for milk and frozen pizza, we spent the majority of the day on the couch. Leah, who was a fantastic sleeper in China, is having a rough time adjusting to the time change. She is waking up several times throughout the night and crying for no apparent reason. This of course means that mom and dad aren't getting all the sleep we want or need. Instead, we find ourselves catnapping throughout the day.

We did determine during the trip home that her recent fever was most likely related to the fact that she has two new teeth coming in. She did fairly well on all the flights, crying occasionally because she couldn't be as mobile when sleeping on our lap in a cramped, economy-class seat. However, she did sleep most of the time which likely added to her restlessness on the first night home.

Friday night Angela decided Leah was ready to begin sleeping in the crib alone. I mockingly made a reference to my failed attempts to rid Jeremy of his pacifier early on, but I think she was determined to get some serious sleep herself. Leah did go to sleep for a couple of hours in the crib after about 45 minutes of high-pitched wails and tears, but re-awoke later and would not sleep again in the crib. Instead she cried throughout the night in our bed keeping the two of us up most of the night as punishment.

On Saturday, Angela's mom came down to give Eli his presents for his birthday (he turned 7 on 12/21 while we were in China) as well as Christmas presents for the entire family. We all went to the Olive Garden for lunch where Leah did really well. She is eating the same food as the boys since arriving home which has been great since we are out of coconut milk, french fries and ketchup!

Today (Sunday), we will be going to church in the morning. Afterward, we plan to open family Christmas presents and then head down to my parents' house for a belated Christmas dinner with them, my brother and his wife. At some point additional presents will be shared while trying to catch as much of the Panthers/Saints game as possible. I look forward to watching football with my boys after two weekends away.

I return to work on Monday morning and have mixed feelings about my return. It would be nice to have a few more days to help out around the house as we all adapt to having a 16-month old girl in the house. Sleep is still an issue which I assume will affect my initial work performance. But at the same time, I'll be glad to get back into a normal schedule. I'm sure having a short work week for New Year's will be advantageous to getting back into the swing of things.

I would be amiss if I did not add that Angela and I both miss the families who were part of our travel group while in China. I was rather introverted when we traveled the first time to adopt Jeremy. Although Angela still keeps up via email and Yahoo groups with some of those families, our connection seems more about our common adoption experience than because of any genuine friendship.

This trip turned out differently though. While we will likely keep in touch via blogs and email with many of the families in travel group 1444, we truly enjoyed our time spent with Bill & Sara and Rene. I found myself wishing we had more time together on the journey home, and have mentioned that I would love to find a way to meet again in the future -- either with Rene if we vacation in St. Augustine this summer or with Bill & Sara if we can ever make it out to Colorado, perhaps to visit the CCAI offices. I never would have thought I'd become that close with other families in two weeks, but I find that I am very interested to know how their new children, Mya and Josh, make out in the coming months. Sara (or Bill if he was posting "anonymously") encouraged me to find time for this post. I don't know how long the blog-bug will last, but I'll make an effort if it will keep us up to date on our friends lives.

God bless all those who played a part in our journey to adopt Leah; I hope all the families in group 1444 are blessed beyond measure as a result of adding a wonderful child into their family. I have no doubt that the struggles we endure in the early weeks (months?) will pay off down the road. I hope our children have an opportunity to reunite in the future.

Sara always joked about "tips" during our stay in China. In her honor, I'll end this long entry with a tip for anyone planning to adopt from China in the future: Don't expect a 12-hour anti-perspirant to make it through 30 hours of travel climaxing with a reunion in baggage claim! (My deepest apologies to all those that had to bear with me after a really L-O-N-G day.)

LOL!