Our Journey Home!

We are finally home! Actually it's been a few days but we have been so caught up in the moment that blogging was put on the back burner.

Remember my last post where I said we are not phased by tantrums...well I was wrong. Faith is in total control here. I had the best laid plans for her to be well dressed to meet her family. I packed the cutest outfit in a carry on bag and planned to change her in the bathroom at the airport before we met everyone. I knew she didn't like socks and shoes and thought it was a stroke of luck when she fell asleep on the plane. I decided to change her then. She slept through the entire process and I felt such triumph.

However it was short lived because when we touched down and she woke up , she quickly realized her leggings and shoes were on her somehow; and threw the best fit...comparable to the day she got her shots. So in her pictures you will see she is happy and wearing barely anything. The spicy girl won out.

Our friends who also adopted from China were there to welcome us along with Teiha and our children. What a wonderful sight! We are so thankful our friend Dawn brought her camera and captured some wonderful pictures. Truely a moment like none other for our family. We sure miss our dear sweet Spencer who is serving a mission for our church in California...and only can imaging the joy we will feel when he arrives home in July. Then we will really be complete. Faith was well prepared to meet her siblings and recognized them at once. They each got a turn holding her. Our home was also decorated by our oldest daughter Kylee and our good friend Beth came over to help prepare some sticky rice and hard boiled eggs the day before. They also left her a trycicle and some other wonderful toys. Thanks to everyone who made this transition so easy for us and our children at home. WE ARE SO Blessed!

Faith's clock is off and we have been up until 2 am every night... tonight I switched up the routine and gave Faith a bath, she quieted down and fell asleep at 10 pm. We are all hoping she will sleep the entire night.

We are also thankful that the kids are not in school tomorrow, one more day to play together before the crazy schedule begins again.

Leaving Guangzhou today!!!

Well we are done…today we begin our travels home!  Faith had a great day yesterday.  She is realizing that her little fits don’t work on us,  and when she doesn’t get what she wants she gets over it much more quickly.   We didn’t have any tours scheduled…we just hung out and went to lunch.   We also traveled to the US Consulate to take the oath.  Basically we swear under oath that everything regarding our documents is true and correct.  It was a lot easier than I expected and didn’t take very long. They don’t allow pictures at the Consulate.  Also the young woman who did the swearing in ceremony said she was from Utah.  Afterward we approached her and asked if she was LDS, she said yes and that she had served a mission in Taiwan before working at the US Consulate…she also said there were about six other LDS return missionaries working in her office.  Very cool.   Later that night we ate dinner with some families in our travel group at a German restaurant that is located in a train car.  It was really fun.  Faith was very well behaved and is understanding English better each day.  She also slept through the night and slept in until 7 am.  Too bad we are going to have to readjust again when we get home.  Faith is as excited as we are to leave and has been very helpful packing her suitcase.   We found her some squeaky shoes this morning and she is happily wearing them now.  We could not get her to keep shoes and socks on…until the squeaky shoes!  She now says bubbles when she is in the bath… and she sings, “ E I E I O… as in Old MacDonald.  Very cute. 

 

We have heard that the train station is a little confusing…so hopefully today will go smoothly.  I have not been able to view our blog  or see any comments while here…just update and make slide shows, I hope I haven’t ignored anyone.   Thanks to my friends and family for supporting and feeding my children at home.   I really appreciate the home cooked meals that were made.  They are excited for me to come home and are tired of fast food.  I guess a lot of pizza was had.  We can’t wait to start a new normal life with little Faith home.  She is such a beautiful blessing to us and we have so much gratitude to a loving Heavenly Father.  This has definitely been a spiritual journey  and we have grown so much.  We feel so complete. 

 

Till we meet again!

Dawn

 

 

Guangzhou day 4 {Red Couch Picture}

Ok…I think everyone in our group has hit a wall…we are done and want to be home.  It is getting a little old doing the hotel and eating out routine every day.  Also we have had our laundry done three times now.    At least we got to sleep in and hang out because of the consulate interview.  We also found out that our adoption agency sends a representative for us to the interview; that was nice.  Faith took a great nap during this time.  They had no questions about our paperwork and we get to take the oath tomorrow. 

 

We also had the traditional red couch picture taken in the hotel lobby…that was a joke.  I will post all the attempts of getting the children to sit still while on the couch… my personal favorite is Faith sticking her legs in the air spread eagle.  She is very Spicy! 

 

We had two tantrums today…one when we woke her early from her nap to go shop and the other when we wouldn’t let her have the entire plate of watermelon to play with on her plate with chopsticks.  She screamed the entire walk back to the hotel and we had many onlookers.   If she spoke English she would have understood me tell her that I have had 4 children and I am not fazed by tantrums.   We should get it on video. Jeff said to me. “ how can such a tiny thing create such havoc?” 

 

It’s a bit of a bummer because we were going out with another couple to dessert and hot chocolate, but her tantrum cut the night short.  As soon as we got back to the hotel she fell asleep. 

 

We also walked around the hotel and the grounds are beautiful…Uploading some pictures of that also.

 

Putting Faith to bed…goodnight J