Welcomed Home!

One of the MI cousins--Raegan

Brent's Brother Brad and his wife Bradi

Welcomed at Harrisburg Airport

by family and friends

Hanging out in her 

new bedroom

Checking out her baby doll

Bedtime snack--noodles

We're home!  YEAH! It feels so great to be home. We arrived at HIA last night around 8pm. All our flights went smoothly. Our last connection home from Detroit was delayed 1 1/2 hours. I almost had a break down at that point. I just wanted to be home! We had a layover in Detroit, MI so Brent's Brother Brad, his wife Bradi, and their daughter Raegan (sister Sydney was with her grandma) drove 2 hours to meet us. What a very special time! Alissa loved her new cousin Raegan. She ran all around chasing her. It was so sad to have to leave them. Thanks guys for making the drive to see us. It meant the world to us! Then came our welcome at HIA! And boy was it a welcome! We were greeted by our parents, my brother Jon, his wife Becky, my nephew Ethan, my niece Emma and several of our friends and their children. My dear friend Alicia made t-shirts up for the adults and kids in our gang. They had a pic of Benjamin and Alissa and it said Welcome Home Alissa & Benjamin. What a special touch! Alissa kept going up to every one's t-shirts and pointing to her pic along with her brother. Alissa enjoyed running around after her new friends and cousins. As Alicia said, she'll fit in just fine with the crew at the beach! The best was whenever she ran around with her friends she always kept mom in sight to run to for a great big hug! Next came the car seat. Car seats are not common in China. In fact from what we heard they are hard to find there. She was fine when we first strapped her in, but once we started driving she started to scream. It felt like a very long drive home. We arrived to our house to flowers, balloons, gifts, and signs from our family and wonderful neighbors. The yard was even mowed! That was so kind of you!

 Once home we took her in to see her room. She seemed to like it. It was familiar to her from the pictures we sent. She was excited to see a backpack like the one we sent to her (we bought a 2nd one to have here at home in case the foster parents kept the one we sent.). We weren't sure that she actually saw it, but when she walked into her room she picked it up and showed it to me saying American Mama (in Chinese). It melted my heart! Next it was time for a bedtime snack. I made her noodles and she ate them right up. The best was Brent and his granola (he couldn't wait for a bowl of cereal, we didn't eat or drink any milk while in China). He gave her some, but she didn't seem to care to much for it. She proceeded to take another spoonful and put it in her leftover chicken broth and then eat it. Granola in chicken broth yum yum! We headed to bed around midnight. I slept on Alissa's bedroom floor. She only woke up twice during the night. I was able to get her back to sleep without too much trouble. The 2nd time I actually fell asleep in her bed. I woke up with her asleep hugging me. Another heart melting moment. We crawled out of bed around 10:30 this morning and have been trying to keep busy not sleeping. Alissa did nap for an hour this afternoon. Of course that was when the grandparents and my brother and his family were here. She did sit and watch Tom & Jerry with her cousins and even shared a few animal crackers with them. That made cousin Emma feel better, because she was hurt that Alissa didn't hold her hand Friday night at the airport. (So cute) After supper this evening she got to meet some of the neighbors. The kids were so excited to see her and she was happy to ham it up for them. Alissa fell asleep around 7pm tonight so I put her to bed for the evening. We'll see how tonight goes. We are borrowing Jon &  Becky's baby monitor so I don't have to sleep in Alissa's room. Brent is excited about that! Well, I am feeling pretty beat. So it's time for bed. Thanks to our family and friends for your welcome home! I know I sound like a broken record but we appreciate all your kindness, prayers, and well wishes. We are humbled! And yes, to all those who are wondering we are planning on continuing to blog. We have family and friends (and new blog friends) from all over that would like to follow our continuing journey, so to be continued.....

Good Night!!

One Last Update...

Red couch picture

Officially ours! After our consulate 

appointment and getting our visa

Well this post is a rather bittersweet one. While we are so excited to return home it is sad to leave Alissa's country and the friends we have made on this journey. Today we took pictures on the red couch here at the White Swan. It is an adoption tradition. We dressed Alissa up in a red Mandarin dress we bought for her. What a beautiful little girl!  Afterwards we finished up some last minuting shopping. After lunch it was back to our room. Alissa took a good nap before we had to wake her for our consulate/visa appointment. At 2:45pm we were off. There we got Alissa's visa and took our oath. We now can come back into the country! Our last supper we enjoyed with 2 other Guangxi families--Italian again. It was great!

We just wanted to take this time to say thanks to everyone for their comments on our blog, emails, and prayers. You'll never know how much we have appreciated them! Thank you so much for following along on our journey. It's been an experience of a lifetime. We have been humbled by your following of this journey. God has been so faithful to us! We can't wait to see you all soon. Next post...from good old Lititz, Pa! We love you guys!

Priceless Pictures

View from our hotel room 

this morning

Venturing out for

some shopping

Playing with my hair at breakfast

Hanging out in our hotel room

this afternoon

Snacking in an inner tube 

another family gave us

Enjoying some ice cream after

supper outside our hotel. It

was a beautiful view with all the lights!

Having some crazy fun with brother

before bedtime

I love her smile!

Today we awoke to flooding in the streets here. Apparently it was due to the water surge from the typhoon that went through. According to the people here they haven't seen flooding like this in years. Many of the shops were flooded. It was such a sad scene. Once the rain slowed down we ventured out. We found some shops that we could get to and were glad for the business. The funny of the day was when I took Alissa outside a shop (she was getting a little restless) and all of a sudden she pulled her pants down and started to squat. Oh no! I quickly pulled her pants up and ran back into the hotel for a bathroom. Good news...we made it in time! After shopping we hung out in our hotel room. Brent took little nap (or tried to with all the laughter and giggling). He came down with a head cold yesterday. That would be a prayer request that he would feel better and the rest of us don't get sick! This evening we enjoyed an Italian dinner with 3 other families we were in Nanning with. We really have enjoyed each other's company during our journeys. Alissa fell asleep during dinner again tonight. She has done that the past 2 nights. The problem with that is that she is pretty crazy then at bedtime. It doesn't help when Daddy buys us all ice cream after supper. Oh well! Benjamin had a fun time tonight with his sister. She was tackling and hugging him. She had the best belly laugh again tonight! Each day Alissa seems to love us a little more. Her hugs, smiles, and I love yous just melt our hearts. Tonight was another tearless bedtime. Brent and I just said ever since Nanning the bedtime tears have stopped. It seems as if the new location has helped her. It's also unbelievable that we have been here for almost 2 weeks already. Where did the time go!?! Tomorrow we have a group picture in the morning and then our consulate appointment in the afternoon. We will post one last time tomorrow night. Well the time now is for bed! Brent's poor nose needs a rest! Take care, until next time!