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August 10, 2008  |  September 8, 2008  |  January 2, 2009  |  January 2, 2010

Sunday, August 10, 2008 Time to say Zàijiàn (goodbye) to China. It has been a long, memorable trip that has resulted in the blessing of this new little girl and a fresh outlook on life. We woke up at 4:30am in order to get checked out and down to the shuttle by 5:30. We were to depart for Tokyo at 8:10 from HGK on Northwest flight 12. All of us were apprehensive about the trip home but were trying to focus on the end goal of actually being there. We had the usual challenge of dealing with the check in and departing customs. Thankfully all the luggage made weight and it went pretty smoothly. After customs we got some coffee only to find out that our plane was boarding a half hour early and wouldn't permit drinks to be taken aboard. We were forced to suck down blistering hot drinks as quickly as possible before boarding. Then, there was additional security screening and passport checks on the jetway. Although we hadn't been, it sure felt like we had been fully strip-searched after all this. Prior to leaving for China we had gotten a special travel blessing from our priest, Fr. Jackson, at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Littleton. All I can say is that we never once had a flight delay or any major travel hiccups. The extra screening and customs were necessary annoyances but our travel itinerary was actually executed very smoothly. We've heard lots of stories to the contrary and I certainly experience many delays and cancellations in my own business travel, so it's proof that God rewards your small leaps in faith. Nobody ever got seriously ill either and there were no car accidents. We boarded a fairly plush 747 and backed out on time. YaYa ended up falling asleep just before boarding and only slept briefly after takeoff. During the Tokyo leg we all shared responsibility for YaYa. When she'd get unruly with one person, she'd get a change of scenery by getting passed off to another. This afforded me some time to get a little shut-eye because I knew the next leg wouldn't be very easy. Upon arrival in Tokyo we went through the same lax security checkpoint we had before. It's just between connections so I imagine they don't scrutinize things as much as primary checkpoints. I managed to squeak by with a small bottle of hand sanitizer and they just asked me if it was for the baby. I said it was and they gave me the go ahead. We got to our gate in plenty of time and while Lori sat down with the gear the rest of us set out to do a little food reconnaissance. In the meantime, Northwest did a gate change and put our new gate completely on another concourse. That was the only minor travel hiccup in the whole trip. The boys wanted McDonalds and I paid $1200 for two sandwiches. The Yen isn't very strong so that was actually like $11. April and I had seen a sushi bar when we came through before and our goal was to find it and get our first familiar taste we'd had in a couple weeks. Plus, we could say we actually ate sushi in Japan even if it was only in the airport. Dad and Lori took the boys and we took the 10 minute walk to the sushi place. We sat down and got our order in. Just as the drinks arrived I double-checked our boarding pass. We figured we had plenty of time since eating sushi is usually very quick. The flight left at 3:25 and it was only 2:30. However, the boarding pass said boarding was at 2:30. I've never heard of a plane boarding 55 minutes early and we both panicked. We sucked down the drinks and got our food to go. The 10 minute walk back took 5 and we were drenched in sweat getting on a 9 hour flight (I hate that feeling).  We got on board the completely full flight and finally got to eat our sushi. I know it grosses some people out but that's our kind of comfort food. Even though it was an airport restaurant it was actually excellent. YaYa was alert and energetic and bouncing off the walls. She kept kicking the seat in front of us and I think it was bugging the Chinese guy sitting there. About 2 hours into it I put her in the Ergo and she finally fell asleep a half hour later. Her nap lasted an hour and a half and I tried to sleep as much as possible during it. We woke up thinking we'd slept for a long time and realized there was still 4 hours left. Worse, YaYa was rested and had more energy than ever. Dad and Lori were asleep and she still wasn't going to April so I had her most of the trip. We kept checking the GPS map and time to destination about every 5 minutes. That's pretty much how it went for the balance of the trip and I didn't handle it well. I was crabby and short with everyone. What a jerk. I watch this scenario play out all the time with other passengers when they bring little ones on the plane and I always feel sorry for them when they get exasperated. I think about how unnecessary it is because anyone who gets annoyed by it should just get a life.

Yet here I was, exasperated and chippy with everyone. Eventually though, what goes up must come down and we landed in Portland. We had planned a homecoming with all our Portland-based friends and family and had a new thing to look forward to. The long leg was over and we were in much better spirits. We only needed to clear customs and we could get a reprieve due to our long layover. We strolled up to the customs counter and Officer Eshelman was the first to officially welcome YaYa to the USA. I take back what I said about US Customs officers because he was nice as could be. He processed our passports and asked us to step into the customs office for the remaining steps. At the US Consulate in Guangzhou, Holt had supplied the Visas and citizenship paperwork that the CIS would need in order to officially register YaYa as a US citizen, which happens as soon as she steps foot on US soil. We handed over the paperwork to Officer Eshelman. After a short wait it was all official. We'll get her certificate of citizenship in about 2 months but the stamp on her passport will prove her citizenship in the interim. Our sister-in-law Julie works at PDX and paid us a nice favor by letting us stow our gear in her office. We had rented an SUV and now we could downgrade to a small car instead. We had planned to meet everybody at Cook Park in Tigard. On the way we took a few minutes to grab a burger at Burgerville (we love their organic burgers), and we drove by our old house. The first thing you notice getting out in the open Oregon air in August is the "August Fragrance". This time of year the blackberry bushes have produced all their fruit and it is ripe. Blackberries in the Pacific Northwest are as prevalent as Kudzu in the South. The smell is awesome and we've loved it since we were kids visiting Seattle in the summertime. The homecoming was great. It was really touching to see how many of our family and friends turned out to visit and made us have real heartache over our decision to leave. We've never recovered from moving away from our close friends like that but we had legitimate reasons to move and we do love Colorado a lot. Like she did a year and a half ago when we drove East in the Columbia Gorge for the last time, April sobbed upon driving back to the airport today. For taking time to turn out and being such good friends and family we want to thank the Shumways, the Morgans, the Grossos, the Roeslers, the Mortons, the Meyerhofers, the Ofsteads, the Yargers, the LeMarks, the Douglas', the Weislogels, the Good-Mojabs, and the Fishbacks. Hopefully I managed not to forget anybody so please forgive me if I did! We also know we kinda screwed up on our invitation and some weren't able to come to the park. We miss all of you so much and love you guys. A special thanks to the Shumways for cutting their vacation a day short to see us, and to the Roeslers for their priceless and thoughtful gift. We thank everybody for their gifts. We had such a wonderful visit and hated to leave but there was one more flight to catch. Next up was the PDX to Denver leg. We got our bags checked in again and now that we were flying domestically, things were so much easier. We had timed it so that we got to the gate and walked right on the plane. Once on board, every single one of us conked out and didn't wake up until about 5 minutes before landing. That was awesome. We finally got a little rest on a plane. Arriving in Denver it took us a bit to get our stuff, get on the train, and get to the main terminal. Going up the escalator from the train, we saw Keaton with his face smashed against the glass and a brightly decorated poster he drew to welcome us home. Gavin had also drawn one and they were together at the top, barely able to contain their excitement. We really missed our other two boys, and although we felt somewhat guilty for leaving them home, it was the right decision. At their ages it would have been incredibly hard to manage all of them together in China. At least we were back and able to give them big hugs. As we expected, they smothered YaYa just as much as the other boys had been doing constantly since we picked her up. We got our bags and piled in the truck for the one hour drive home. It was so good to be back in cool, dry air. Upon getting home we had been at it for 31 1/2 hours. When we finally got to bed sleep came quickly and everyone slept through the night.

"Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find,
knock and the door shall be open unto you." ~Matthew 7:7

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