Home Sweet Home

I can't tell you how good it is to be back home again, among my peeps, breathing fresh air, and brushing my teeth without bottled water.  The marathon trip home was anything but fun.  Quin was AMAZING, and a real trooper, and surprised even those that sat around us who were, I believe, prepared to endure a screaming 2 year old.  She only slept about 2-3 hours of the flight, but seemed content as long as we kept her occupied.  

The highlight of the flight for Loren was to change a major diaper blowout in a tiny airplane restroom. (I love that man!)  He even had to wash out her shirt and keep her from rolling off of the slanted changing table- Daddy/daughter bonding at it's best.  

I got engrossed in watching as many free movies as I could- I was so happy to hear English on TV that I was fairly hypnotized by our little movie screen.  However, someone should've warned me about the movie "Courageous".  Yah.... I bawled.  (Awesome movie, but have kleenex handy) 

We traveled about 25 hours by the time we hit Mpls Airport, and we still had 5 hours of driving to go.  We decided that 2 large Mocha Frappes from McDonalds would give us our second wind, so we decided to hit the road to get home that night.  Immigration was quick and painless- our agent had adopted from China 30 years ago, so we hit it off right away.

Came home to a clean (gasp!) house, and my Mom, Aunt Gayle, and daughters pretending to play cards so that they wouldn't freak Quinn out by smothering her when we got there.  Travis took off the next afternoon after a nice visit, and we all began to settle in to enjoy being a family.  I gotta say, I have the best family support team ever!  Thanks Mom, Gayle, and Travis!!  My awesome friend, Sara, also lined up meals for the first week home- how thoughtful is that?!  I am so blessed to have such incredible people in my life.

Since we've been home, we've been recovering from colds caught during the plane ride home, and trying to re-establish our days and nights, the hangover from jetlag.  Quinn has already attended a basketball game, violin lessons, and was announced in church on Sunday. 

Luke, Bri, and Camille are all vying for Quinn's affections, and it's kinda cute to watch the games involved with becoming "her favorite."  She likes them all, but so far doesn't want to be too far from Momma's leg, which limits what I get done in a day!  I need to remind myself how long we have worked to get this precious girl home, and just enjoy the moment. 

Here are our attempts at our own "Red Couch" pictures~

Meilynn DaiFu- just beautiful!

April trying to capture the moment



Drew and Amy working to get Salem to smile- how cute is she?!

Yah, that would be OUR daughter doing the crying :-)

Last group picture in the lobby of the Marriott before we head off to catch our planes. Andersons, Johnsons, Scotts
Wenxi, our guide, is in the middle.


First pic back home with big sis Bri





Sharing ice cream with Bri



 

Nuthin cuter than a kid in footie jammies!

South Dakota never looked so good~