WE'RE HOME!!!

Ok..  I know this update is a tad bit late seeing as we have been home for exactly 1 week now. 

We arrived home on the evening of Saturday, November 7th.  We had smooth uneventful flights the whole way home.  5 of the 11 families from Group 853 left very early Saturday morning to catch an early morning flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong.  In Hong Kong 3 of these families then flew on United to Chicago and 2 families flew Continental to Newark.  We flew on Continental to Newark with the Cifelli family.  We are so happy to have spent the extra time hanging out with them.  The 15-½ hour flight to Newark was long but good.  Kiah either slept or played quietly the whole time.  Brandon was able to get us bulkhead seats which meant we had lots of extra leg room.  We were in row 16 so we were right next to Business Class.  We were drooling as we looked at those big luxury Business Class seats.  The guy next to us asked about upgrading and they told him it was $3000.  YIKES!!!  It is so hard to sleep on long flights so we entertained ourselves with meals and movies as much as we could.  With 5 hours left in the flight we successfully slept for 3 hours.  We landed in Newark early which allowed us a little more time between flights.  This was good because we had to get through immigration with Kiah and then Customs with our baggage.  Immigration was a joke as we were ushered from line to line trying to find someone who was willing to process Kiah's IR-3 Visa.  We finally got in the right line and the process was completed in 15 minutes.  KIAH IS NOW A US CITIZEN!!!!  We rushed to get our bags and go through the lengthy customs process.    We then had to re-check our baggage and rush to the farthest terminal (of course) for our commuter flight to Dulles.  With 10 minutes to spare we made it to our gate and I sent Brandon for a COKE WITH ICE!!!! YES, ICE!!!!! 

The flight from Newark to Dulles was listed at 1 hr 20 minutes.  It took 59 minutes and we arrived in Dulles early.  We called my parents and they were stuck in traffic!!!  We briefly debated changing Kiah into her a "coming home" outfit as we didn't think anyone was going to be right there to greet us.  We decided to change her anyways and we are so glad we did!!!  When we came out of the double doors at Dulles into the baggage claim area we saw Christine White and Shane Canestra!!!  Christine White is our pastor's wife and Shane lives across the street from us.  Both of them are in our Small Group at Church.  I was stunned!!!  Then we saw the rest of the Canestra family, the Baird family and the rest of the White family!!!  Then the Dacales family showed up!!!  We were floored that all of these people came out to witness Kiah's homecoming.  My family arrived soon after.  Being reunited with Jake and Katelyn was wonderful.  It seemed like Jake had grown a foot since the last time we saw him!!!  Katelyn was as beautiful as ever!!!

Unfortunately during all the festivities, Brandon was stuck in the Continental Baggage Claims office as 1 of our bags didn't make it to Dulles.  They finally located it at Regan National Airport in DC.  We were told it would be delivered that evening.  Yeah, right!  Try 12 noon the next DAY!!!

We all left the airport and on the way out Katelyn told us that she planned a huge homecoming party for us!!!  We spent the evening enjoying family and friends at our house.  It was great!!! 

We were so happy to go to bed in our OWN bed that night.  The next couple of days were hectic as I came down with a stomach virus that lasted 3 days.  I was in and out of bed constantly.  The jet lag was bad and Kiah was only sleeping 3 or 4 hours at a time.  Jake was also having a really hard time adjusting and he was still very angry at us. 

It has now been 1 week and everything is looking SO MUCH better!!!  The last 2 nights Kiah has slept 10 hours!!!  That means we are sleeping too!!!  Jake has adjusted to school and to us being home and he is much happier.  Katelyn is still busy with Cheerleading and school.  We all attended her last home football games on Wednesday night.  The JV Cheerleading squad looked fabulous!!! 

There have been SO MANY people who have prayed for us and wished us well on our journey!!!  A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!!!

We wanted to say a special THANK YOU to our wonderful adoption agency:  Chinese Children Adoption International (CCAI).  They have been awesome!!!  Every step of the way they have been there for us!!!  We would not hesitate to use them again!!!  We would also like to say THANK YOU to the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA).  The CCAA runs an awesome streamlined adoption program. 

We wanted to give a couple of big shoutouts to:

-     My wonderful parents for watching the kids for 3 weeks!!!

-     Park Valley Church in Gainesville, Virginia.  You all are such a huge support!!!  We are so happy to be a part of PVC!!!

-     CCAI Travel Group 853.  We miss you all!!!  It was great to share such a life-   changing experience with you all!!! 

Stay tuned to this website for more updates on the Baker Family!!!  Thank you so much for being a part of our journey!!!

Love to everyone from Gainesville, VIRGINIA!!!