Tuesday was a crazy day. We spent the morning playing in the playroom. Olivia seems to hold her own when other kids bully her- she wacked another kid back who tried to take her toy.
We had a quiet lunch then got ready for our Consulate appointment. We were unable to take any photos since hey are not allowed in the consulate. It was strange because we drove for almost an hour to get to the Consulate- which is now in an office buiilding in downtown Guangzhou. Others who had adopted pre-moving the Consultae said the new facility is much nicer- larger, modern & has air conditioning. They had us all declare an oath with about 30 other dfamilies. We then got some official papers- and Olivia was finally completely ours and cleared to come home to the USA!
After packing and repacking 6x I finally stuffed all the things we had accumilated into the luggagge. It is such a pain to have a 44# restriction in country in China- but a 50# international restriction. Somehow I managed to get the heavy stuff in the carry ons, thank goodness they didn't weigh them because they were probably 30# each!
36 hours later we arived home! We started out at 5 AM getting our luggage ready to go in Guangzhou- flew 3 hours to Beijing. It was cold there so out came the winter coats again. See my little peanut peaking out of the carrier beneath my coat!
From there we waited 4 hours in the airport till our 5 PM flight to Newark. 13+ hours later we landed in the USA! We had a 3 hour layover till our last flight to Nashville. Praise God for Brother Andrew who picked us up- because Mike & I were pretty loopy by that point. Suffice to say we are glad to be on American soil! Olivia slept like a little trouper on all the flights. I of course can't sleep and got a total of 2 hours in 36 hours by the time we reached Tennessee.
Grandma & Carol were very glad to finally meet Olivia. She was a little leary after having cried herself to sleep in the carseat on the 90 minute drive from the airport. We were all grateful when she fell asleep because the sceaming was gettin on all our nerves! Isabella woke up when got in. She was grumpy but VERY glad to see us. She wasn't too sure about Olivia- she kept giving her the evil eye - especially if I was holding Olivia or giving her attention. Isabella threw a real fit when Mike put her back to sleep. She just cried. We think she was afraid she would wake up & we'd be gone again like when we left for China. She kept crying don't leave!!
We all got about 6 hours sleep- even Olivia. Not bad since our bodies thought it was broad daylight on China time. I am happy to say everyone is playing together better today. Its great to see all my girls sharing and cooperating. I guess I should enjoy it since it probably won't last long!
And lastly today-
The 12 top reasons while I am glad we are back in America:
#12-Fresh fruits & vegetables!!! I so crazed a salad while I was there but didn't want to risk Montezumas revenge! I especially craved the fresh strawberries we saw in the market places.
#11-Not having to worry I am going to get a disease if I swallow shower water or rinse my toothbrush with tap water. Thankfully none of us got sick while we were there! I did have to sterilize my toothbrush umpteenth times because I would forget & rinse it with sink water.
#10-American plumbing- Prasie God we can finally just flush the toilet- toilet paper and all and not worry about the toilet backing up! Not to mention the smell is a whole lot nicer.
#9-Lower humifditiy- my hair doen't look like a frizz ball 1/2 hour after I flat ironed the begeebies out of it
#8-Everyone speaks English!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#7-Forks are not an optional utensil at restaurants- and the spoons aren't the gigatitic serving size or large Chinese size
#6- REAL icecream!!!!!! Abbey & I enjoyed a frozen yogurt at the airport- yum!!! The ice cream in China just tasted slightly off from what we are used too
#5-Coffee with real 1/2 & 1/2!! They tried in China but outside of Starbucks the coffee was like motoroil and no amount of carnation evaporated milk or cremora could doctor the taste!
#4-You don't have to do mental math to figure out the time at home- it is what it is!!
#3-Soft beds!!!! Its pretty bad when the carpeted floor in the payroom was softer than the mattress on our bed at the White Swan Hotel-(and every other bed we slept on on China for that matter)
#2-Driving is not a kamakazee experience & I can walk without someone bumping into me! I am so tired of the rude- cutting-in-line and grabbing me behavior- especially if you were in a market place
#1-Our family is now complete!! I missed Isabella so much, I swear she grew 2 inches!!!!!!!! It is nice to finally be home amongst family again. Especially since Grandma & Carol cleaned my house from top to bottom!! How awesome is that? I leave it dirty and come back to it spotless!! Thanks Vi & Carol!!!!!!!
Welcome back! I wish you guys lived closer that I could meet Oliva. We'll have to make time to get together soon.
ReplyDeleteGlad your family is complete!