Morning Musings from Home

Yes, that's right, from HOME SWEET HOME!  I've been lax in blogging and I confess that I haven't taken out the camera since we returned.  It will happen, have no fears.

We made it home around midnight Friday night.  All the kids did well on the long flight.   My stress level dropped about 100% when the two people with assigned seats in between four of our family members happily agreed to switch for our seats across the aisle.  Thank the Lord for that answered prayer!  LOL, the moment I saw the face of the young lady when she saw that she was supposed to sit in between Max and me, I knew she would happily trade with Ashlie!  The girls had no trouble at all with that flight, except little Allie somehow managed to stay awake for nearly the entire time.  Max did have a few rounds of crying and screaming - all just before he fell asleep for a nice long nap.  He was just upset that he couldn't really stretch out to sleep.  For two of his naps, I laid him across his seat and mine, and then just sat on the very front edge of my seat.  That position didn't do much for my back, but it did him a world of good for the quality of his sleep!  During his first decent nap of the flight, a flight attendant stopped by to tell me that we both needed our seat belts fastened.  Well, . . . the seat belt lights weren't on, . . . there was no turbulence. . . . and this mommy chose to risk it.  :-)

As we were coming in for our landing on U.S. soil, I confess to being so very overcome with God's greatness.  Once again, this journey began with a tiny little nudge from God, and after a few years, the time had come to bring our son home.  One tiny little nudge, and hours and hours of paperwork, weeks and months of waiting, and one wonderful, exhausting trip, and all of a sudden the overwhelming feeling that "we did it."  After all this time, we did it.  We're home.  With Max.  and our lives will never be the same.  Prayers of thanks for bringing us this far, and prayers for the Lord to remain with us as we face all that lies ahead.

We arrived in Detroit a little early and made it through immigration and customs with little problems.  There was a long (slow) line for Max and me in immigration, and when it was finally our turn I heard the officer make a call for the CDC rep to come talk to us.  Yes, the positive tb skin test was coming back to bite us again.  We were taken to a separate room and given directions to go to a local clinic for followup testing and instructions for treatment, if needed.  Then came customs, rechecking our bags, and one last fun trip through security with our family of seven and then we just had to wait about 3 1/2 hours to board the last plane for St Louis!  I expected Max to pitch a huge fit when he realized that we were on another plane, but he was just one happy little guy!  When we arrived at the St Louis airport, my sister Karen and her husband Jeff were there to meet us, and my poor parents were rushing to get there as quickly as possible after being stuck in traffic due to an accident on the freeway.  There is NOTHING like seeing family after a long adoption journey and it was so hard to keep my tears in check!  Max saw all of us hugging them and he happily moved in for his own hugs.  :-)  LOL, after I took him to the bathroom, he was waving and saying hello and zai jian to all the people that were waiting of their own friends and family to arrive.  They all got a kick out him and I tried to explain that he thought they were all there to  welcome him home!

Karen and Jeff and Mom and Dad helped to get all of us and our luggage to our car, which we had left parked at the Hilton,  and then my parents and our family started the trek home by car.  (About a 3 hour drive, plus a stop for some supper and COFFEE)  Ricky was out in the driveway to welcome us home, love on his sisters, and meet his newest little brother, who happily went to him to say hello!  Came inside to a CLEAN HOUSE (thank you Mom!) and a few dinners waiting in the freezer for us too!   Wrigley was so excited to have us home (thank you Ricky for watching over her and the houses while we were gone!) but Max is pretty terrified of her still.  A tiny bit of improvement there each day, but still afraid.

Rick and I and Adam are doing better than we ever have as far as jet lag is concerned.  I am so glad that we decided to try those "No Jet Lag" pills!  We still have our moments, and Max is waking for a few hours each night so all is not completely easy-peasy, but we are much better than we've been on our previous trips, thankfully.

Our friends the Headleys came up to visit yesterday afternoon and we ended up playing at the neighborhood pool for a while.  Max loved them all!    So sweet!  Their little Meisi (7 yrs old, like Allie) was so good with him in the pool! Nearing the end of our time together, all on his own, he went up to each of their girls to give them hugs and kisses.

We had to say goodbye to Adam already yesterday; his classes start today.  I honestly do not know what we would have done without him on this trip.  He knew what to expect, of course, but he REALLY stepped up when Rick got sick and he was just the perfect help in all ways for the kids when we needed him, and of course for travel days, suitcases - just everything.  Thank you Adam, for EVERYTHING!  I miss you terribly already.

Rick goes back to work today.  I've been saying all along that Max won't know what to do, but this morning I realize that I'M more than a little sad to be saying goodbye to both of them and also about the girls starting school this week.  Lots of changes.  Probably if Max was sleeping better at night I'd be less tired, less emotional,  and more up to facing everything.  He's been waking up for several hours in the middle of the night each night.  I know we've only been home a few days and it takes time (!), but we're ready for more quality sleep now, lol!    The girls have all actually been sleeping pretty well at night, which amazes me. I'm so thankful for that, knowing that they'll have to be waking up for school starting on Thursday.

For now, I need to make a plan for the day, and a plan for Max's medical appointments.  For now, it seems that we need to start with our family doctor and the local health department, and from there we'll see the pediatric cardiologist and the ENT.  I know that bloodwork, stool specimens, and immunizations are in order.  :-(  The girls have dentist appointments on Wednesday and I'll probably ask the dentist to simply peek in Max's mouth to make sure they don't see any problems that would necessitate a quick dentist appointment for him.  I'll be very glad to get all of the first round of appointments over with.

Meanwhile, it's wonderful to be home, and we'll probably spend the next few days getting ready for school and playing at the pool - trying to squeeze in just a little bit of summer vacation feeling for our sweet girls.

I promise there will be pictures soon!