Back in the USA!

Note: any inaccuracies, mistypes, or errors are the fault of running on empty mixed with jet lag. Errors should be given grace.

We started our last day in GZ at 5:30 a.m. to leave for the airport at 6:15. We got all our bags packed (okay, okay, we added a new suitcase to the mix! Guilty!) We got checked in and boarded the flight for Beijing on time. It was bittersweet leaving GZ (and China), but it was steps closer to home. Cupcake gave me a couple of surprises on the plane, a #1 and #2 leaking diaper! Yeah me! 3 outfits in 3 hours! Gotta be a record After wearing part of my lunch I shared with her, my outfit was toast! Add jet lag to that and I was styling!

Cupcake did a fantastic job on the long 14 hour flight! She slept about 12 hours of it! SG did great too!

Having sunlight for a whole day takes some getting used to! They do dim the lights and close the blinds when it's "naptime" for everyone. But when someone opens a shade it's blinding. It was amazing seeing that it was -84 degrees outside and we were going over 600 mph!

We made it! We landed about 5:00 ish on Thursday! I cried a bit just because it was great to be home in the States! Bringing her HOME at a last!! We made it through customs easily. Immigration took awhile, but we expected that. We cleared all our luggage and rechecked it on to our city. We raced to get to the get to find we were delayed from 8:30 until 10:45. The transfer plane was coming in from Columbus. Then it was 11:00, 11:30, possibly midnight. We were so tired we took turns napping in the terminal. When the plane finally arrived they needed to work on the plane. We finally ended up taking a back-up plane so we could depart sometime in 2009. Hee hee! It didn't really matter to us, we slept the entire way to our destination. We just felt bad about our friends and family at the airport waiting for us! We got home around 3:30 in the morning. Cupcake had slept quite well throughout our travels so she was ready to play and not sleep. SG insisted he could live on "China time" forever, even here. Oh please! This was very interesting.

SG was so excited to see Pappy Moo and his puppy! Gidget ran around and around licking him! She was just as excited to see him. Cupcake got to meet Gidget, our puppy, too. Gidget missed us very much, but was well taken care of while we were gone! She was overly excited and Cupcake wasn't too sure about all that. She will get used to it all very soon.

She really didn't know what to think about her nursery. She just looked around and around, not really sure where to start. I know someday she'll appreciate all the shoes and pink dresses! Haha!

We'll get time to introduce her slowly to everything. She was not thrilled, however, with the crib, or maybe it was just the thought of sleeping. We laid her down about 4:00ish. She was still fussing/drifting in and out of sleep until about 6:30ish this morning. I gave up and got up with her. This will take some time adjusting, but she is doing great!

She discovered her walker this morning. She had one in China (we were told) and she lit up when she got in it and went! Go! Go! Go! She likes it on the kitchen floor. She is very excited to have independence!

This morning she spent some tummy time with me and Gidget while the boys caught up on sleep. SD had a really bad headache last night from the flight, so we are hoping that is gone this morning.

It's chilly to us here. In China the heat was so surrounding that now we're a bit chilled by the temps in the 70s. I'm sure we'll soon adjust to that too. Adjusting is our new game! We look forward to so many new things ahead of us! We'll post pictures as soon as my world catches up with my schedule!

Thanks again to everyone for their encouraging comments and prayers! It meant so much to us to know you were praying for us! This was a trip of a lifetime and we will never forget even a moment of it! God is so good and it's true, He's just as big in China as He is here! He is truly a God full of mercy, grace, and love!