HOME SWEET HOME

The Traditional "Red Couch" photos at the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou:
(We let Hannah go first in hopes that Sadie would be interested, but she just wasn't interested in this photo shoot. I did get one with both girls and one with the girls and Beth. Sadie smiled finally for that one. But, my computer is working so SLOW at the moment..so maybe I'll post them tomorrow)

This Cinderella pumpkin carriage was in the mall near our hotel in Hong Kong. I don't think I was supposed to let Hannah actually climb in the display. But come on, how could I resist??

Do those sets of eyes look tired to you? This is the BEGINNING of our flight from Hong Kong to Newark. I'm so grateful though - Hannah was WONDERFUL on the plane and Sadie was great too. She was more fussy on the last flight - but who can blame her? Definately better than trip #1 in 2006 where Hannah screamed 6 hours straight! Ah...the other passengers have no idea how fortunate they were this time. :-)

Liberty airport - Newark, NJ - Welcome to America little one!!

Checking out her home for the first time (and keeping a tight grip on the stuffed bear she was greeted with at the airport - thanks Lauren!)

Sadie with her friendship bracelet. Cute story: Hannah made two of these bracelets in Sunday School way back before Easter. They were doing a lesson on friendship and were suppossed to keep one bracelet and give one to a friend. I asked Hannah who she was going to give hers to and she said "Sadie". I tried to c0nvince her to choose one of her friends at school or church because we were months away from getting Sadie at that point. I thought she'd forget or lose it or something. But she was adamant. I never said another word about it. This morning, Hannah got the bracelets out of her room, put one on, and gave the other to Sadie. I thought it was so sweet.

Hannah and Sadie: Mozart and Bethoven?

We are home. It feels good to be here. Let's see...after my last post, we had the swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Consulate the next day. A nice improvement from two years ago is that now they keep some toys in the room for the kids to play with. They kept my two entertained for the waiting time. We then rushed to the train station and our fabulous guide got us on a 5:00 train (we were supposed to be on a 7:15 train so were thrilled to get to leave two hours earlier!)

The train ride to Hong Kong was quick and easy. Getting all our luggage to the hotel along with two kids was not so easy. Everyone kept saying "oh, the hotel is close" which is true - but if you have more pieces of luggage than people and you can pretty much count two of the people out from helping (though Hannah did pull her own little suitcase), you should get help. Beth pretty much managed the luggage while I managed the two kids (one in stroller). Anyway, our hotel was connected to a mall and was wonderful!! We had a suite and it was very nice. Early the next morning, we headed to the airport for the trip home. Thankfully, our flights were non-eventful this time. When we got to Newark, NJ - Sadie officially became a U.S. Citizen! After a five hour layover, we were exhausted. But, our last flight to Birmingham was on time (yeah!!)

We enjoyed the very warm welcome we received at the airport by friends. Hannah proudly introduced her sister to everyone. We arrived home around 11:00 and it was after midnight before we all finally crashed in the bed. I *thought* we might avoid too much jet-lag since both girls were up by 8:00. But, when I put them down for a nap after lunch (and me too!), we all ended up sleeping until 7:00 p.m.! So, now it's 10:30 p.m. and everyone is wide-awake! oh, well - it'll all work out soon enough. Sadie is talking so much more...not in English and I don't really think it's Chinese either (sounds more like babble to me). But I am hearing her voice so much more.

We have done nothing today but play. We plan to hang out at home tomorrow and the weekend. Maybe I'll even unpack a few things. Maybe :-). Monday, Hannah goes back to school for the last week of the year. Sadie and I will enjoy some one-on-one time together. She has her first doctor's appointment at the adoption clinic on Wednesday. I'm very interested to see what they have to say.

I've had a few questions about Sadie's hands. She basically has no thumbs to use. Her right hand has a thumb, but it's connected to her hand by only skin (it seems). So it's very floppy and not functional at all. She doesn't use it any. Her left hand has no thumb and is turned inward (radial club hand). Let me say, her hands don't slow her down AT ALL! In fact, it's interesting that while I think she's delayed in many areas - her fine motor skills is the one area that really doesn't seem delayed. She holds forks, spoons, etc. She can scribble with a crayon or pen. She zips and unzips things. She helps with dressing and can take her socks and shoes off. She can *almost* put her shoes on, but not quite. She feeds herself finger foods and can pick up very small objects. She mostly holds small things in either hand. On her right hand, she uses her index and middle finger. On her left hand she uses her ring finger and pinky. She can grasp larger objects between both hands. There are some things that are shaped so that it's hard for her, but she's persistant enough that she usually manages somehow. I'm interested to see what the orthopedic doctors say later on, but I really don't foresee Sadie's hands being much of an issue in her day to day life.

Thanks so much to everyone for the warm welcome at the airport, the groceries, the favors done while we were gone (car and air conditioning fixed, grass mowed, etc.), the sign on the door, and supper tonight. We appreciate you all so much!