Finally HOME!!

What a trip!!! We left Beijing on Saturday, May 28th - leaving our hotel at 12:30pm China time with our flight scheduled to leave at 4:10pm. Well....we got to the airport, waited about an hour to check in and found out that our flight was going to be delayed by 2 hours - meaning that we would miss our connecting flight in Chicago. Unfortunately, there were no later flights to book us on so they went ahead and made arrangements for us to spend Saturday night in Chicago and leave on an 8am flight home.
Our little booger was already tired on the way to the airport in Beijing. The flight was rough. 13 hours long and 40 minutes in she had already puked all over me and exercised her lungs for the entire plane. After about 6 hours, they moved us to the bulkhead after asking some passengers to shift around and we were able to rock Lily to sleep and put her in the bassinet. She slept for 6 hours...what a blessing! We arrived in Chicago and scrambled around for a LONG time trying to make arrangements for the night and make sure we were in line to leave as early on Sunday morning as possible. We had run out of formula since we had just enough to last the trip home so Dad and Jeff had to take a taxi to Target to get some for the night. It was a hot mess. Oh - and Lily became a US citizen as soon as we touched down in Chicago!!

Sunday morning we left our hotel at 6am to get to the airport in time for our 8:04am flight. There was a ton of fog and we were a little concerned but not too much. Well...the fog lifted but not until they had diverted our plane to Indianapolis before it arrived in Chicago. Then, after the plane left Indianapolis, huge thunderstorms rolled in and forced the plane to circle, and circle, and circle. We waited and waited. Lily was doing pretty well but did have sporadic meltdowns which required walking up and down the concourse, riding the escalators and lots of rocking and coo-ing. Finally at about 4pm, after a plane and gate change, we took off for home. I found out later that over 450 flights had been cancelled out of the Chicago airport that day. We were lucky just to get on one that wasn't.

When we landed in Birmingham, we were psyched to finally bring Lily home and for her to meet the family. After all the delays, they were anxious to finally meet her too. So, we took a little bathroom break and Dad got his little rat-tail hat on...

And we walked down the concourse.....

Look at my Mom's face....priceless. They had made "Team Lily" t-shirts that were AWESOME, each with a different picture of Lily and their titles. I was so happy to introduce our little girl to these special family members who have waited for her as long as we have. We are all so lucky!

Then we loaded my precious sweetie in to her carseat for her first ride home. She liked it...especially the little mirror that was in front of her to allow us to see her from the front seat.

My family had decorated the house and the door for her arrival. Do you know how long it has been that I have waited to see a bow on my door?!?!?! AWESOME!!

And one by one, Lily met her family. Her uncle Jason got some smiles.

Of course Grandma...loving her little Lily

Aunt Brandee giving some love

And Aunt Leslie meeting little Lily

We are so, so very fortunate to have such an amazing family who has loved and supported us throughout this entire journey. Lily is worth every minute of the last 5+ years that we have longed for her. She is our miracle. I look at her and have tears at least once a day at just how awesome it is that I am her mom. When she smiles at me, I melt. I see that look in her eye...the knowing look that a child has for their nurturer. I love her with all of me. And now the real journey of our lives can begin.