Home Sweet Home

Our trip home from Guangzhou was pretty tough, so much tougher than I thought it was going to be. Ladybug loves traveling in her stroller and in a vehicle and the other short airplane flights all went fine. But this 12 hour flight was horrible, I'm not going to lie. Jack, our guide, dropped us off at our terminal first and we said goodbye to The Beckys and Abby. I whispered to Abby before we left, "Be sure to climb over the seats and hang from the overhead compartments!" Well, little did I know that was going to come back to haunt me and my baby was the one that was going to be difficult.

Ladybug cried the whole entire flight unless I was holding her. T requested the flight seats in bulkhead so that we would have a little bassinet on the wall for her to sleep in. I just knew that she was going to sleep the whole flight. Uhh, no. Finally, after about 6 hours left in the flight the lady behind me got up and moved (I don't blame her), I leaned my seat back and she (and I) napped for about 4 hours in my arms.

I was so happy when we finally landed and walked off that airplane. Little did I know, we were going to deal with a little more frustration before finally getting home sweet home. Going through immigration with Ladybug was fine, until they saw our crazy sealed brown envelope that were carrying. They marched us over to the special cases area to sit and wait. We waited, and waited and waited. I honestly thought I was going to die. I knew the Grands were all waiting for us and I knew all of our luggage and treasures was just riding endlessly around the baggage claim area. Ladybug was starving, I finally had to get up and find some hot water for a bottle. I was at my wits end, miserable just sitting there. I counted four other families waiting and then three more came after we had arrived. When the one special clerk that was working called a family that arrived after us...I lost it. Chalk it up to being stuck on a plane with a crying baby for 12 hours or perhaps being around Asians who don't care about being considerate waiting in lines. I spoke up. I didn't mean to be rude, but I spoke up and stated that she had arrived after us. That nasty man said he didn't know who was next because all the paperwork was just thrown over on the table. I again said that they were after us and that the family next to us should be next. He then spouted off about, "This is national security and I'm the only one working, blah blah blah." T was shushing me whispering that he could have me arrested or make us wait all day if he wanted to. I shut up, didn't say another word. But he did take the family next that he should have and then he took care of us. I didn't go up to the counter when he called Yi Lian's name, but when he gave us the clear to go he was nice and congratulated us. After how massive but easy all the paperwork was in China, it sure wasn't that quick and easy at this last step.

The Grands were all waiting for us when we finally rolled through the arrivals door. Ladybug was waving her little American flags and here's what happened next when the Grands got a hold of her:







We loaded up and Ladybug was just fine riding in her car seat. We had a quick detour through Starbucks and then went straight home for a nice dinner (Thanks Coco) and playing with Ladybug. It feels SOOOOO good to be home. Thank you Lord and thank you sweet family and friends for all of your prayers while we were on this journey. As smoothly as everything went, T and I know that were being looked after and this little baby girl was truly meant for us.

Huggles,
Deana

p.s. We're still unpacking and looking through hundreds of photos. We will share more in the days to come.

p.s. Think the Grands are delighted with the treasure we brought back from China?