At 11:30, we headed over to the airport (it was attached to the hotel- that's why our agency arranged for us to stay there). Here's what we were dealing with:
At least we're well organized, and look at that sweet girl- her shirt says "there's no place like home". She's ready to start her life with us in the great state of Kansas! We're dreading the flight, honestly, but we can't get home without it- there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Who knows how Scarlett will do on a 15 hour flight. Who knows?!
I'm not feeling good today- I feel like I'm starting to get what Nathan and Scarlett have had the past few days. Just great- getting on an airplane sick is not fun!
The flight was delayed by 1 hour, but we had a good 4 hour layover in Dallas, so we weren't worried about it. It's another rainy day in Hong Kong. That's why we're delayed.
The flight was bad. But it could have been worse. Nathan would probably say it was worse than I would say. He was a sweetheart and took on most of the Scarlett duties. I was just feeling so lousy. I'll bet he was too... I owe him. He rocked her back to sleep, took her on walks to calm her down, and held her for hours while she slept and re positioned herself a gazillion times to try to get comfortable (which is nearly impossible on someone's lap). I watched 3 movies and tried to sleep many times. I was in the middle- there was a girl to my right- it was just not fun. The last 4 hours were brutal. Like tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. Torture!
We landed in Dallas and were exhausted. Not Scarlett- she was rather chipper. I'm glad for that. Oh customs... I don't even know what to say here. I certainly don't have anything nice to say about it. The line was long. Like so long we thought it very possible we wouldn't make our connecting flight to KC (being one hour late did not help the outlook on this). We got through the line faster than we thought we would, and handed the customs officer Scarlett's paperwork. The famous brown package that was to only be opened by them. We were simply the couriers for it. The officer then took us to the immigration waiting room. That's where the true torture began. I've never been in such a bad situation as we were in that room. It was bad. Very bad. The officers were jerks, and they weren't doing their jobs. The waiting rooms were full and it was frustrating. We were going on over 24 hours of no sleep, so we were literally dying. Okay, not really. But I was so tired, I thought I might die.
Scarlett fell asleep in the stroller and missed all of the fun in that room.
We missed our connecting flight thanks to the immigration bozos. Ugh I'm so mad at them. But, by this time, I don't want to get on another plane. I just want to lay my head down in a bed and sleep. Ahhh sleep sounds like heaven. We go get our suitcases that have been sitting on the belt alone for hours (so not cool), and head to the ticket counter where we find out that our flight to KC was actually delayed and we maybe could have made it, but probably not because it was in a different terminal. Whatever, just put us on a flight in the morning and we'll go to a hotel.
We ended up at the Hyatt that was connected to the airport. A shuttle came and picked us up. Walking through the airport- to our bags, then to the ticket counter, then out to where the shuttle was, then into the hotel... I honestly felt like my legs might fall off completely. I just wanted to sit down and cry my eyes out.
I got into the room at 9:30, brushed my teeth, and laid down for a night of sleep. I woke up at 12:30am and felt like it must be 5am! It was heartbreaking to see that it was only midnight, and I'd only slept for 3 hours! I was in and out of sleep for the next few hours. Scarlett woke up at 2:30am ready for the day. Man are our internal clocks messed up!! I gave her snacks, let her watch tv, and gave her toys and tried to sleep for the next 2.5 hours. The wake up call came at 5am. I felt like a zombie, but took a quick shower. My left eye was swollen, crusty and puffy. Clearly all of the excitement had made me pretty sick. Nathan woke up with the exact same looking eye. Really!?
We got to the airport and went through security one more time. I'm so done with airports. Nathan had to go back to the ticket counter and get a new ticket. The lady from the night before had printed out 2 copies of my ticket instead of one for each... of course she did.
We made it through security with Scarlett's bottle filled with water. Nathan had to show them Scarlett to get the bottle back. Man, we have to have that bottle! What would have happened if they'd thrown it away?! This happened almost a week ago... but just re-living it now is stressing me out. Haha!
We got some Starbucks (it's never been more necessary) and some fruit for Scarlett. She was happy to sit in her stroller and eat some breakfast. She's been so chill through all of this. I'm so grateful.
The flight wasn't full, so we got 3 seats. Scarlett fell asleep in Nathan's arms and I listened to music and rested my eyes for the 1.5 hour flight. I listened to the Hillsong United Empires album over and over and over during this trip. It just encouraged me and really spoke to me. I'm thankful for the lyrics that this band comes up with.
Mark picked us up at the airport. Nathan slammed the van trunk lid on me and Scarlett's heads... he felt so bad. Sleep deprivation is a bad thing. I'm glad Mark drove us home. We would be like drunk drivers at this point. It was so nice to be in our country, in our van, in our state, in our city, and finally in our house! Scarlett did good in the carseat. We thought she'd freak out since she wasn't used to being strapped in during car rides.
The kids were at school, but my mom was there waiting for us. You could see how excited the grandparents were to meet their new granddaughter. I loved seeing the joy on my mom's face as she laid eyes on Scarlett. I'll bet they end up with a special bond.
The rest of the day was spent introducing her to the dogs (they were super excited to see me), the house, and her room. We had lunch together at our kitchen table and laid her down for a nap. I woke her up right before Nathan got home with the kids, and then the kids got to meet her.
There aren't words to express the feelings I was feeling being with the other 3 kids again, and proudly showing them their new sibling. They wanted to touch her, they wanted her to play with them, but we had to explain to them how important it was to go slow and be gentle with her. Paige and Troy, the kids next door, came running over (their dad, Travis, did too while we were waiting for the kids to pull up). Riley had a few friends from school who were dying to meet her, and they came in, too. Looking back, we should have locked up our house and not let anyone in- it was too much for Scarlett. Too many new faces in one day. We should have been ready to guard her, but we didn't have the conversation and we were probably too tired to care at the time.
These are images from that first day. There's so much getting to know each other things that will happen by the next post I write. I'm excited to see Scarlett bloom in our family. I pray that I can be the kind of mom that she so deserves!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.