We're Home
June 14, 2009  |  September 1, 2009

Sunday, June 14, 2009 It is Sunday morning around 10:30 am in Newburgh, Indiana. That would make it about 11:30 pm in Guangzhou. Nancy is trying to lay down for a nap with Arianna, because they both have been awake since midnight, which would have been about 1 pm today in Guangzhou. I think it was around 3 am or so when Nancy told me that she and Arianna were going to the grocery store. Now, I will tell you about our trip home from our first flight in Guangzhou until church today. We left the White Swan at 6:45 am. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 9 am. I think that one departed on time. On her very first flight, Arianna cried for about the first half hour. Then, she was awake at some point and basically slept for the last hour of the flight. Then, we had a 3-4 hour layover in Beijing. We had to check out our bags and recheck them with Continental. Then, we grabbed something to eat. There weren’t many choices past the security point, so we ended up at some place that offered Asian cuisine and Western cuisine. I think we all got something pretty much Western. Nancy got spaghetti, so Arianna could have noodles. The flight to Newark started out with Arianna playing between my seat and Nancy’s seat. She seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Then, she fell asleep while sitting with Nathanael. She woke up about an hour later and was very cranky. She basically screamed for about the next two hours. There were several open seats on the plane, and there was this one younger fella who saw the open seats in front of Nancy and Arianna and moved from his crowded aisle to sit there. Once Arianna started screaming, for some reason that guy disappeared. Don’t worry, we didn’t take it personally. Arianna was only happy if Nancy held her and if Nancy was standing up. This made Nancy very uncomfortable after a while, because her back really started aching. But, I couldn’t take over, because Arianna only wanted Nancy to hold her. Eventually, the screaming stopped, and she slept for the final 8 hours of the flight. We had another 3-4 hour layover in Newark, but between all the customs and immigration stuff, plus finding something else to eat, the layover didn’t seem that long. And, we found BURGER KING. Ok, I promised Seth McDonald’s, but we only found Burger King. That’s ok by me, because Burger King cheeseburgers are so much better than McDonald’s. Plus, I got my long awaited fountain soda. Ah, Dr. Pepper never tasted so good than it did at that moment. Seth’s most exciting moment in Newark generated the following comment: “Yes, no more squatty potties!!!” The flight to Indy went very well. Yes, we were all sore from sitting for so long and really tired of flying at that point, but little miss played at the beginning by handing boarding passes back and forth between Ethan, Seth and me. (Nathanael was several rows away from us.) At one point, I looked over, and she had her head propped up by her arm, resting on the arm rest, and she was zonked! I nudged Nancy, and she put her in her lap. The little sweetheart slept all the way to Indy. Once we landed and stopped, she woke up and was not at all happy, but we assured our fellow travelers that just be thankful she wasn’t like that throughout the flight. All in all, I think we have a pretty good flier there. You figure out of the 18 or so hours in the air, she was only complaining for about 2-3 hours of it. Not too bad, if you consider what the other possibilities were. Seth also slept for most of the long flight. I figured that he slept more on the planes than anyone else did. But, he had a goal in mind. Before I tell you about Seth, I have to tell you about when we first arrived home. At home, we have a dog, Comiskey, and a cat, Belle. Belle is a normal long-haired Persian, but Comiskey is a mix between a Chow Chow and a German Shepherd, so he is a good size dog. Well, when little miss first saw the animals, she was terrified to put it best. Comiskey is a very good dog, and he is very good with children. Well, Arianna was sitting on the couch, and Comiskey just walked up to her, and she about had a heart attack. She also did not care for the stuffed animals and the dolls that she saw either. Nancy tells me that this is common with the children adopted from China. She just needs to spend more time with them in the same room. As of today, she has already started playing with her dolls. Even though we have the gate up, if she wakes up and sees Comiskey on the other side of the gate, she will go into her blood curdling scream. And, if she sees Belle, even if it is two rooms away, she will demand to be picked up by the first family member she sees. Hopefully, she gets through this, because the boys really love their pets. We had heard while we were in China that Seth’s baseball team had not lost a game since he was gone, and they finished in first place. That meant that they achieved the top seed in the season ending tournament. The first game was last Wednesday, but since they were the top seed, they had a bye. Their first game would be Saturday at 11 am. I told Seth that I wasn’t sure if I would be awake to take him to the game, but he really wanted to be there. We had arrived back home by 1:30 am Saturday morning and were up for another hour or so getting settled and such. Seth even slept more after we finally went to bed. I think I maybe slept an hour or so. But, we were all awake in plenty of time to get Seth to his game. I emailed his coach at 6 am and asked him that if he wanted Seth, I could have him there an hour before the game started to get him warmed up. His coach replied with an enthusiastic YES!

