We're home!!!

I sit here watching all three kids playing together with Legos (thank you Brenda and Jack). In fact, I forsee them spending most of the day here. I suppose that I need to have them change out of their pajamas eventually, but for now I will let them just enjoy their time together.

I sure wasn't prepared for this change in weather. Well, I knew it would be cooler now that we are nearing the end of September, but I don't know that I was mentally prepared for it. We went from tropical temperatures in China, where you are sweating in shorts and tank tops, to a 40-degree morning here in Olympia where I could actually see my breath when I went running this morning. I must admit though, that I did find it refreshing to feel the cool breeze and sunshine on my face when I got off the plane (I don't remember seeing any blue sky for the last 12 days... just fog/smog). I'm wondering what Xian Hua thinks about this Pacific NW climate since he grew up in the tropical climate of China. I'm certain it won't take him long to get acclimated.

Our trip home was, for the most part, uneventful. The Portland leg, or more specifically airport customs, proved to be the most frustrating portion of the trip. We found out when we arrived in Tokyo, that our flight to Portland was delayed by 2 hours. Bummer... that meant that we wouldn't make our connection to Seattle. The consulate office in Guangzhou China provided us with a packet of documents in a sealed envelope. We were told to take this sealed packet and give it to the customs office at the airport when we arrive in country. Little did we know, it wouldn't be quite that easy at the Portland airport. First of all, we had to wait in line with all the other non-US citizens (the consulate office told us we couldn't go through the US citizen line)... it must have taken at least 30 minutes to get through this line. An adoption express line sure would have been nice. Then, after making it through that line, we find out that we have to take this sealed package to another office for processing. So again... we waited. This time, we waited for over an hour as we watched the customs officer ask other visiting non-US citizens a long list of personal questions. Luckily, another adoptive family we met in Guangzhou was there, so we passed the time by visiting with them and watching our kids play. Finally, we get through customs and race to the other end of the airport to make a 1:30 connection to Seattle.

"Ladies and gentlemen... welcome to Seattle", we hear the pilot announce. We made it!! Hal and I give each other a high-five and race, with Xian Hua in tow, to baggage claim where we see Kayley and Sam and the Arend clan waiting for us. It meant so much to have them there to greet us.

Kayley, Sam and Xian Hua have been having a great time playing together today. They've been helping him explore things both inside and outside the house. It's fun to think about what things must seem like from his point of view... to him, everything is new. He's done such a great job assimilating to our home and family over the past 24 hours. He doesn't seem to think we are too weird. We introduced him to our dog Lucy today as well. We were going to wait a day or two, but we all really missed her and Xian Hua seemed to be excited about meeting her too. He has been playing catch with her several times today.

It's so nice to be home with everyone, including Lucy, altogether again.