Going home!

What an amazing time we had in China!  We added our daughter, Lyric, to our family.  We visited with Brad, his wife Jieying, and her parents.  We got to introduce our children to a new culture and to new experiences.  We made some new friends and, well, the whole thing was just amazing.  I tried to put some of it into words the past few weeks, but they don't even come close to the experiences we had and the blessings we received from God.

Lyric standing on American "soil"!

We were picked up early in the morning at our hotel by Brad and Jieying and taken to the airport.  It was tough to say good-bye to one another, knowing it would be awhile before we saw them again, but our lives had taken different paths, and we were all very grateful for the time we were able to spend together.

The plane ride from Beijing to Chicago went really well... except for one small incidence.  We were served a really good sandwich in the middle of the night.  I had already given Lyric hers when Kevin, from a few seats over, quietly gestured that he would like 1/2 of Lyric's sandwich.  Now, she really didn't need the whole sandwich to herself, and I should have known better than to have given it to her all at once.  But when Kevin told me he wanted some of it, I knew there was going to be trouble - and trouble there was... in the form of really, really loud hurtful, angry crying...   that went on and on and on.  I even caught the Chinese woman in front of us glaring, I mean glancing, back at us to see what was going on.  I wonder what her thoughts were.  Sadly, my first thought was that she was thinking that I had no right to be with a Chinese "baby".  But, she could also of been thinking, "Oh, that poor little girl.  I hope she's okay.  What a wonderful mother (me!) she has to be comforting her like she is."  I don't know... the look was more like a look of annoyance...

Laurel was so happy to bring that hat home!

Ahhh.... but when all else fails I can always, always result to bribery by candy bar!  There just happened to be stuck in the box with each sandwich a twix bar with two "sticks" on it, and in the midst of the yelling I thought, "Maybe, just maybe, she will stop crying over the sandwich if I give her the twix bar!"  Well,  I didn't want to give her the whole thing.  I thought one sugar-laden bar would be enough to calm her down so I attempted to open the twix bar without her seeing it and attempted to break it in half - all while she was sitting in my lap screaming.  I got the tiniest of pieces broken off  before she saw it.  Her tears stopped, the screaming stopped - and I quickly handed over the bribe.  Silence is a GOOD thing in the middle of the night on a plane that is flying from Beijing, China to Chicago, Illinois!

I didn't get a whole lot of sleep on the flight home, but I don't think Tyler did either.  Almost every time I looked over at him he was awake.  Laurel was in the middle of her daddy and Tyler.  She could cuddle down into the seat really nice and probably got the most sleep out of any of us.  Carissa sat next to me by the window, helping with Lyric when she could. 

Our layover at the Chicago airport wasn't too long... only 8 hours :)  Fortunately, we have great children who can entertain themselves pretty easily.  We ate a little food.  Took a few walks. Got lots of drinks at the water fountain.  Almost before we knew it we had to get in line to board our last plane home!

See their backpacks?  I had them stuffed!

Tyler is in DS world.

See Carissa's sleeve?  Lyric is asking her to take her to the drinking fountain - for the 4th time.

She really liked drinking at the fountain.