There's No Place Like Home

We are so so grateful to be home!! Thank you for all of your encouragement and prayer. It definitely got us through some long and at times tough travels. Unfortunately, I (Susan) got a horrible stomach bug the night before we flew out and was up all night. Fortunately the desire to go home was stronger than the virus so with help from Baba and Nye Nye we made it out!! Jodi did exceptionally well considering the time in flight. She no longer showed the fear that we had seen her first time. The biggest challenge was getting her to sleep because she just wanted to play! Since I was no help, the burden fell on Baba. As you can see in one picture, Baba tried to catch up on sleep at the Newark airport after the long long flight. On our flight a Chinese lady seated next to us saw Jodi getting fussy and decided to intervene by giving her tons of candy! As you can well imagine, sugar and sleep don't go together.

We included pictures of Jodi and her best buddy Keith during their inseparable last day together. The picture of Jodi with her backpack are her first steps as a U.S. citizen. Pretty amazing!! We got home safely under the wonderful care of Peter Brisley to whom we are so grateful for the van ride. We were greeted by all kinds of surprises in our home from some very caring and loving friends. Brought us to tears to say the least!! I am sorry to say that one of my first gifts to my daughter was my virus which meant she spent her first day in her new home sick. She was so brave and dealt with it very well. As you can see Mama and Jodi spent the day in bed together recuperating while Baba and Nye Nye tried to get us a little organized. I am happy to say Jodi is now feeling great and is back to her silly happy self. We will be taking Nye Nye to the airport tomorrow which will probably be very confusing to Jodi. I feel sure she thinks Nye Nye lives with us now! It has been an incredible adventure and we look forward to seeing you all soon. Much much love to everyone!!