Friday, December 15, 2006

We're home!

Hi everyone -- I have many more photos to post, but for now I just wanted to say we got home from China safely. Ting Ting did great on the plane, and she slept for much of the trip. I'm hoping we'll have a quick transition to the new time zone (although I was up at 1 a.m. playing ball with her, then again at 5 a.m. feeding her noodles. But she conked out again about half an hour ago and is sleeping soundly in her crib).

Many, many thanks to my crazy sister Kay, who took the day off work and flew to Chicago just to shoot video of our arrival and get a quick glimpse of her new niece before she had to catch her return flight. You could have knocked me over with a feather when Lance called out to me that she was there. I had stopped to chat with the extended family of travelmates Chuck and Lynette, who were there in force with signs to welcome little Dani. Kay had already met all of them, of course, and most of my other travel mates, too, I found out. We couldn't convince her to stay -- she had to get home because her son would be home from school soon. But now we have priceless video of our triumphant return, and we can't thank her enough for this wonderful surprise.

Meanwhile, my mother and father had flown in for a few days (they flew to Midway and took a cab to our house while Kay was jetting off to O'Hare). Lance and I took a limo home from O'Hare and arrived just a few minutes after Mom and Dad had brought in their luggage and changed into their "Lao Lao" (grandma) and "Lao ye" (grandpa) sweatshirts. Little Ting Ting had slept during the limo ride and so was a bit overwhelmed when she came into the and was greeted by strangers. But it only took a few minutes before she had warmed up to her grandparents and was charming them with her smile and little giggles.

I have wonderful photos and will post them as soon as I can -- plus I have some more photos of our trip to share.

Thank you all for all the support while we were away. Lance would check the blog each morning and read aloud the comments posted overnight. It was really fun for us to share it all with you.

Now, on with real life!

5 comments:

Gigi said...

WELCOME HOME!!! So how great is it to be home and be in your house, bed, kitchen!!! You made it through one if not the most incredible journeys of your life and you have this beautiful, beautiful little child! I am sure the upcoming holiday season will be so blessed and busy. While Gigi and I cannot wait to meet Rachel, see you and hear all about the trip, we know what it is like!!!

Have a very, very Merry Christmas and God Bless you all,
Michelle Irwin

Anonymous said...

So glad to see that you are home with your new daughter! What a fabulous Christmas you all will have together. Congratulations on your journey, and your little girl.

Laura

Anonymous said...

Susan,
I'm embarrassed to tell you how many times I've "clicked" for updates. One of my student advisees--a Chinese woman--weeps for joy when I share your journey with her.
How can I reach you outside of the blog? mcampbell@stephens.edu

Anonymous said...

Susan,

Hi, congratulations! I hadn't checked your site for awhile, so I was happily surprised to see you are home with a new baby. And she is very cute!
We're very happy for you!
Merry Christmas,

steve and margaret

Anonymous said...

Welcome Home! It sounds like you have had an amazing journey! I bet it feels great to sleep in your own bed instead of the really smally really hard beds in China!!! I can not wait to see you and to meet both you and Rachel. I am so excited. We leave for Illinois in a few days. YIPEEEEE Sorry I haven't posted lately we were out of power for longer then 90 hours. OUCH. Hope all is well, I love all of the pictures...thanks for sharing!