Last Day in China to our First full day home

WOW!!! What a whirlwind of a last 48 hours! We have experienced in this time, immense joy, overwhelming exhaustion, and much love from friends and family. So here is a little peek into what has gone on for the last couple of days.

Wednesday evening we decided to get our last few pictures of Samuel in China. We had gotten him a little Kung Fu outfit that we wanted to get some pics of him in before we left. So we set off to walk the beautiful gardens of our hotel one last time. Our hotel also had some huge ornate Chinese chairs that were perfect for taking pictures in!! It was a beautiful night in Guangzhou, perfect to remember our last hours there.

We woke up at 4:30am China time, and set out on our LONG journey home. First was our flight to Beijing, a little over 4 hours. Samuel did great, playing the whole time. We had just a little time to spend in the airport before getting on the plane to head to the USA!!! We were excited, but wished we could fast forward the next 13 hours. We took 2, 2-3 hour naps on the plane, had our last chinese food, and Samuel did AMAZING!!!! He didn't fuss once!!! We couldn't believe how well he did!!

We arrived at JFK airport in New York at 1:30 pm eastern time, which to our chinese clocks was 2:30 am. We didn't know what to expect as far as our little boy becoming a US Citizen and going through customs, and I think we expected it to be quite the process. NOPE!! We gave them all his paperwork, they typed a few things in and within minutes our little emperor became a yankee doodle dandy!!

The next 5 hours would become VERY trying on our patience... We were exhausted from the long plane ride, let alone the time change. Samuel cried and screamed the entire 5 hour layover!!! YIKES!!! We were out of chinese milk drink, which was the only thing he liked, and we tried to find the sweetest milk we could find at the airport, and he was not having it. So needless to say, we were completely torn about the plane ride to come.

We stepped on board, and emotions just overwhelmed me. Matt fell asleep before we even took off, as well as our littlest boy. I began to think about seeing Micah and Elijah for the first time in 2 weeks, introducing them to this little miracle sleeping in my arms, and the tears began to fall. Eventually I fell asleep as well, and we all got a good nap from New York to KC. In fact, Samuel didn't even wake up until we were getting off the plane!!

We walked up the jet bridge, anxious to see our family, and wow what a surprise we had in store for us!!! There were about 50 people waiting to greet us as we came out the door!!! They were holding signs and flags. I knelt down and was able to hug my 2 big boys that seemed like I hadn't seen in forever. I'm pretty sure in fact, that they both had grown a foot!! Elijah was in love with his little brother from the moment he saw him. It was precious. Micah was quite unsure, and waited until I handed Samuel to Matt before he would get too close to me.

The next hour and a half we spent hugging, talking and sharing stories with all of our wonderful family and friends who had come to welcome the newest member of our family. It was so special to be able to share our Samuel with everyone. He did quite well we thought!! Thank you to everyone that was there. We couldn't have had a more perfect welcoming home.

We got home and the boys played and got to know each other a bit and then it was time for bed. Oh man, how was this going to go? I decided to put Samuel down first, because I knew his crying would wake his brothers if I did it in any other order. So I went in and rocked him for a bit, then put him in his bed and he was asleep within 10 minutes or so!!! Wow, that went much better than I had imagined!! I came out to find the other 2 asleep on the couch. It had been a long emotional day for everyone!!

Samuel only got up once in the night for an hour and ate and went right back to sleep and slept until noon!!! He got on the right time schedule quickly!!! So awesome!! The day was amazing!! The boys played well together the entire day. Elijah was intent on getting Samuel to laugh and giggle as much as possible. He is quite the BIG brother. He is so loving and good with his new little brother. He wanted to carry him around everywhere and at one point he took him to his bedroom to play, and much to our surprise we went in to find he had put Samuel up on his bed and surrounded him with toys. They were just both sitting there playing like they had been brothers forever. Elijah later fed Samuel a bottle for the first time, which he thought was pretty cool, and then Micah and Elijah entertained Samuel for his first bath. Micah loves giving Samuel kisses. It's precious. However while Elijah and Samuel played all day, Micah was literally glued to my hip. That was just fine with me!! Man did I miss my boys!!!

So as I said the last couple of days have been crazy, beautiful, amazing, and all according to God's plan. It has been quite amazing to watch His work in all of this. Matt and I just continue to marvel at the intricacies of His work in our family and lives. God is so GOOD!!