Sunday, September 27, 2009

Arrival

Last year at about this time we were sitting on the tarmac on Washington, D.C. on the last leg of our trip home from China, praying we would be home soon (we later found out our flight delay was due to the demo seat belt-- you know, the one they use during the safety info?  Was missing and had to be replaced.)  

Anna Kathryn had just become an American citizen upon crossing through customs, but I'm afraid the moment was kinda lost on all of us.  I was desperate for a real American Starbucks mocha, Mark was desperate to get us all on the last plane since time was tight, and AK was desperate for a chance to wiggle and not be confined to a plane seat or lap.  

After 30+ hours of travel, at the end of a two-week "trip of a lifetime" and having survived the transatlantic flight with a very mixed-up 11 month old baby-- we were so ready to be HOME.

We arrived at our home airport to a Welcome Home party like no other!

I'd joyfully welcomed Maggie home 2 years earlier, and of course had read plenty of blogs with accounts of other families' homecomings--- but ours was wonderful.   Family and friends galore. Especially considering our flight was late and it was midnight before we landed... that's when you KNOW that you are greatly loved, when folks will spend their whole Saturday night hanging out at the airport for you.  

Here's a bunch of homecoming photos I didn't post on my travel blog because I was too jet lagged to bother last year.  Thanks for tripping down memory lane with me and the Snickerdoodle.  




















And then it was time to go home... to begin the next part, together.



2 comments:

Kristi said...

Congratulations on being home a year! I can hardly believe that time has passed so quickly!

a Tonggu Momma said...

I can't believe it's been a year! I remember feeling SO excited to find another Poyang family, since the Tongginator's best friends are from there. There weren't many of y'all a year ago, but now...