We made it home just ahead of a snowstorm. The other WACAP family who travelled to Detroit with us was headed for Green Bay, WI. After sitting on the tarmack for nearly two hours, they started their 90 minute ride to Green Bay only to be turned back to Detroit after 45 minutes. They are stuck in Detroit without luggage and won't be able to head to home until MONDAY afternoon! Say an extra prayer for Lisa, Bill, their daughter Kelsey and their new daughter Lily who just turned three.
All said and done, we were in route for just over 25 hours! I got up at 4:00 am, and we had a 2 and a half hour drive to Hong Kong including a border stop where we had to receive a visa to enter (though HK is part of China right!) We took off about 10:40 am and were in the air just over 15 hours! Considering the length of the flight and the inability to move around our little one did very well on the trip. thank you Aunt Mary for your willingness to hold little feet and be kicked occasionally when Marie Ling had her head on my lap. Thank God the Boeing 777 has individual video screens and Delta provides many movies, TV programs and games - even a few that kept Marie Ling's attention! When we arrived in Detroit we had less than two hours to make her citizenship finalized, go through immigration, through customs, recheck our luggage and go through security one more time. We ended up running to our gate only to be delayed in bording and delayed more before takeoff. Nonetheless, we made it home in one piece with our luggage and three tired bodies. My Aunt Sally, our friends Patty and Paul and Len joined Mike and the kids in welcoming us home.
I could barely stay awake until 8:00 pm. ML and I crashed and my gracious husband let me sleep through. Mike tells me Marie Ling was awake much of the night; I slept until 5:00 am. You know it is going to be a long day when by 8:30 am you have watched nearly an hour of Seasame Street, colored several pictures in a coloring book, and you have made and eaten a hot breakfast.
Overall, Marie Ling is doing well given that she has now been home a whole thirty hours. She understands who is in the family and understands bits and pieces of English related to daily activities such as eating, bathing and using the bathroom. The exception is that she still has the Chinese habit of putting wet toilet paper in a trashcan instead of the toilet! She and Magdalena giggled a hundred times today which helped the time pass. We just need to convince Magda not to laugh when Marie Ling is doing something irritating or inappropriate. At this point, Magda just finds ML a riot to watch and ML loves the audience. Poor Matthias is not sure what has hit him. I think he is taken aback by how immature ML's behavior is at this point. Mike reminds him that this is a process and she has only been with us for hours not days, weeks or months.
I will try to post messages every few days for the next few weeks, so that if you want to you can see how we manage Marie Ling's first weeks in the states and the holidays. Thanks for your continued prayers. Please keep them coming. These are intense, exhausting days.
Peace,
Michelle
So glad you made it home safely!! I have loved reading all your blogs. I can't wait to meet my new cousin :) Will keep praying for all of you.
ReplyDeleteLove,
-Cathy