We're Home!!!

I have to apologize to all of my loyal readers for not posting a quick message as soon as we got home. . Today was tough for me. I have not felt great the whole trip, but today I felt especially yucky and allowed my self to lay down while Megan Ling napped. I did not even attempt to unpack anything but the clothing to do the laundry. Right now, it is 12:30AM, every else is (hopefully) sound asleep.

The trip back home was very long, but luckily smooth and without delays. Despite my gnawing worry about the return flight to Newark the airline agreed to a peanutless flight, and in fact served Matthew Special Meals, including several fruit plates. I don't know what happened to cause this, but they asked Eric's permission to do it and he readily agreed. (If you don't know what I am referring to, go back and read the post "We are NOT on our way" at the beginning of the trip). Unfortunately, the second flight from Newark to home (same airline) apparently did not get the message and did serve peanuts. This was a much smaller flight and not quite full, so Matthew was fine. We just do not know the level of allergen that could set him off and so it is nerve racking each time we fly and there is the question of peanuts. Anyway, it worked our fine and we were grateful.

A driver returned to the Hong Kong hotel to pick us up at 8:00AM; a smaller bus than the day before, but plenty big for all of us and our luggage! (Don't forget, this is two families'!)

We enjoyed breakfast on the bus. Daddy bought Frosted Flakes and Starbucks Scones!!



I really like the yogurt. It's very runny and it is drunk with a small straw, like a milkshake. At first I thought it was weird, but now I am going to look for it at home! It's so convenient and smooth.


We thought this was fascinating. It is hundreds of shipping containers getting ready to go out on cargo ships to other countries. I wonder what is in them all. The organizing logistics to keep everything running must be amazing to see.

And these are the cranes that position them on the right boats.


Here is our happy family, before take off from Hong Kong.

All the kids, including Megan Ling did very well on the entire flight. This one was even longer than the Newark to Beijing flight; 15 hours and 5 minutes!!

She definitely gets the hang of it!

There is a screen like this on the back of every seat on the plane. You can choose games, audio (music) or video and the channels include eight different movies that repeat throughout the flight. One of the channels is the "airshow" which shows the course of the plane and where we are in relation to where we are going. We took several pictures of this path throughout the flight. it's a very long way. I slept a little here and there and every time I woke up I found that only a few minutes had passed and there was 10 hours, then 6 hours, then 4 hours, then 3 more..... it was endless.......


I thought the kitchen on the plane was also fascinating. They are so organized. Look at all the compartments!


This is about 6 hours into the flight.....
Shenyang is where we picked up Ling.

And again, crossing the North Pole, about hour 10.

And the Arctic Ocean.





Finally, the Newark Airport. On the descent, Megan Ling began crying and screaming. I thought her ears hurt but Eric and Matthew, who were sitting on either side of her said she was absolutely terrified. There was a bit of turbulence and the plane was dipping and rising. Mary Alice suggested that she probably thought she was on a bus on the ground and she knew busses did not dip and rise like that. She cried harder than we had ever heard her and stopped as soon as we got on the ground. Then she was fine again.

We had to go through immigration and hand over the "brown envelope" of information about Megan Ling's visa. She became a US citizen immediately upon this step. She will get official citizenship papers in the mail about 45 days from now. We will "re-adopt" her within a few months so she can get a certified US birth certificate and we will apply for a US passport.

A funny thing happened when we got to immigration. I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but my brother, Marty, strongly suspected that Megan Ling had a "foreign object" stuck inside one of her nostrils. She did not appear to have any discomfort, but she had a smell of infection in her nose, so we were treating her with antibiotics. Because it was not clearing quickly, Marty said there was probably something in there. I had been putting nasal saline in her nose to try and loosen it. Well, if you get grossed out easy, you don't have to read this, but I think all that crying earlier really loosened things up. Anyway, as we were making our way to the right line in immigration, she started sneezing. In fact, she sneezed over and over, about 50 times in a row. Of course, I did not have any tissues and suddenly gunk started pouring out of both nostrils! I was holding her in the sling, so I was getting quite a view! Finally, one giant sneeze later and she sneezed out a very large 1/4" X 1/2" wad of newsprint paper! It was unbelievable. Finally, someone found tissues for me to clean her up. The people around us were probably wondering why we were so happy that she sneezed on me!! I am so glad she did, for a few reasons, one that she was probably so uncomfortable with that thing in there, and two because we were looking at having to have a scope up there if it did not come out on its own. Who knows how long it was in there! I thought maybe she did not want to have to declare it in customs!

We had to say goodbye to Stacey and John at this point. They live drivable to the Newark airport and someone was picking them up. It was so wonderful to be with them for the past two weeks. We are so thankful that we were able to travel together. We will definitely continue to keep in contact through e-mail and photos and hope to plan a visit to keep the girls connected.

Here we are waiting for our Newark flight. It felt so good to stretch out flat!

Matthew did not sleep the entire time on either flight.

The sisters slept every chance that they got.


Finally, we reach home!!! Mary Alice looks like a seasoned traveler, doesn't she?


And we see our friends and family. What a sight for sore eyes. I always imagined I would cry at this point, but I did not! I just felt huge and utter relief.


Our dear friends fed us dinner and helped us get settled for the night. Megan met Grandma, two Grandpas, Uncle, Aunt, lots of friends and she loved them all. She hugged and kissed and "talked" to everyone. It was late when our flight got in (5:30PM, Saturday night) and of course, I was exhausted. It was 9:00PM before we all got to bed. Megan Ling went right to sleep in her own bed,

but woke up around 11:30PM and started crying very hard. So hard she was hiccuping. She appeared to be very scared and probably did not know where she was. I thought that might happen and I was at her bed immediately. I showed her the group photo of all the children in her orphanage (which months ago Mary Alice had suggested I make for her- and put in the frame that she gave me for Christmas)
and that calmed her right away. She pointed to her friends (she doesn't seem to know their names-or at least cannot say them to me) and then I showed her the closet with her clothes. In there, we found her bathrobe, which she liked very much.

Then we went to my bathroom to find my bathrobe, which she also liked very much. She used the potty

and looked at some more pictures of her friends, then I climbed in her (tiny) bed with her and she fell back asleep, very content. I went downstairs and did some laundry..... Later in the night, I found her standing in the hallway, looking for me. I took her back to bed and she slept the rest of the night. Tomorrow I am getting a baby gate for the top of the stairs, so I don't have to worry about her tumbling down.

After a fairly good night's sleep, we woke refreshed and decided that we could manage going to church. Everyone was thrilled to see us and welcome Megan Ling. More hugs and kisses and good wishes.

Later in the day, our other neighbors held their annual Memorial Day Party, so we went and relaxed for dinner. The children all played together and had a ball. The older girls loved playing with Megan Ling and she played until she dropped. She came looking for me and asked to climb up and snuggle, and fell asleep in my arms. She is a little angel.