The long trip back home

Monday, September 17, 8:15 p.m., Home
Whew! What a DAY ( well, actually it's been a day and a half since our last post)! As you can see from our date entry, we made it safely home. We started our journey home with a 3:30 a.m. wakeup call. The kids woke up by the time we left the hotel at 4:00 and surprisingly stayed awake. At the airport, we discovered that when we changed our tickets to return a day early, only Mitch and Margaret's were rebooked and the kids were still booked to fly on
Tuesday! Well, that wasn't going to work! There were no seats available in economy but there were in business. So yeah, we already started off spoiling our kids! We were so ready to come home that we just decided to go for it.
Next stop was the immigration line to check everyone's passports and adoption documents. It was to be the first of many lines throughout our trip! By the time we got to our gate, we had used up our whole two hours prior to showtime and were some of the last passengers to get on the plane.
Jack and Mitch took the first leg in business class and Margaret and Beth were in the middle of the plane. We had been hoping that they would go back to sleep as soon as we took off, but they were way too wired! Neither one liked to wear a seatbelt and Jack threw a royal fit. Beth finally understood how to watch for the lighted sign to go on/off and had no problems after that. I think she kind of enjoyed snapping it closed and then flipping it open. Jack really got into the buttons on the console, especially the light. Beth got a lot of practice with "yes" and "no" when I had to remind her repeatedly not to push the call attendant button!
Our stop in Tokyo was pretty uneventful. We had just enough time to get off, stretch our legs, go through a security line AGAIN, and board our next plane. This time, the girls got to sit up in business class and the boys had backrow seats--literally! This was the longest leg of the trip and the kids got 3 or 4 hours of much-needed sleep. Both kids did amazingly well for being cramped up for so long (aside from Jack's tantrums over the seatbelt issue that is.)
We were so happy to set foot on U.S. soil! Too bad the kids don't have a clue yet! We knew we had a pretty long lay-over so we didn't hurry too much to customs and immigration. It was still pretty busy by the time we arrived there and we got in the line marked for new immigrants. The officer came to us in line and asked for all of our documents, then he just walked back to his little cubicle and told us to go to the end of another line. Long story short, we ended up being the last family to be served with everyone else cleared out long ago. (Note: this is the same US government department that made us wait in a small lobby with two small children bored out of their minds for 2 1/2 hours last week!)
We collected our luggage, re-checked it for a domestic flight and made a few phone calls to let our families know when to expect us. Then we waited some more. Overall, the kids did very well! No major temper tantrums, praise the Lord! As the journey wore on however, the tears did increase. The last flight from San Francisco was the shortest and the longest at the same time! Everyone was exhausted and of course Jack protested loudly over having to wear the seatbelt again. On our final descent, Beth's ears started to hurt from the pressure and it took a few tries of various "remedies" before Mommy remembered the sippy cups that we had brought. We finally got her to suck water through the straw and she calmed down enough to actually fall asleep right before we landed.
We were greeted with huge smiles from the grandparents! (There might have been a few tears as well?) The kids were shy and quiet (their typical behavior when meeting someone new). We ended up waiting yet again, because one of our suitcases never came through on the belt. Mitch had to wait (yes, again) for everyone else to be checked in to their flights before anyone would help him. They finally found it somewhere--who knows what the story was! By that time, Jack had fallen asleep and we were hoping he would stay out long enough for us to survive the drive home in the new carseat (with a harness!) Oh yeah, in Thailand no one uses seatbelts, much less car seats for kids! But, no such luck. He woke up as we walked to the car and boy did we hear an earful on the way home. Good thing we live so near the airport!
We were greeted by a huge welcome home sign hanging in front of our window when we arrived home, only 30 hours since our wakeup call in Bangkok! So many of our church family had signed it with notes of encouragement and blessing, it brought tears to our eyes when we read it all later. The kids were excited to investigate their new home! We showed them their room and they discovered a few toys, but when we took them out into the backyard, they dug right in to the balls and trikes and other old outdoor toys. It was great to hear them laughing and playing and enjoying themselves. By 7:30, we had wrapped up playtime, taken baths, checked out their new bunk beds and tucked them into bed. We decided to begin the practice of praying for them each night at bedtime and by the time we had finished, Beth was sleeping soundly. Jack was only seconds behind her. Now it's time for Mommy and Daddy to get some sleep too! Thanks again for your prayers for us we know God has answered many prayers on this trip.