We are Family!

It has been a few weeks now since we have been home. We had originally "planned" to lay low and keep things quiet and mellow when we got home. But again we learned that God sometimes finds amusement in the plans "we" make. Within the first two weeks of being home we hosted a dinner for 30 family members after Aunt B's funeral and had 12 straight days of different overnight house guests. The hectic schedule wasn't something we had "planned," but we wouldn't have traded the memories for the world. And we all came through it fine. God knew that not only we could handle it, he knew it was exactly what we needed.
We are settling in together as a family. We have had bumps along the way and things haven't always been easy, but we are family and families are rarely easy.
Someone recently asked me if we would be adopting any more children. My quick answer is NO, we are not "planning" on it. But, we will see what God has planned for our family.
Sarah has made six in our family and I can't imagine life without her. We are Family!

A Warm Welcome Home

We were so excited to come home. We missed our kiddos at home so much and couldn't wait to give them hugs. We also longed to introduce our family and friends to the newest addition of our family. But nothing could have prepared us for the outpouring of love and welcoming that we received as we stepped of the plane in Medford. The terminal was filled with our family and dozens of friends welcoming us home. We made a bee line to our kids and held them tight. My fears of Sarah rejecting her siblings ended when as I was hugging Tim, Sarah reached out for him to hold her. She also gave hugs and kisses to Marli and Sam. She made her rounds to all the family and friends giving a ready smile and lots of hugs. She knew that she was the center of attention and she loved it.
We stopped for lunch on the way home from the airport with Grandma and Grandpa and introduced her to Burger King. While she was a little too overwhelmed to eat very much, she really likes American French Fries.
We pulled up to the house to find a big welcome home banner and gifts for all the kids. Our house was clean and the fridge had been stocked. We have the greatest family and friends!
The kids couldn't wait to show Sarah her room. She squealed with delight at the sight of it. She loved her bed with the pretty pillows and stuffed animals, she loved her play kitchen and her bookshelf filled with books. Though I know she must have been overwhelmed with everything, she didn't show it. She lovingly allowed her siblings to shower her with all the hugs and kisses they had been saving up for over a year.

The long journey home

Our journey home started at 8:00 p.m. when we left the hotel for the hour long drive to the Hanoi airport. Our poor little girl was very confused when after her bath that evening she was dressed in sweats instead of her jammies and driven to the airport instead of being tucked into bed. When we arrived at the Hanoi airport we found thousands of people mulling around with very few flights scheduled to leave that evening. We later discovered that the majority of people were there to "send off" friends and loved ones. A far cry from the US where we are lucky if our ride drops us at the curb.

About an hour into our wait to check in, we noticed a vietnamese man walking back and forth in front of us with his son. We then noticed that when he walked by his friends were taking our picture with their cell phones. David knelt down and shook the little boy's hand and posed for a picture with him. Suddenly, cameras came out of nowhere and so did the children to have their pictures taken with us. We would like to think they thought we were celebrities, but they might have just wanted their pictures taken with the giant Americans. And we can't rule out the possiblitily that we were totally being made fun of and mocked. Nevertheless, it was an experience.

Sarah slept most of the flight from Hanoi to Seoul. :) Since we had such a long layover in Seoul we rented a room at the airport's transit hotel. (It was the only time in our lives we rented a hotel room by the hour.) It was money well spent. We were able to sleep for a few hours then have a shower before departing to LA.

It was a 10 hour flight from Seoul to LA, and our little Sarah only slept an hour of it. She wasn't being naughty, she was just awake. She enjoyed the personal entertainment system on the plane, where she watched one movie after another and some more than once.

Once we arrived in LA, we were amazed at how simple and quick the immigration process was. Of course it didn't hurt that we were the only ones in the immigration line. The U.S. immigration officer assigned to her case smiled as he read through her immigration documents. It turns out that he was adopted from south Vietnam when he was four years old from her same province. What a small world.

After taking short nap at our hotel we were met by Grandpa Mike and Betty. Sarah enjoyed meeting them and was totally facinated by her first "wrapped" present. It took her quite a while to realize that the pretty bag wasn't the gift. They then treated us to a wonderful "American" dinner of steak and potatoes at Claim Jumpers. It is good to be back in the USA!

The next morning we were surprised when we went to the LA airport and ran into our good friends Louis and Marelise and their girls on their way home from Hawaii. Turns out, we were all on the same flight home to Medford.

After being such a trooper on our long international flights, Sarah was restless on this short flight to Medford. It was almost like she knew the excitement that awaited at home.