Tuesday,
June 3, 2008
MARY GRACE IS HOME!
“All children come
from God, for some the journey home just takes a little longer.”
~unknown
We made it! We are finally home! Our 25 hours of travel began at
5:30am on May 14 when we met in the lobby of the White Swan
Hotel. Our first flight from Guangzhou to Narita went well . . .
Mary Grace slept for over half the flight. And although we were
delayed leaving Guangzhou, we had plenty of time in Tokyo to
find our gate, get drinks and relax before the 11 hour flight to
Detroit.
Mary Grace did as well as could be expected during the long
flight home. There were several times when Delilah had to walk
her up and down the aisles of the airplane to calm her down, but
she also slept for part of the flight . . . allowing both of us
to get some much needed rest, too. We purchased a seat for Mary
Grace, so between Mommy’s and Daddy’s laps and the extra seat in
the middle, it all worked out. What a relief to finally land in
Detroit . . . to be in the U.S. again!
Our 40 minute flight to Indy was perfect. One of the flight
attendants just fell in love with Mary Grace and when she found
out we were returning home from China, the crew even offered us
a congratulatory bottle of wine! We landed in Indianapolis right
on schedule and received a warm welcome home from our dear
friend Julie and her sweet daughter (and Mary Grace’s orphanage
“sister”) Kamryn. They drove down from Chicago to greet us!
After a quick stop at Chik-Fil-A for a much needed large sweet
tea with extra ice, we returned home to find pink balloons on
our lamp post . . . compliments of Julie. She later stopped by
with homemade chocolate chip cookies, a galloon of milk and some
cold cuts and bread, as well as some more meals from her and
another friend (thanks, Carol) the next day. We can’t begin to
thank Julie enough for everything she’s done for our family
since we started this journey. Her friendship is a blessing in
our lives.
It took us a few days, but we are all back in the swing of
things here at home. After several days of being on China time
and thinking that 2:00am was playtime, Mary Grace is on a
schedule, and most importantly, she is sleeping through the
night! Her timing couldn’t have been better . . . she slept
through the night for the first time that first Sunday night,
which is when Brad went back to work. It was a nice, short 4-day
trip . . . just what we needed to ease our way into him being
gone. Mark, on the other hand, went right back to school
Thursday morning! Okay, we didn’t really give him the choice,
but it was probably the best thing for him, especially with just
two weeks of school remaining. He ended the school year with a
bang! One of his teachers even told him he needed to go to China
more often!
We look forward to spending our first summer with this
delightful little girl and letting her experience all that we
love doing as a family. We will continue to use this website to
provide monthly updates, so please check back if you’re
interested in seeing how Mary Grace is doing.
Blessings from home,
Brad, Delilah, Mark and Mary Grace |
Five Shangrao Orphanage “sisters” ready to go home
A glimpse of Mt. Fuji
Julie and camera-shy Kamryn from Chicago
Our family and sweet Kamryn
|
