HOME!!!

Well, we made it! 9 out of 9 flights safe and sound! Tuesday, the day before we left Guangzhou, we went to the Yuntai Botanical Gardens. It was so beautiful, the prettiest thing I've seen so far this trip. Jr stayed in the hotel with Judi, because her cough has come back and gotten worse; she really sounds congested; we even started her on the antibiotic we brought from home in preparation for the airplane rides home. So Jazmin and I trekked off; and all the pictures you see (except for the ones Jazmin is in), Jazmin took. She was my official photographer for this site. She loved it and I have to admit, did a great job with the pictures!

When we got back, we walked down the shopping district to the Pizza Hut (I wanted to bring a menu back to give to our Pizza Hut here for menu ideas!). They have such a variety of stuff; I would never get tired of it like we do here. Then back to the hotel for the very important oath-taking. Got the girls "decorated" for Judi's big day and off we went.

There was a play area and I watched how Judi interacted with other kids; as I expected, she bossed them around and most of them avoided her after that; we'll definitely have to work on that! Then we all took the oath and the lady had those of us who'd been there twice be acknowledged. What was really cool was there was a 14-year old being adopted who was crying with happiness; the family looked really happy.

That evening, we went to dinner with the Hammonds, Julie Thompson, and the Blackburns; a great meal with really neat people; and we all shared the Whitman's sampler I brought, which I had to keep spinning away from Judi; we now know how much she loves chocolate! Or should I say any sweet at all?! She will stash candy in every nook and cranny and next thing I know I'm catching her eating it. I'm going to have to "Judi-proof" my house, since I do like my chocolate as well!

After staying up late packing, we got to the airport and all went well up until Dallas. During our long flight (only 10 and 1/2 hours, yeah!) the girls fell asleep the last 5 hours of it! That didn't help me though, as they squirmed throughout all of it, so I couldn't do more than doze. Then at Dallas, we got held on the plane because a little boy also adopted from China got really sick and went in an ambulance to the hospital. We dont' know what he had, but the parents had caught it too, so we had to fill out some paperwork. THEN, we finally got off, only to be held up a ridiculously long time in Immigration. By the time we got done, we had 45 " to make our flight (we had a 3-hour layover!) and still hadn't gone through customs!

We scrambled and thanks to a delay, made it with 20" to spare. The flight home was quick, and Dad, Jessica, and James were there to meet us. Our older kids were so glad to see us; they looked so BIG after just seeing little girls and boys for two weeks! On the drive home, of course, both little ones fell asleep, which meant Miss Judi was up THE ENTIRE NIGHT!!!.

Jazmin stayed up til 1am cause she's slept so much on the plane and then got back up again at 5, ready for school. Judi pitched a heck of a fit when all 3 kids took off on the bus and about 10am she and I crashed for 4 hours. Then up and to the orthodontist for Jessica, but when I picked them all up, Jazmin dropped off to sleep in the car and only woke up for dinner and then went back to bed. So we'll see what tomorrow brings; hopefully more sleep!