We made is home into Madison last night. We are all exhausted! I slept about 5 hours last night and then woke up wide awake at 4 am with Huahua and started unpacking suitcases (all six of them) Then by time time we were feeling tired again Jordan and Justin awoke. Justin said he was so excited he could not sleep because she was home with us! He is so sweet with her. Everyone wants to care for her and play with her all the time. Problem today was she was so tired. This morning of course she did her favorite activity--bath with big brother and enjoyed splashing and playing around!
Sihua is not found of the dog and calls him gou (the chinese word for dog) She finally warmed up and petted him today while sitting on my lap. Things will probably improve in a few days as she has never lived with a dog before.
Our travel journey began on Friday night in Guangzhou went we left for Chongqing. We swung by the US Consulate to pick up her Visa and unto the airport. Everything was seamless and we traveled to the airport with another couple who adopted from Lifeline. The girls enjoyed playing together while awaiting for our flights and we enjoyed a delicious Chinese meal at the airport (dumplings!!!)
We traveled to Chongqing and met our guide, Michael, and went back to the same hotel we stayed the previous week. The next morning we left about 10 am and started our journey to the United States. We flew to Shanghai and collected our luggage and then switched airlines and checked in with Delta. Sihua found that this way of travel was more fun than the stroller. She loves to walk, but gets winded so quickly and asks to be picked up, and with six suitcases our hands were full!
Playing with her friend, Sarah, before leaving the hotel. I just shriek when I think of her sitting on the floor anywhere--China has squatty potties--but hey she's a two year old. We used a lot of hand sanitizer.
A little airport entertainment with pipe cleaners. Cheap, lightweight entertainment that goes a long way, for both adults and children.
We tended to set up the bags at both ends of where ever we were sitting to try to block her in otherwise she would be headed for the escalator.
When we boarded our long flight, we did not have 3 seats together. We asked those around us and thankfully we able to work out arrangements with a few people to exchange seats so were would have three seats together. Yeah!!! It would have been a long flight with only one of us watching her at a time.
The plane had wonderful in board movies and TV available in many languages. One of the gentlemen that exchanged seats with us helped show me which was chinese. Huahua enjoyed Sesame Street in her native language over and over until......
she could not stay awake any longer. I am so thankful she was able to rest on the flight for many hours. The longest flight was about 13 hours and she did not have any health problems that were concerning and handled things very well. She was a trooper and we give praise for the Lord watching over our travels. We entered the US through Detroit and went through customs and she became a U.S. citizen!
Yeah, the car seat was okay for a few minutes, but anything that restrains a tired, strong willed two year old is not bound to turn out well.
Sadly, there are reasons why children from these backgrounds don't like to be restrained.
So this is something we will work on with patient hearts.
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She is very tired today (as Ryan and I are) and finds snuggling a favorite activity with her new siblings. We had our family Christmas today and the children enjoyed opening their gifts from China. We tried to keep her awake a little longer to she would sleep through the night, but by 6:00, she was out!
A little breakfast very, very early, since we are living on China time!
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