May 15th -- Homeward Bound!!

We are home! Our day was long, beginning by leaving our hotel in Hong Kong at 9:00 am for the airport and being driven through the mountains at the edge of the sea by the ports. These ports were massive, having cranes after cranes, loading and unloading huge ships, with lots of ships anchored in the harbor, a port on a scale that I have never seen before.

Our plane ride from Hong Kong to Chicago was 14 hours, and Jenna did very well. She played with her toys a lot, she slept a few hours, had snacks, and was a very good little passenger. Thank you all who prayed for us on this long journey home.

Once we got to Chicago we had several hours before our flight left at about 8:30 pm to go to RDU. We all napped and had good ole MacDonald's. We landed in North Carolina after 11 pm, where we were met by our family with Grandmom M. thrilled to meet her new granddaughter (it had been a long journey for the grandmothers too!!) and Gretchen's brother Todd and family. Jenna was given a huge butterfly balloon which she wouldn't let out of her sight. We were so glad to see familiar faces! So good to be home. Sorry we couldn't see Douglas and family, know you guys really wanted to be there, can't wait to see you all.

I almost forgot!! When we went through immigrations in Chicago Jenna became an official U.S. citizen. Citizen Jenna! Things went so smoothly all of our way through and we were even placed at the head of the line a couple of times when agents recognized that we were carrying the "brown envelope." It contained all of her paperwork from the U.S. Consulate that would ensure that she would be naturalized when we got to a port of entry.

In the wee hours of the morning on Saturday (2:45) we got home and saw welcome home ribbons in the yard, a pink baby ribbon on the mailbox by the road, balloons welcoming us back on the lamppost, and a welcome back sign from Tricia and Lisa and families(thank you--never thought we would have a pink ribbon on our mailbox). Our yard had been mowed and weedeated and edged and looked great, thank you all Melissa and Ray and Mr. C. (gotta get that crew's number).

Jenna was keyed up from seeing part of her new house and it took a while for her to fall asleep. Tomorrow will be a big day as she meets more of her new family.

God is good! He watched over us in every appointment, every meal, every flight, every ride, every single thing. We thank Him for His goodness and His providence and His kindness to us in all of our time away from our home, and we thank Him for the gift of a child.

"The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works." - Psalms 149:5

With love,

Goodbye Maylie, we hope to see you soon

Last Day in China

Welcome Home Jenna with the M's