Wow - I just returned home and checked out my blog - I couldn't see it the whole time we were in China. God bless all of you for reading all of that - I could tell that at many times I was VERY tired because of all of the errors. Oh well - I guess I got my point across none the less.
So, here's the update on our arrival into AMERICA! We flew to Hong Kong on Thanksgiving Day - which was a quick one hour flight, then had a layover for 4 hours in Hong Kong. But, it was perfect - we were able to have lunch, shop around a bit (awesome stores and things to see!), and have lunch. Then, we went to a kiddie area they had set up so Lexie could get some energy out.
The flight was about 12 hours, and it wasn't so bad. I say that now, but at about hour 7 I thought I wasn't going to make it. It had become night for us, and Lexie rolls all over the place. So, putting her on the make-shift bed beside me wasn't an option. So... I had to hold her the whole time as she tried to sleep. As soon as I'd get her in a sound sleep, the flight attendant would wake us up and tell me there was turbulence and that I had to strap her in. So, anyways, it was a long flight, but Lexie slept for most of it.
As we landed in LA - we all cheered when the wheels hit the runway because Lexie officially became an American citizen. The flight attendants gave us 2 bottles of Champagne - they were so cute. The reality of what had just happened became very prevalent at that moment. One of the flight attendants came up to Billy and said, "I can't believe how lucky that little girl is; I would give anything to be able to be an American citizen." I think she was from Hong Kong, but I'm not positive, but it made me think. I remember one of our tour guides telling us how much she wanted to come to America and she was denied. Only 20% of the people who apply to leave China are accepted, so they just hope and pray - it's definitely something we take for granted.
When we landed we had to go through immigration - not terribly fun, but it wasn't so bad because it was Thanksgiving. There weren't so many people - and they let us breeze by pretty quickly, through customs etc, because I think they see so many adoptive parents like us come through.
My Aunt Patti (my dad's sister) and Uncle Jim met us as we left international, and we dropped our bags right where we were (in the middle of the walkway) to give hugs and kisses. It was so good to see family and to be "home" even though we weren't really home-home yet. We drove to the hotel where my cousins met us there, and we shared the most precious time together. It was magical - we all had a wonderful time. Uncle Jim had organized this awesome Thanksgiving feast, and we had a private (beatiful) room where we laughed, watched Lexie, talked, prayed, cried, watched Lexie some more, and laughed some more. We really had the most beautiful holiday as we all welcomed the newest member of our family and as we pondered the miracle that we were witnessing before our eyes. My Uncle Jim is great at putting it into words, so we were all able to really think about what had happened and could appreciate it immensely.
We went back to the room and had some more fun together, and we all were in awe at how Lexie took to my cousin Brianna (the one with the dark hair). We're not sure what it was, but something in her connected to Bri, and she just fell in love with her. She gave her everything she could, let her hold her, played games with her (showed everyone ALL of her tricks, many times), and she cried when I had to take her out of Brianna's arms. It broke our hearts all over again, but it was so nice that she bonded with our family. She actually was very comfortable with all of them, Patti, Jim, Kim, Tiff - and she especially loved little Joey - couldn't wait to give kisses to him. He accepted quite reluctantly at first, but was quick to come back for more once he got used to her a bit. It was as if Lexie knew this was our family - she was very "at home." It amazes me that she is so comfortable and is transitioning as she is - again, another blessing because so many have been praying.
So, we crashed early - we were totally exhausted, but we went to bed with very thankful hearts.
