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Published: September 5th 2005
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Sunset over the Pacific
The flight home never made it into the Arctic (place of endless summer sunshine). Perhaps the darkness helped Sarah to sleep (that, and Benadryl!). Praise God...we're back home! After 16 days, 15,000 miles, 7 flights, 4 hotel rooms, countless buses, taxis, subways, ferries and restaurants, the Homs have completed their Amazing Race for Sarah. No million dollar prize, but the reward of bringing home a priceless blessing - our baby Boo-Boo, Sarah-Barah, Chik-Fil-A, baby cakes, Princess Beautiful Sparkle, Lai Jing! God's been incredibly generous to us through this process. Formally, it started for us in mid-July of 2004, shortly after Sarah was born, and 13 1/2 months later, the process is complete. She's here! Whoo-hoo!
As we mentioned after our flight to Beijing, we just can't sleep on an airplane. Can you imagine just sitting there, praying that your baby won't start throwing a tantrum, looking at your watch and counting down the hours? "OK, that's two hours down, only 10 more to go..." Not even watching four movies (which we caught in chunks but never in entirety...oh, how we missed Tivo!!) could make the time go by any faster. Maybe it's not a coincidence that God designed the atmosphere to have a jet stream that flows west to east...for all those tired adoptive families who need to get home ASAP!!
Sarah did
Lip-smacking good
You'd think she just enjoyed a dee-licious piece of the Colonel's secret recipe chicken, but actually, it was just home-made rice porridge and chicken. really well on the flight...she was a star...definitely much better than we feared. Other than one fussy moment early in the flight, she was remarkably calm. We thank United Airlines for giving us an extra seat so that Sarah had more room to spread out. I think the guy they asked to move was only too happy to move! What's more, the attendants kept bringing us food and drinks for Sarah. They were so conscientious of her needs...we were just really blessed. United Airlines: you have our business!
It was so cool to see many friends and family back in Oakland...thanks for the rides, the KFC, dinner and taking time to meet baby Sarah. She may not have given any of you warm hugs, but trust us, if she had seen you over a few consecutive days, she would have warmed up to you.
As you could imagine, we totally crashed once we got home. Forget about unpacking, or eating, or checking mail, or anything else. We slept for almost half-a-day...and then slept even more in the late afternoon! And it wasn't just mama and baba; Sarah slept even longer than we... this girl knows how to sleep!
Climb Every Mountain...
Forge every stream...follow every rainbow...til you find your dream. I (Godfrey) still haven't re-adjusted to being back home. I'm sleeping in the day and staying awake at nights. I still also have headaches and body aches, so I don't think I'm over my illness either. I would've written this blog yesterday if I was feeling better, but I had barely the energy to read mail and catch up on the news. BTW, for those of you who sent email...we're so sorry that we didn't respond. Email wasn't really working overseas, so we just read your emails for the first time since coming back home.
One thing that's changed for us (and me, Godfrey, especially): I'm not really keeping up with current affairs. I've been reading about the disaster in New Orleans...and it's still kind of incomprehensible. It's hard to believe that a city along the Gulf Coast, where hurricanes hit year after year, could be so devastated. And this after the devastation of the tsunami last Christmas. We had news coverage in Asia, but we never really tuned in...it was just background noise in our daily lives in the hotel room. Pray for the city, the families, the victims, the rescuers and relief efforts. Pray that those who are slandering our President will learn to quit blaming others for what a hurricane hath wrought. Pronouncing that Bush "doesn't care about black people" does no good and only makes a bad situation worse. It's kind of sickening, really.
Anyway, off my soapbox...so yeah, we're home, and Sarah's adjusted
really really well to the house. We believe that she understands this is not Stop No.5 in the tour of the world. We think she really understands that this is home. She's got a happy face on all the time (except, when she's got a sad face...ha ha) and loves to just get into everything. She's already pulled out half of the magazines off our coffee table, pulled books and stacks of photos off shelves, tackled Mount Martina (our 16-step stairway) and climbed on everything she can pull herself up on! She's still hating cribs, and had a fit last night at 3 am when she awoke to the confines of maple-colored bars around her! Though mommy was right there to offer comfort, she cried and screamed for 15 minutes before falling back asleep...on the floor next to mama. Sigh...the sleeping thing is going to be a long struggle for us. There must be something about cribs in her history that haunts her. She's taken so well to other things that confine her, like booster chairs and car seats. What would be so bad about a crib, especially if mama and baba are right there?!
As we write, our church retreat should be getting ready for "body life" (camp prayse fire) - we're thinking and praying for you all as you finish up your last evening up there. Sorry we couldn't make it up, but the reason is obvious.
Thanks again for all the great comments and support you all have provided for us. Thanks even to those of you for helping to stock up our refrigerator a little and/or offering to help with meals. Your kindness and generosity is so appreciated. We look forward to seeing all of you, and hopefully I will be feeling better and not staring at you like an alien creature!
All glory and thanks to God for His love, wisdom and provisions!
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ashley f.
non-member comment
welcome back!!!
After a year of waiting, after months of preparation, after weeks (or maybe days) of packing, you finally have Sarah (or you can say Sarah has you :) ). It must be good to be back home now. I just can't wait to see her face to face. I'm really, REALLY, REALLY happy for you!!!