Home!

Yes, we're home. It was an adventure getting here, but we made it.

Noah was great on the plane. He slept a huge part of the way and loved the toys we brought. But our flight from Guangzhou took off late and we arrived in LA about 1 1/2 hours later than we expected. By the time we made it through immigration, our final flight home was long gone. So we checked out all our options, and decided to stay the night, or rather a few hours, at a budget motel before trying to go stand-by on the next earliest flight.

Along with another family we traveled with, we caught the 11 pm shuttle to some of Inglewood's finest accomodations. Even before we got to our room, I was second-guessing my decision to leave the lice kit back in Guangzhou, but I kept reminding myself that we weren't staying long. So after the world's most expensive 4-hour nap, we headed back to the airport.

Fortunately, we were able to get on the first flight Saturday morning! I think I was a bit giddy at that point and I showed pictures of R & W to anyone who would humor me. Oh, you need to see my boarding pass? Sure, sure, but first, look at my sweet daughters who are dying to see me!

And I was dying to see them. I've never been so happy to see two little people! Unfortunately, I've spent the last three days in bed and we haven't been able to each other as much as we were hoping. I started feeling pretty icky on our last day in China and, sure enough, I came home with strep throat. Argh. But I'm on drugs and feeling much better. And our church family has been bringing meals! Poor Dave, however, has been taking care of three kiddos and trying to get over jetlag. Going back to work will be a break for him.

And despite not being very hands-on the last few days, Noah is really doing so much better with me. He is really warming up and letting me take care of him. He won't let me snuggle him yet -- that's still Dave's gig -- but I can't believe how he's coming around. I think it made a huge difference when he saw R & W snuggling me and letting me do things for them. I could see his little gears turning ... "Hmm, those two little ones let the big one hug them and feed them. Very interesting. Maybe that one with the red hair is not so bad after all."

Well, I'll post more pics when I have more oomph. For now, here's a picture that Dave took this afternoon.