After 7000+ miles and 21 hours since we left home, we finally made it. We are in our hotel room….I think that Paul is already sleeping! We didn’t sleep very well on our flights. The flight from MSP to Tokyo was incredibly long. Once they served our meals and we started to settle in and watch the movie, this elderly woman behind us started talking (and not in English). It didn’t really seem like she was talking to anyone, since I didn’t hear another voice. I finally got up to go to the bathroom and sure enough the people that she was with were sleeping!! She finally took a pill of some sort about 2 hours from Tokyo and of course, that’s when they started serving our breakfast. I think that we each to about an hour of sleep!
Since we found out our travel dates last week, everyone that I’ve talked to has asked “Are you excited?”. I was never really sure how to answer that, other than, YES I’m excited! But I was also happy, sad, nervous, anxious……so many emotions! Don’t get me wrong…..we are absolutely thrilled to be adding Alicia to our family!! She is going to bring so much to our lives, Marcus’ life and our family’s lives. Because of the anxiety that I’ve been feeling this week about leaving Marcus for two weeks it made me start thinking a lot about Alicia’s birth mother. I just can’t imagine the anxiety and sadness that she must have felt leaving her child in a public place to be found. To be taken to an orphanage and cared for by people that she didn’t know. To be hopeful that her child would someday be adopted and given a life that she was unable to provide for her. I tell you, for all the complaining that we do about our inept government system and our pompous, ignorant politicians, we are so blessed to be born in the United States of America!! I wish that we had an opportunity to meet Alicia’s birth mother, to know what she is like, what type of family that she came from……are they factory workers? are they farmers? does Alicia have any siblings? any cousins? I would like to thank her for giving us an opportunity to raise and love her daughter!! I hope that God gives her the peace in knowing that someone in this world is going to love her child totally and completely and that we will give Alicia every opportunity that we are capable of giving her.
We are off the Great Wall bright and early tomorrow morning, so I probably should try and get some sleep!
Marcus - you are my favorite little boy and Mommy and Daddy miss you very much already. See you in two weeks. Have fun with your friends!
