What a Journey!

We left our hotel on Wednesday night, and took a two hour train ride to Hong Kong.  It was a good trip and the train ride was interesting.  We got to see some of the area around Guangzhou and Hong Kong.  Joe was impressed by the fact that there seemed to be one continuous city from Guangzhou to Hong Kong.  The train ride also kept us from taking an extra connecting flight.  Drew ate his weight in yogurt at the train station and got a little sick on the train, but other than that it was uneventful.  At the train station, they had temperature scanners.  Someone took the temperature of all the children as we entered Hong Kong.  I am not sure what happens if you have a fever.  There was a sign that said "Quarantine." I think they are very serious about stopping the spread of contagious illness.  Thank goodness Drew passed that test!  We spent the night in the Hong Kong airport hotel.  We arrived late in the evening so we did not see much of the city.  Hong Kong seemed more Western than the rest of China.  In the dark it looked modern and tropical.  It reminded us a little bit of Bangkok, the city we stayed in when we adopted Susannah in 2005.

Joe and Drew looking out of the train window.

 The Hong Kong airport was very nice.  It was huge. and all of the people working there were very kind to us.  They let us move to the front of every line and tried to play with Drew while we checked in.  Still, we arrived 3 hours early and barely got to the gate before we boarded our plane.  The plane ride was pretty uneventful.  Yay!  We had not bought a seat for Drew since he was under two, and I was worried about the lack of space.  However, Drew did great for almost the entire 15 hours!  He did not sleep more than an hour or two.  However, he did not cry either, and that was really nice.  He was very interested in the touch screen in front of our seat.  He didn't watch anything, he just pressed buttons and called the flight attendant a few times.  She was not so excited about that!  We also brought out the Ipod touch for the first time.  He really enjoyed playing with that.  Before we left I bought a $20 board book in the Hong Kong airport.   That last minute purchase was well worth the money, as it entertained him for a couple of hours!

After we landed in Detroit, we were able to call our girls.  We were tired but excited about completing our trip.  Finally we took the flight home.  I was so happy to see my family at the airport.  I really missed my girls!  A LOT!  They are such good girls and they were so happy finally to meet their little brother.

My dad drove us home, and Grandma and Paw Paw met us there with our luggage.  What a journey!  

Our first family photos!

I am so thankful for all of the friends and family that took such good care of our girls.  They missed us but had a great time with their grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends.  They had a much easier time than I anticipated, largely because of the good care that everyone took of them.

When we arrived at home, some very good friends had worked on our yard, planted flowers, and decorated our porch!  Our house had been stocked with diapers, wipes, and food, and our church friends had signed up to bring us meals for the first couple of weeks.  We are so fortunate and blessed to have such wonderful family and friends!