Family Updates

 

Home Sweet Home - Friday, December 2, 2005 - Guangzhou to San Francisco, CA

On our second December 2nd we arrived HOME!
We started out early from our hotel after a very quick sleep. We acquired 2 new suitcases for our trip home - 1 small one to replace the duffel that carried blankets to the orphanage in Yanbian (from the group Angel Covers) and a HUGE bag to hold "stuff." Thankfully the bags still all fit on one of the hotel rolling carts. When we get to the airport in Guangzhou we fill 2 small pushcarts with our 8 suitcases and 3 backpacks (remember there are 5 in our traveling party and we needed clothes for the cold temps in Jilin and the warm temps in Guangzhou). Thankfully we are still within our baggage limits and there are no charges for any overweight bags. We make it successfully through the medical check, the customs check, the agricultural check, and the security check. Whew! We're on our way again. We share this first flight from Guangzhou to Tokyo with our new friends, the Tilbrooks. The flight goes smoothly and the girls sleep a bit.
The Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan has a great playroom for kids! We think Lilla is expecting to stop in here every 2 weeks or so for a visit. She loves the slide, computers and "tiny" potty in the kid's bathroom! J Juan enjoys sliding with Lilla while the big Reeders simply enjoy being on the ground for 2 hours.
Off we go into the wild blue yonder - heading from Tokyo to SFO. The flight home is 2 hours shorter than the flight over - thank goodness (we now have two 2 year olds to entertain as we cross the Pacific Ocean)! Emma is off duty - she gets to sit in a bank of 2 seats with a very nice woman. Lilla, Lisa, Juan and Ben sit in the middle of the plane in a bank of 4 seats. The leg room seems almost non-existent and Lisa's ankles swell as proof of that fact. Thankfully, the girls sleep and do very well on the long flight. There are tv monitors located in each seat back and Lilla enjoys watching a bit of Nickelodeon (we don't even have to break out the dvd player the whole way home!). Juan is a good traveler as long as we have her favorite food - CHIPS! God knew that she would be well supplied with chips in this family (except not with the smelly shrimp chips she likes!).
When we land (or as Lilla says - fly on the ground), Juan becomes an American citizen!
We go through the New Immigrant line as we go through immigrations - Ben turns over the sealed brown envelope that contains her Visa from China. We stop to take a photo of Juan with an American flag. So much has changed in so little time for this little girl from China.
Off we head to claim all those bags so we can board the bus to the hotel where our car is parked. We are finally headed home! This is our second December 2nd. The first we spent flying across the Pacific Ocean. The second we spend getting home and trying to get back to reality. A stop must be made at IKEA on the way home for a mattress for the trundle bed. They have been out of the mattress we wanted and we hope they have it in today. They don't. But we find out that is because the hurricane that hit Louisiana wiped out their only manufacturer of this particular foam mattress. So we get a different one - tie it on the top of the car - and head home. The girls enjoy a sleep while Papa Ben struggles to stay awake and get us home safely (drinking cups of Starbuck's and IKEA coffee as well as eating trail mix helps him stay awake).
We're HOME! Juan and I crash on the couch. A dear friend brings food over that lasts us the next 2 days (thank you!!!). We get to bed very late. The next three days we are also up very late and sleep in until 1 or 2pm. Jet-lag IS hard. Thankfully we know we will get over this time change and our bodies will eventually adjust. All is well at home and the puppies are doing great thanks to the wonderful care they received from our wonderful neighbors. Thank you!!! J
The girls are adjusting. Lilla is still in her crib. There have been so many changes that we feel she should stay there for a while longer. Juan Juan is sleeping in the trundle bed and we are too! It is a cozy dorm room feeling. Hopefully it won't be long before both girls are sleeping in the trundle bed and are happy to be in there without us!
We are amazed that we have had Juan as our daughter for just a little over one week now. She is doing so well. She continues to chatter talk to us in Mandarin (maybe some Korean?). She is saying "bye" in English and calls us Mama and Baba at times. She gives kisses and is very sweet. We are so blessed. This trip to China for Juan was an amazing adventure. The fact that we have Juan and got to go to her orphanage, meet her foster mother and see their home, go to her finding spot and find the woman who found her, and then visit the border of China and N. Korea are simply astounding to us. God is so good! We are so blessed. Blessed to have 3 beautiful and very special daughters, blessed to have a loving and committed marriage, blessed to have loving family and friends, blessed to have friends in a far away land called China, and blessed to know the God who made us, who made Li Juan and who knew that before time began that she was to be our daughter - our Clara Li Juan Reeder.