We're Home!

We've returned safely home! We're all suffering from jetlag, of course, and Emily is having a very hard time adjusting to life here in the United States. She has fun during the day, but night-time is a time for crying, particularly during the 3:30 - 5:00 AM timeframe! But I'm getting ahead of myself! Here's how we returned home.

Guangzhou to Hong Kong
The first leg of our journey was the 6:00 AM call for suitcases. We placed our packed suitcases in the hall at 6:00 AM (which of course meant they had to be packed and locked for the journey home by that early morning hour) and headed down for a quick breakfast before returning to the room for last-minute diaper changes and catching the bus to the airport by 7:00 AM. For our return we purchased an additional suitcase - less to handle the bulk of our purchases than to handle the weight of our purchases, since United Airlines allows only 50 lbs. per suitcase. That meant we returned home with 5 suitcases this time, and you'd better believe we counted them all carefully each time we collected them!

We checked into our China Southern flight from Guangzhou on time and departed at 9:30 AM. The flight lasted less than an hour, so we arrived in Hong Kong around 10:30 and finally deplaned around 11:00. We then spent some time checking in to our United flight from Hong Kong to Dulles; although we were able to check our bags all the way from Guangzhou to Dulles, we needed to check into our United flight in Hong Kong. After checking in, we had only about an hour before boarding, so we changed diapers (a recurring theme), picked up something to eat, and shopped a tiny bit.

Hong Kong to San Francisco
And then we boarded the 747-400 to San Francisco. This time we remained seated in Economy Plus - better than Economy, of course, but not quite Business Class as we experienced on the way from San Francisco to Hong Kong! We had four seats together in a row, which turned out to be very pleasant. Sydney and Emily both fidgeted quite a bit through the flight and slept only a little but, but all in the all the flight of about 11 1/2 hours passed as quickly as such a flight can possible pass! Both Sydney and Emily were well behaved on the plane; in fact, few of the babies on the plane (there were about 8 total adopted babies) cried for any length of time on the plane. We arrived in San Francisco about 8:30 AM.

Immigration in San Francisco
When we landed in San Francisco, the flight attendant announced that our eight adopted babies had become "the newest American citizens" upon landing. The flight attendant announced our babies by name, which was very special for all of us. Once we deplaned, we entered the "New Immigrant" line at passport control and, after a few minutes inspecting the brown envelope from the U.S. Consulate and Emily's American visa in her Chinese passport, the immigration officer welcomed us to the United States and effectively made Emily an American citizen at approximately 9:15 AM on December 8.

San Francisco to Washington Dulles
The flight from San Francisco to Dulles was nowhere near full, so we were able to take up 6 seats on our way home. We remained in Economy Plus and enjoyed plenty of legroom, so all of us, including Sydney and Emily, were able to get some sleep. Emily and Sydney slept almost all the way, which made all of our flight more pleasant! We arrived at Dulles a little early, around 6:20 PM, and my mom, Martha, met us at baggage claim #3 at Dulles airport. We claimed all of our bags - they all arrived safely, and this time we claimed every one of our bags! - and returned home at last for a light dinner of soup and sandwiches.

Our China travel spanned 7 different flights on three different airlines (United, China Southern, and China Eastern), 3 different hotels in three different cities (Hong Kong, Wuhan, and Guangzhou), 13 time zones, and about 18,000 miles round trip. We rode in countless buses - on city tours, to and from airports, and to conduct official adoption business (including picking up Emily, the best bus ride of all). We spent at least 48 hours in transit between the United States and China, and another 10 or so hours in transit within China. And every moment, every second, whether comfortable or uncomfortable, pleasant or unpleasant, was worth it for God's gift of Emily to us.

Home means jet lag, working to establish a routine, trauma for both Sydney and Emily, and lots of changes. We're working through the changes, struggling to help Emily sleep better without being in bed with us (something we believe she experienced regularly with her foster family), and overall integrating and incorporating Emily into our family. As with all transitions that take place under stressful situations, the going gets tough from time to time. After Emily cried from 1:30 until 5:00 AM this morning, I despair that any of us will ever sleep again! But I know we will. It will just take time! Meanwhile, today we enjoy our last day with my parents, "Nana" and "Grandy," before they return home to South Georgia for a long-delayed respite from being in strange and unusual places - my Mom here at our home and my Dad with us in China. And today we'll celebrate Emily's birthday, which actually happened December 9. We were just too jetlagged to celebrate then!