Waiting for her first airplane ride Getting Ready for the LONG flight Sleeping across the seats on the plane. Neighbors had balloons to welcome you Snacking at her first baseball game Playing with her kitchen set

So, we went to the game, and the whole family was there, which was exciting for all the other parents, because they got to meet Arianna. Seth did very well, and his team won the game, so they advanced to Sunday’s games. All of Seth’s teammates were very excited to see Seth, and many of them were very excited to see his sister. Some of them have even been following this website to see the journey. Arianna did very well at the game, sitting in the stands. She would climb around and go from lap to lap and even watch her big brother play baseball, which had to be the first baseball game that she’s ever seen. And, when we clapped, she was right there along with us, clapping as well. She should fit in well to this sports-filled family. After the game, we headed to Red Robin for lunch. The whole family was excited to go someplace where we knew the menu and what we wanted to eat and knew that we would enjoy our meal. We ordered spaghetti noodles for Arianna without the sauce. She loved that. She didn’t want our fries though. She liked fries the first time we had them in China, but ever since she hasn’t been wild about them. She does like to lick the ketchup off of them though. We then decided a shopping trip was in order to buy Arianna a kitchen set. She absolutely loved the one in the playroom at the White Swan. We found one at Toys ‘R Us, brought it home and set it up while she was taking a nap. By the time she woke up we had added the dishes and food we have had since the boys were smaller. She loves to play with it, and will play with anyone there. Of course, she prefers to sit on a lap to protect her from the potential big, bad animal that may come her way. It’s a good thing she serves “air” on her spoons, as she is ALWAYS feeding us! We are having difficulty keeping our little Houdini baby in her bed. When we tried to lay her down in her crib, she immediately climbs out. We moved it down to the absolute lowest setting, but it did no good. This little girl is very limber. She can hoist one of those legs up there and get right out. Of course, this has led to a fall or two. We tried moving her to the bed in her room, but she just climbs out of this too. However, it will probably be what we keep trying so we don’t have to worry about her falling and hurting herself. This morning was church, and as I reported at the beginning, Nancy and Arianna have been up since midnight. (They’re both sleeping now, by the way. And, I got my little girl to fall asleep in my arms, while rocking her. Such a great feeling!) At first, Arianna was great in church. She was exploring and coloring and such. That lasted about 20-25 minutes. Once the sermon started, and she wasn’t getting her way, she threw her food, so I took her out of church. I don’t think she cared for that, and before long all she wanted was Nancy, which generated temper tantrums and crying. I was going to text Nancy (it’s great to have that ability again) to ask her to come out, since it was clear that Arianna wanted her mommy, but I wasn’t sure if Nancy had her phone with her and on. So eventually, I opened the door to the sanctuary, so Nancy could hear her screaming, turn around and come out and make the transfer. As so often already, Nancy was able to calm her down and return for the end of the service. After church, it was Panera’s, where Arianna did not care for her first muffie, but she did like to lick the cream cheese off of her brother’s bagel. In church as in some of the other places we’ve been since we’ve been home, several people have commented on how well Arianna is already acclimated to our family. And, I have to agree, she does seem to fit in well with us. Thank you to everyone who has posted comments. As much as we can, we will try to post periodic updates on how Arianna is doing in her new world. We love her so much, and it is such a great feeling when she reaches out her arms for you.

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