Home for Christmas

Ahh....

This is the part where we breathe a collective sigh of relief.  

We made it home to the most beautiful white Christmas.  There were a few dark moments on the long flight from Hong Kong to Detroit where I thought we'd never make it home in one piece.  Between Maimie feeling air sick to Saidie melting down over the potty flushing in the airplane bathroom  it wasn't one of our best Christmas Eve memories.  But probably the very worst moment came when we reached our home airport and couldn't land due to the snowstorm.  The pilot said we might go back to Detroit, but circled the area for quite awhile to see if sand on the runway would be enough for us to land.  Let's just say there was some pretty heavy prayer going on in that airplane.  I'm sure that everyone aboard wanted to land and get to their Christmas festivities, but we had been traveling for over 20 hours at that point and just wanted to go home. 

In front of our hotel in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Airport

Mom and Dad met us at the airport and helped us get the luggage home and had our dinner ready.  There were fresh fruits, milk, and bread waiting as well.

IT FEELS SO GOOD TO BE HOME!

After food and showers we stuck in the old Alastair Sim version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol to try to keep everyone awake until 9pm.  I've already managed two loads of laundry and hopefully we'll all get our sleep patterns back on track soon. 

Even though our China journey is over, the hard part is just beginning.  We have a lot of work to do, but I think over time Saidie will bond and attach and understand that we are her family.  It will take time to teach her to be gentle and kind and to learn our rules.  It will take time for her to relinquish some of her independence and control and to let us lead her.  It will take a lot of patience and persistence to teach her to communicate with us and to not shut down when she doesn't get her way.  But we have time.