Travel Journal - Day 14

We're HOME! Hello to everybody and the hugest thanks to everybody for reading all the posts. We received so many emails and phone calls and I was so happy to hear that you enjoyed reading them!

We left Guangzhou at 6 am. Our local guide, Connie, who helped Guilan while in Guangzhou, hugged us goodbye and we were officially on our own. Our first flight was back to Beijing and it was about 3 hours. Once in Beijing, we got all our luggage and sat in KFC and had lunch. We had to keep all our luggage with us because we couldn't check in for our flight back home until 2 pm. (And with 6 families, it was ALOT!) The five hour layover was long, but for all the lines we had to wait on, it actually was almost necessary. Once we were able to check in for the flights, we only sat at the gate for maybe half an hour before we were allowed to board. We were happy to get on the plane, but we knew how long it was going to be! BUT, we were on our way home, and I knew Abby was going to meet her daddy at the airport and it just kept me going the whole way home. When the plane left the ground, though, I was sobbing. We were leaving Abby's homeland and it was very emotional for alot of us on that plane. Like I said it other posts, I really left part of my heart there... Uneventful flight, lots of crying babies (although Abby did great and slept for about 9 hours!). Kim slept throughout the flight, and my mom and I were so jealous because maybe we'd fall asleep for 20 minutes or so, and then we'd wake up. Once we landed, I was so excited - I knew Scott would be waiting for us and I just couldn't wait! It took us about an hour to get our luggage - there was a delay for some reason - went through customs - and said goodbye to our travel buddies. I was pushing a cart of luggage with Abby in the Baby Bjorn, and holding the video camera in one hand so I could film Scott's reaction to seeing us. I believe we were one of the last ones to come out, and Scott later told me he started crying at the sight of the first baby - and then the next, and the next. We unintentionally tortured him by coming out last, but it couldn't be helped...Anyway, we finally saw him standing there (with roses - Good man! LOL) My BIL, Billy and MIL, Mary, were there too, and one of them was holding up a big sign with Abby's picture on it that we had made up. Scott and I hugged like crazy and then I handed him his daughter. It was AWESOME. Abby went right to him and I was so happy for that. It was a great moment and I'll never forget it. Scott fell instantly in love with her and I well up thinking about it. And boy, did it feel great to be back in the US of A!

The drive home went really fast - we were all chatting and we hit absolutely no traffic. We were really worried considering it was the night before Thanksgiving. We called my dad and my sister, Jen, back at our house so we could give them updates on where we were. The "greeting committee" was apparently forming! LOL Once we reached Route 110, we called again and told them it would only be a couple more minutes! When we pulled into the driveway, it was so amazing to see everybody there waiting for us on the front lawn. Lots of the kids made posters and the stork was lite up on the lawn too. I was FREAKING out to see Evan at this point. I remember hugging everybody and looking for Evan. My friend Vicki was standing on our front porch and she was holding who I thought was my godson, Ian. (I didn't have my glasses on!) Then I heard this little voice say "Mommy". I cannot tell you how perfectly wonderful it felt to hold Evan in my arms after 2 weeks. He seemed so big and HEAVY (I guess after carrying around Abby who is so small!) I started bawling because I was just so happy to be home. The whole time we were in China, I just prayed that I would get home safely with Abby to Scott and Evan.

Thank you to everybody who gave us such an amazing homecoming. It was perfect! It felt so great to see each and every one of you and it wouldn't have been the same if you weren't there. Scott and I both want you to know how much it meant to us...Abby had so many people waiting for her, and I hope she realizes how much love she came home to that day when she looks back on the pictures.

The following day was Thanksgiving, and we were exhausted. Abby was up until about 5:30 in the morning, so we were seriously relaxing in our sweats and just hanging around until Jen came over with Boston Market. The doorbell then rang, and there were our friends from Chemical (Scott's company in the fire dept.) with a complete turkey dinner. I couldn't believe it! Everything was hot and ready - including an entire turkey! They thought of everything, down to the wine, cool whip for the pies, apple cider, biscuits - veggies, stuffing. It was amazing. They just wanted us to have a home-cooked Thanksgiving. I just couldn't believe it! How blessed are we to have friends like we do? AND, there were plenty of leftovers! LOL (My favorite!)

Life with 2 kids (it feels so cool to say that!) has been CRAZY! Crazy, but wonderful! We are still adjusting to the time change, even a week later, but it's getting better. Evan loves his little sister and she loves watching him. He's a bit rough sometimes with her (like he grabs her whole head when he tries to kiss her), but he likes to hold her. He gets jealous too, but I think considering, he's doing pretty good. We took Abby to the doctor (2 different ones) because her skin was really itching her. She is scabies free (Thank GOD!), but has severe eczema all over her body. So, we're treating that and she looks much better. She's very clingy to me right now (you'll see me vacuuming with the Baby Bjorn on! LOL) but that's normal and actually a good sign. She's bonding with her mommy and she's been through enormous changes in just a few weeks. With lots of love and consistency, she's going to flourish here, I just know it. We're feeding her like crazy. She is malnourished at this point, but she's eating like a little pig and that's awesome. We're waiting for all her bloodwork to come back, and she's been re-given a bunch of shots, so hopefully she'll continue to get healthier. We're going to see if she qualifies for early intervention, because at 11 months she cannot even pull herself up in the crib. She did start to roll over already. She started sitting up once we had her in China, which she couldn't do when we got her, so she's making progress already. Her muscle tone is bad in her legs, but we'll keep working with her. She really needs lots of good nutrition and she'll do great.

I'm posting some pictures of Abby's homecoming, and those red couch pictures I told you about. They came out so cute!

We've had such an incredible journey to get Abby, and now we start on a new one - home with our daughter. She has already brought us so much joy...I want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I know I've said it before, but I really mean it when I say Scott and I appreciate all the love and support you've given us. It's undescribeable...People keep telling us how wonderful we are for adopting Abby, and how lucky she is. We just wanted more kids. Adoption is an amazing way to add to a family. Of course I'm happy that she's out of the orphanage and getting better care and love from a family- our family:) - it makes me feel good. But she's experienced a great amount of loss at this point too. She will never know what it is like to grow up in her homeland, with all its beautiful culture, its language and people all around her that look just like her. She will probably never know anything about her birthfamily or the circumstances surrounding why she was placed for adoption. Hopefully China will resolve these issues someday. But for whatever reason, God has given us Abby, and we are forever grateful, thankful and honored to call her our daughter. We really are the lucky ones.

Love always, Kris

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