We're home and made it safe and sound! Yippee! We are so thankful for choosing a direct flight. It was around a 15 hour flight since the captain said we had a little tail wind that helped us to land about 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. Audrey tried so hard in the beginning to get comfortable, but the upgraded seats we had were made for adult bodies since they were like a recliner. However that doesn't work when you're only 35" tall! She used to sleeping horizontal so we stacked pillows and blankets until she laid across her chair and into Pa and Ma's laps. Therefore she slept well, but with every movement woke Pa or Ma up, so it was us who suffered from lack of sleep, while Audrey slept like a princess!
Once we landed we headed straight for immigration and luckily they called for adoptions first since we would have waited a long time. We were able to retrieve our luggage while they processed the paperwork. It still took another half hour but so glad we weren't still waiting in line to hand paperwork over like so many others!
We had arranged to have our dear friends, who are also our neighbors, pick us up from the airport. They had a wonderful surprise "Welcome home Disneyland box of goodies" waiting for Audrey! It contained a wind-up "Winnie-the-Pooh" song bear, which Audrey just adores and held all the way home, pajamas, some cute Disney t-shirts and shorts and some animal cookies, milk and water, which Audrey also enjoyed on her way home!
Grandma greeted us on the front porch and Audrey instantly enjoyed being held by her and meeting her and our two dogs Norton and Hayley! She didn't scream as we had imagined, but was very curious. She enjoyed checking out the house and was just so overwhelmed by everything "new" to her. Since it was late, we simply made a special mattress on the floor beside our bed for her to sleep. Her room with her crib has so many fun items and toys, we thought she'd be up forever if we decided to have her sleep there, so we are going to introduce her room and crip gradually so not so overwhelming!
We are all trying to get back onto our time zone, which we know will take some time, but we're doing pretty good so far. I had some sort of flu bug, so Grandma and Pa had to do most everything the 1st day so I could catch up on sleep and feel better. I had not felt well on the plane, so think it was something in the air that just lingered over. We are so happy that Audrey is already feeling comfortable home and enjoying exploring everything like all 2 year old usually do! Grandma also has also noticed how smart and funny Audrey is and is already suggesting we save for that "ivy league" education!
We couldn't be happier and thank all of you reading, our families and friends, for your thoughts, prayers and emails during this journey. You've helped and shared in every way to make this time such a blessing and the process so fast and smooth.
We look forward to being a family and sharing an update in the future on this site, that shows how we've grown together as a family. God bless and watch in the months ahead for an update!
I love Grandma and Hayley Dog #2
Waking up to 1st day at home!
Having 1st breakfast of blueberries and tofu fried rice...mmm yummy!
