Finally Home........with Jet Lag!

Here are the girls the morning we were leaving China. We got up around 4am and waited for the breakfast room to open at 6am to get breakfast. We had only 20 minutes to eat before our driver was taking us to the airport.

Selah seemed fine. Then we got to the airport and checked our baggage and got our boarding passes to Korea. Selah shut down. It could have had something to do with the fact that the China police at the airport would not let her through. Poor thing. I went first and had no problem. I handed Becca her passport and she also made it through fine. Then Selah came. The police officer would not let her through. Since Becca and I had already gone through we were not allowed back. I watched as Selah was confused. Jeremy was not allowed up to accompany her. I admit I was a little afraid something was really wrong.

Finally, Jeremy went up to the next window and tried to explain what was going on. They did let Selah over with him. I guess they wanted to see her next boarding pass from Korea. Jeremy had those with him so crisis averted! 

We got to our gate and Selah just shut down. She refused to even respond to any of us. I think it was her way of just coping with the reality of what was taking place. She refused to look at Jeremy.

This sign was our ticket home!

We boarded our flight. Jeremy sat with Selah and I sat with Becca. We each had a stranger beside us. My stranger was super nice! He was Korean and spoke Korean, English, Japanese, and Mandarin. He sort of took care of us and gave me a brief lesson in the Chinese characters. He would ask for drinks etc for us. Great guy! He even gave me his business card and said if we were ever in Korea we were welcome to stay with him.

The flight began to take off and Selah took out her container of gum. By the time we were in the air she had about 9 pieces in her mouth. Jeremy reached over and put his hand on her lap. She asked, "What are you doing?" He said, "Hold my hand!" She did! Then she hung on for dear life. She held his hand for a very long time. For the first time in her life she had a daddy to protect her. And she must have felt secure.

We landed in Korea after almost 4 hours and went through security. She was much better after this.

We boarded our longest flight and she seemed great. Originally we were 20 rows away from Jeremy. However, Korean Air is so great. They were working to get us together. Then the man who was sitting in Jeremy's row asked the three people behind him if they would mind switching. Those three young people were on a missions trip with him and they were happy to move and allow us to sit together. This man was an orthopedic surgeon. He was returning from Thailand from a medical missions trip that he does every year. 

Knowing we had a doctor right there put my mind at ease. With this new heart issue and Selah, I felt good knowing there was a medical professional so close. We were surrounded with a terrific flight crew and a great group of new friends.

We landed in LAX and it got a little hairy there. Selah became a citizen when our plane touched US soil. We had immigration to get through. Our sealed brown envelope was ready to go. Then we saw the officer we were about to encounter. He just looked mean. And he was! Poor Selah. He yelled at her asking if she spoke English about three or four times. Any time Selah is in a large crowd she shuts life out. She was silent. I finally spoke up and told him she spoke very little to no English. I wasn't really lying. She had not spoken much to us. And at that point we could tell by her body language it was not happening.

He then refused to allow me and Becca to go with Jeremy and Selah to the immigration area. He insisted we go downstairs to get the baggage and Jeremy would stay with Selah for her paperwork. Do you have any idea how heavy our bags were? And how tired we were? I have to admit.....I was very angry. I did not hide that either. I made sure that officer knew how unfair that was. I told him it was ridiculous and we were a family. Finally another officer realized we were being separated and he said there was no reason for that and we could go back with Jeremy and Selah. Her paperwork took a long time but finally we were done.

We then got our baggage and walked for what seemed like every bit of 10 miles to the US Airways terminal. We checked in and got our boarding passes for the last three flights. Yes, I said three! 

Baggage checked.

Security checkpoint was uneventful. 

We were on our way home! .......in a couple of hours.

We landed in Phoenix and mom texted me that she saw our flight was delayed. We checked in and waited, and waited. 

Here is how Jeremy and the girls spent their time.

And here......

And here......

Finally we were boarding an hour later.

That was a four hour flight. I was absolutely exhausted! We had already been up and traveling for over 24 hours.

We took off and both girls fell right to sleep and slept the entire flight. Jeremy again was separated from us a few rows back. 

We landed in Pittsburgh around 11pm. It was so good to be "home"! We got our stuff and got off that plane! We rode the train at the airport for the last time.

Our family was anxiously waiting in baggage claim.

I was so happy to have my other kids in my arms again! I think the feeling was mutual.

My sweet little one did not want me to put her down.

Selah had no idea what to do.

My dad and mom and my sister came to see us too! Jeremy's mom and dad, Jeremy's Aunt Mary, and brother also came. How sweet! 

She stepped back when the family came near but she dealt with it okay. I told her on the plane she had family that came to meet her. She agreed.

We finally got in our jam-packed van and drove three hours. This was only after our luggage was temporarily missing. We walked in the door at 3am. That was 37 hours after we started our journey! We were tired but happy to be home. Selah really was happy but this photo doesn't show.

Mariah was a bit grumpy. Can you tell?

While Jeremy and I were unloading luggage from the van I saw Selah sitting on the floor in the living room just touching and looking at the ornaments on the tree. There is so much I never even considered. We finally sent everyone to bed.

I know this isn't what everyone wanted to hear about but if I didn't write this down now I knew I'd forget. I'll get to another post soon. I am really fighting jet lag. 

We praise God for our new daughter. She is our newest blessing. Just as special as any of our other children. Please pray for her as she slowly adjusts to her new life.