Sunday, December 20, 2009
WE ARE HOME!
We have been a week now and it has been a week of adjustment.
The journey home went well. Thanks to all that prayed as we were
very nervous about it. The four hour bus ride to Hong Kong went
fairly fast. The interesting part was going through customs
twice in 20 minutes time, one time leaving mainland China, and
the other entering Hong Kong. Each time we had to get off the
bus, take all of our luggage off the bus, haul it through
customs, and load it back on the bus. We only drove through Hong
Kong but thought it was beautiful. The plane ride home was long,
but not as bad as anticipated. Avery slept for around six hours
of the 14 hours and 40 minutes (we were 40 minutes late). The
rest of time was spent walking around the plane, eating,
playing, as well a little bit of crying.
We were welcomed home to the airport by our boys and much of our
family. It was SO great to see our boys, and they were SO
excited to meet their sister! They gave her a stuffed panda from
Build-A-Bear which she hugged. We were also happy to see our
nieces Sarah and Anna, as we remember the special days at the
airport when they too came home from China. Their stories are
part of Avery's story and we look forward to the relationship
that Avery will have with her cousins.
Overall it has been a fairly long week. We have felt exhausted
and overwhelmed. We were so tired when we arrived home on
Saturday and wished we could have slept for days. Sleep has been
difficult to come by though as Avery is still very much on China
time. For our first few days home, Avery slept long hours during
the day and would be up for many hours in the middle of night to
play. The last couple of nights have been better, but we are
looking forward to a few consistent nights of decent sleep. Ken
went back to work on Wednesday and had a significant
implementation scheduled for Friday night which led to longer
hours, less sleep, additional stress for all. Tera also ended up
getting sick later in the week, and we have also been trying to
find time to prepare for Christmas.
We have enjoyed introducing Avery to different people,
especially her grandparents who adore her. Everyone says she is
beautiful and is impressed by how well she is doing. They also
comment on how surprising it is to see such a little child
walking. (She's definitely little...wearing 9-12 month clothes.)
The boys really enjoy playing with Avery and helping take care
of her! They crack up when she does her "scary" face (Which she
pretty much does on command). Ethan loves saying goo-goo ga-ga
and watching her laugh. Matthew loves that she now allows him to
pick her up. They have been extremely happy because she has
preferred playing Star Wars with them over playing with baby
dolls. We're thinking that she may need to get a Princess Leah
action figure for Christmas!
Avery continues to do well and is adjusting nicely to the house.
She has been curious, active, and busy exploring her new
surroundings. She has gotten better with our stairs during the
week, but still needs to be watched. She likes "Jake the Dog"
and enjoys throwing food to him while she is eating. Avery has
been eating a lot with her favorites foods being: bananas, rice,
mini-pancakes, spaghetti, scrambled egg, and Cheerios with milk.
She has enjoyed her first Christmas party, first Christmas
presents, and first Santa visit. We were wondering what she
would do when Santa arrived and quickly saw that she was happier
to observe Santa from a distance, however she didn't completely
freak out when sitting on Santa's lap.
We love Avery like crazy and are amazed at how well she fits
into our family! During our long and frustrating adoption
process, people would often tell us that the right child was
waiting for us. When we would hear that, we would often feel
frustrated or numb since we weren't sure what would end up
happening. But, here we are finally home with our daughter
and....we are completely blown away by God's faithfulness in
bringing us this wonderful little girl! She is absolutely
perfect for our family and we are so very happy and thankful!! |
Our family came to the airport to welcome home Avery!!
A moment of pure joy!!
Here we were in the airport...
Our first picture as a family of five!
When in China, we looked forward to taking pictures in front of
the Christmas tree as a united family!
Avery wasn't too sure about this funny looking guy!
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