A rough storm came up one night and left a sandy beach strewn with starfish. The next morning, a child walked along the shore, stopping every few feet to pick up a starfish and flinging it out into the sea. An old man watched the child and finally shouted at him, "Why bother, son? There's too many starfish to make a difference!". With that, the boy picked up another starfish and looked at it intently before heaving out into the sea. He then turned to the old man and said...

"It Makes A Difference To This One"...

Monday, August 31, 2009

Back Online

Hi Everybody! Sorry I've gone AWOL for the last few weeks. We made it home from China and hit the ground running, and I haven't had time to sit at the computer for any length of time. Since I'm at my home computer and no longer dealing with the "Great Firewall of China", I can also post some pictures!

Since our last post, a lot has happened. We didn't have any issues getting Brody's adoption finalized and getting his visa and passport, and were allowed to leave China without problems. We were able to get in a little more sightseeing before we left, such as the Guangzhou Zoo (where our group was just as interesting to the locals as the animals!), the 5 Ram Park, and we took a dinner cruise on the Pearl River the night before we went to the Consulate. The dinner cruise was a lot of fun! The dinner was very mediocre, but the buildings along the river are all lit up with colored lights and lasers, and it is very pretty. The evening was balmy and comfortable, and there is a deck on top where you could stand and look at everything. Makenna especially loved it.

Wednesday the 12th was our last full day in China. We'd had a great trip, but we were all ready to go home! That afternoon around 3pm we went to the American Consulate to take our oath promising never to abandon or abuse Brody, then we had a short drive to the train station where we bid a tearful farewell to some of our travelling companions and went into the terminal to take the train to Hong Kong. It was a 2 hour trip, and pretty enjoyable. The staff on the train were less than helpful, but there were a few people on the train who were willing to help us find our seats. We saw a little of Brody's home town, Dongguan, which truthfully looked pretty industrial and non-descript. When we landed in Hong Kong, our hotel was right across from the train station, so we wrestled kids and baggage across the street, checked in, and got to our room. The room had a moldy smell that bothered Makenna and me for several days afterwards, but otherwise the room was ok, and the view of Victoria Harbor was out of this world! When we bring the kids back for a heritage tour (when they are old enough to drag their own luggage!!), we plan to explore Hong Kong more fully. It is fabulously beautiful, and everything that we saw was clean, new and gorgeous.

The next morning, Thursday the 13th, we boarded our Continental flight to Newark, a 15hr 30 minute flight. I sat with the kids, who spent the entire trip either sleeping on me, fighting, or jockeying for position on my lap. Mom and Bernie were able to relax and enjoy their movies, and neither child would allow either of them to hold them for very long, and I wasn't allowed to sleep for the entire flight! It was a very long day, and all you really can do is sit there and gut it out (even though in my mind I was running up and down the aisles screaming "Lemme out! Lemme out!). We finally landed in Newark, cruised through customs, immigration, and security, and thought we were almost home free when we got to our gate and found that our flight to KC was delayed for 1 hour 45 minutes!!! AAAAHHHH! Of course by this time we are all exhausted and the kids are crabby, but there was absolutely nothing we could do about it! We finally got on the plane to KC about 2 hours later than scheduled and flew home without incident. There was no one to greet us when we got home, which was fine with us, so we were able to get on the shuttle and get our car. When we got to the long-term parking lot, we found that when we dropped it off 2 weeks earlier someone had left the inside light on so the car's battery was dead! When they finally got our car jump started and brought around, the guy turned off the car, took the keys out, and handed them to us. Of course the car wouldn't start again so soon after being jumped, so we had to wait for them to jump it again! By this time it was about 9:30pm, and we still had a 45 minute drive home. We made it home ok, went to Taco Bell for tacos, then came home, took showers, ate, and hit the bed. What a long long long day! We all slept all night, then the next morning, Friday, Mom headed home. We are ready to begin our new lives as a family of four!
The Empress has returned to claim her rightful throne!!!
Waiting to go get Brody!
GOTCHA!!!!!!!!!!
Two beautiful children to love!!!!
Happy Mommy!!

Yeah, I'm talkin' ta you!!!

Happy Parents!!The Diva has arrived!!
Daddy loves this part!!
Cool!
Goodnight!

2 comments:

  1. What a precious boy! So small and handsome! Thanks for sharing the rest of the trip!

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  2. Bern and Mon- Love it!! You guys look soooo tired....Happy, but TIRED!! So glad you made it home. Brody looks like he will give Makenna a run for her money!
    Love you guys,
    Sandy, Tim, Samie, Sydney and soon Sierra

    ReplyDelete