We arrived to Logan at 5pm on Saturday the 10th...exhausted from the long trip, and elated to bring our baby girl home.
As anticipated, Phoebe Li's passport and the Brown Envelope arrived at the last minute on Friday to the Guangzhou train station, so we had a mad rush through security and made the 4:12pm train to Hong Kong with only a few minutes to spare. It was fun to ride the train into Hong Kong...more spacious than the bus or plane. We were sitting face to face with another baby from Phoebe Li's orphanage...and at one point during the ride, Phoebe Li reached over to hug her little friend Abby. She squeezed her with both arms as Dan held onto her waist. I'm not sure baby Abby knew what to think, but for us it was a very sweet moment to watch. We rode a bus with the other families to the Sky City Marriott at the Hong Kong airport to spend a short night...then over to the airport at 7:20 the next morning to catch our flight home.
It was a long one... Fifteen hours Hong Kong to Newark. Phoebe Li only slept about 2 hours...though we kept our sanity by visiting our friends a few rows away, playing with a plastic cup, and peaking through the seats at the nice lady behind us. When we finally landed, we sailed through customs...the officer brought us to a special room where they opened the Brown Envelope at last, and then they looked at us and announced "the baby is all set...welcome to the United States!" And off we went to another terminal to make our connection to Boston. That was one of the most emotional moments of the journey for me...we have been shuffling paperwork for over 4 years. And I guess without realizing it, I was holding my breath with the hope that all was in order in the final moments. All that crazy emotion was combined with physical exhaustion, starvation from lack of any edible airplane food, and concern for my tired baby girl, who at this point had tolerated more shuffling around than any adult could possibly endure. The short 38 minute flight from Newark had us arriving to Boston early. And as we rounded the corner out of the gate we were greeted by family and friends with signs and balloons. What a sight for sore eyes! An amazing reception for our tired Phoebe Li, who somehow stayed awake to greet everyone. It's so good to be home. Phoebe Li spent Sunday playing with the aunties and friends, getting rocked to sleep by Memere, exploring the house, and getting to know her kitty Noel. See you all soon for a visit!
