Welcome Home!!!

Hope and I arriving in the terminal


Daddy and Hope are reunited


Our first family picture (MK was not cooperating)


Hope meeting her Grandma for the first time


Mary Kate giving Hope a hug


My parents, Hope and I left Hong Kong on Sunday morning at 9:15am. We had a direct flight to Detroit, which lasted 14 1/2 hours. Let's just say it was a L.O.N.G. flight. Hope took 3 little cat naps the entire flight and that's it. She was awake for about 12 hours of the flight and unhappy for about 11 of those hours. It's kind of like labor... once it's over, you kind of forget how bad it was. A year from now, I will probably look back on the flight with fond memories, but right now it's a little too fresh. But, we survived.

We arrived to Detroit on time, but Hope and I had to go through a special line for immigrants. The man who was working the line did not know what he was doing (he told me so himself) and it took him a long time to process the adopting children coming through his line. Because of this (despite my valiant effort of running like the wind through the Detroit airport) we missed our connecting flight home. I was disappointed. I shed some tears. And then I moved on. The next flight out was only 1 1/2 hours later, so thankfully we didn't have to wait too long. Hope slept through the entire flight (it lasted all of 30 minutes), which was beautiful.

We arrived at the airport and I was so excited to see my husband and kids. They were joined by about 20 other family members and friends, which was really fun. The kids were so excited to meet Hope and she seemed interested in them too. We got home around 5pm and I put Hope to bed at 6pm. She slept all the way until 8 the next morning. She clearly needed to catch up on some sleep. Thankfully, she has had no problem switching her days and nights since she skipped an entire night of sleep on our flight home. That is a huge positive. I am so thankful to be home and to be beginning our new lives together.