Thursday, September 20, 2007
WE'RE HOME!

We are SOOOOO glad to be home, sleeping in our own beds in our humble abode. We won’t need a five star hotel or breakfast buffet for a while. Pearl City, Hawaii no ka oi! We never knew how wonderful taking a shower and brushing teeth in our own bathroom could be. Won’t take that for granted again.

Rewind to Saturday, September 15. The morning started out leisurely with our last breakfast buffet at the White Swan Hotel. We then realized we had plenty more packing to do before the bag call at 10:30 a.m. Mission accomplished. Our group loaded up on a big tour bus (had to fit all the luggage) for the 45-minute ride to the airport. As we got close the airport, our facilitator Cici unfolded the bus tour guide perch and gave a heartfelt mini-speech wishing all of our new daughters and us a happy life. She hoped that she had shown us a glimpse of the long history of China and that we would pass that glimpse of China on to our children. She also mentioned how her job has shown her that although we may come from opposite ends of the world, our hearts are very much the same. We owe so much to Cici for making this trip so painless and special. She has a true heart for the orphaned children of China.

Check-in at the Guangzhou airport took a bit of time to make sure our luggage made it all the way home and also to ensure comfortable seating assignments on both flights. Cici of course was with us all the way until the passport checkpoint (as far as she could go without a boarding pass) where we said a tearful goodbye. All of us remarked how much we will miss having her tell us what to do, when, and where. Amazingly, left to our own devices, we all made it to the right gate after navigating the various checkpoints. Lance even got a pizza delivered to the gate for 21 USD. Next thing we know, our flight is delayed 10 minutes, then indefinitely, with updates every 15 minutes. We are getting nervous at this point as the original layover in Nagoya for the flight to HNL was only and 1-½ hours. Our travel group of four families is 14 people, five being kids.

The trusty attorney in our group alerts the Japan Airlines representative in Guangzhou to our predicament. The JAL representative then came over to tell us it didn’t look like we would make our connecting flight in Nagoya (which was the last one out that night) and all Sunday flights from Japan to Honolulu were booked solid, so JAL might not get us home until Monday! We all started howling at this point.

To make a long story short, the plane left Guangzhou an hour and 45 minutes late. We deplaned in Nagoya just as the 747 to HNL was boarding. We had a strategy; just one member of our group needed to get to the gate and stall for the rest of us. Not wanting anyone in our group to get arrested for interference with a flight crew, everyone RAN to the next gate. Interestingly enough, Japanese officials run you through a security check, even on connecting flights. Guess they don’t trust other countries’ security practices. We put our babies in football holds and ran for what seemed like 10 minutes. Luke kept up the pace, even with his Elmo rolling bag. The plane was full and we made it on-board with just a few minutes to spare. Luke took all of this in stride but Lilia was a bit traumatized. She settled down after a bottle and slept most of the flight in her comfy bulkhead bassinet.

We landed in Honolulu about 10:30 a.m. on Saturday despite leaving Guangzhou at 4:20 p.m. the same day thanks to the International Date Line. Once Lilia’s “brown envelope” was opened and stamped by immigration officials at HNL International, she became a United States citizen. The big surprise when we got downstairs was that not only did we make the connecting flight, so did all of our luggage. Dad met us at the airport, and Lilia smiled as soon as she met him. She must have recognized him as a fellow Cantonese.

The first night home for Luke and Lilia was a little tumultuous. Lilia shrieked when she first met Mac and did not want him anywhere near her. Although we saw some dogs in Yangxi, we are guessing none ever visited the orphanage. The whole family slept until at least noon on Sunday. Every day the jet lag gets a little better.

Lilia visited the doctor on Tuesday and had two shots, a blood draw and chest x-ray. This was pretty traumatic for her but very necessary based on her limited medical history and the health scare we had in China. Luke returned to daycare on Tuesday and is happy to be back in his old routine.