Sunday, September 21, 2008
WELCOME HOME HOLDYN!!!

Words cannot express the joyous welcome home that we received. We are blessed beyond imagination at the abundance of love that was poured out to us when we finally arrived in Tennessee. Someone made the comment that the first glimpse of Holdyn at the airport was everybody else's Gotcha Day!! That really hit home. We are still so excited...even 2 days later...to have been able to share those moments with everyone. I guess I was being a bit selfish about MY gotcha experience and forgot to realize that everyone else has a gotcha day too. Thanks Kelly and Josh!!

Holdyn was so happy to see everyone! He shed not a tear and shared his smiles all around. Looking back, we have been blown away by the way he just warmed up to everyone and just blended right in. You see, in China, when we were in public or when he met new people, he was very shy and reserved. No smiles, no playfulness, just this look of “Who are you and do you have food?” There was a 180 degree transformation in that airport waiting area. It only took about 2 minutes and he was almost like a little politician...meeting and greeting everyone...smiling and laughing. Perhaps it was the giant sucker that was literally bigger than his head (thanks Nanny Sil), perhaps it was the balloons (thanks Shane and Tina), or maybe...just maybe, he knew he was home. It was really like he had just been on a 2 week vacation to China and everyone that he knew before was there to welcome him BACK...not just welcome him home. Each day he has amazed us. We've witnessed a physical transformation in 2 weeks, we've seen emotional growth, and his developmental skills have improved, but Friday night at the Tri Cities Airport...we saw the greatest transformation so far...his transition into OUR family! Blood family, Church family, Co-Worker family, Neighbor family, and of course the shrimp sauce family. (That's a shout out to the Kirk clan...YOU KNOW WHY!!) He loved his new toys and loved playing with his new friends.

We just want to say thank you to all that was there! After 18 hours in the air, it was wonderful to see all of our family and friends. We would not have wanted it any other way !!!! One of the highlights of the evening was the big HOORAY from everyone waiting on the observation deck when all 6 of our shoes hit the Tennessee soil! I think my uncle Tommy started the big cheer! At least I heard him yell first. :) It was great!!!

Sorry for not writing since Friday night. Going back over the guestbook remarks, I now realize how many of you made this a daily thing. That warms our hearts. We took Saturday off. The proverbial jet lag has set in. At least it has for Sunshine and me. Holdyn has slept and slept and slept. We're going to lay low the first few days at home. We are SO ready to get into some sort of routine with him...meal times, nap times, bed times. It so nice to be home and not have an itinerary to follow...go here, do that, get on that bus, board this plane. We've all had our fill of travel for a while.

I hesitate to say it's back to reality now. We have an entirely different perspective on reality now. There's no going back to normal for us. I don't want 'normal'. At least I don't want my old definition of normal. It's time now to create our own normal!