4-7 We're home !!

We made it home. Yesterday was a really, really long day. We got up at 5:30 am on 4/6 (China time, so 4:30 pm on Wed U.S. time. We got to the Guangzhou airport at around 7:30 and caught the 9 a.m. flight to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, we caught the 12:45 pm flight to Chicago. The flight was just over 14 hours, but we arrived in Chicago at about 2:15 pm on 4/6, as we crossed the International date line. Katherine slept about 8 hours total on the flight, so it wasn't too bad keeping her busy. She also played on the computer, colored and did some reading (she likes to pretend she can read magazines and books). We also played with silly putty. Sarah did some homework and watched some movies and napped. Steve and I read and watched movies and napped a bit. This plane was a 747 and had more legroom and the seats were more comfortable than the ones on the flight over.

Now the fun began at O'Hare airport (I really hate that place). First, we had to go through Immigration, which wasn't too bad, but the lines were long and Sarah was not feeling very well. Then, once through Immigration, we had to get our luggage and go through customs. In Hong Kong, they had told us our connecting flight from Chicago to Milwaukee was cancelled, so we tried for an earlier flight, but we did not make it. We had to lug all our luggage on the train to a different terminal, all the while trying to keep track of Sarah and XiaoTing. Xiao was good an followed us around. Then, we had to stand in a long line at the United desk to change our flight. We got new boarding passes and were standing in line at security when I discovered she had only given us three boarding passes (she had not given us one for Katherine as the ticket was under her Chinese name and she didn't look at our paperwork). So I had to go back and I found one United person who tried to help but then told me I had to stand in the big line at United again. Well, after all those hours, I said no, it wasn't my fault, his agent screwed up. He then pointed me to a supervisor who did help. Then we had to stand in line again at security. Finally we made to the gate and got on the short flight to Milwaukee.

I was never so glad to get home !!!

Our house is a mess right now with luggage in the living room and stuff. I did some laundry today. Katherine slept in her own bed last night. We're not sure if that is such a good idea, as we think she may have just stayed in there and gotten scared, but did not call for us. We're going to try something else tonight to see. She was a bit out of sorts this morning, but seems ok now. Steve took her grocery shopping and she enjoyed that. Sarah and I are still a bit tired and we are not feeling great, but I think we just need time.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers, they really helped.

God Bless,
Marie