Hold on, to me as we go. As we roll down this unfamiliar road. And although this wave is stringing us along. Just know you’re not alone, cause I’m going to make this place your home. Settle down, it'll all be clear. Don't pay no mind to the demons, they fill you with fear. The trouble it might drag you down. If you get lost, you can always be found. Just know you’re not alone,cause I’m going to make this place your home.

Home - by Phillip Phillips

Saturday, March 23, 2013

One Week Check-In - Welcome Home!

So, I did not realize how many people were following our blog every day until I have had people ask what is going on with Cherry Blossom and where are the updates?!?! Sorry that our blog stopped at Day 16. I would love to document every day of Cherry Blossom's life, but in reality that is not going to happen with a two (almost three) year old in the house :) So, I will try to do weekly updates for all of you that love to hear about Cherry Blossom and also for Cherry Blossom to read later to know what her life was like when she finally came home to her forever family.

Our trip home was quite eventful! Our first flight from Guangzhou to Seoul Korea was a little over 3 hours. The last hour and a half was spent with Cherry Blossom crying/screaming/throwing up etc while everyone watched and tried to calm her down. We are on a plane full of asian women who apparently do not like children crying because they were all staring at us. We hated not knowing what had upset her, but we were worried because this was only our first leg of the trip. Once we reached Korea I decided that I better get her prepared for the 13 hour flight both physically and mentally. We had an hour to wait for the flight and so I took her into the restroom, rubbed her down with her bedtime lotion (best thing ever invented) and put her pjs on. I told her that we were going to sleep on this plane! We got onto the plane and thankfully we were with another family also returning to the states with their fourth little girl from China. They were very encouraging and we hoped that it would be a good ride for all of us. Cherry Blossom was very fidgety and moody as we patiently waited for dinner to be served and the lights to go out. Thankfully Korean Air does do kid's meals so she had a good meal and plenty to do. After a couple hours we finally got her to go to sleep! Our girl slept for 8 hours! That means for over half of the flight she was out! We were so proud of her and were glad to see her wake up in a good mood. Let me just say, I wish my child liked the in-seat entertainment which contained kid's movies or tv shows....she does not! Which means, The Rock got to watch a movie while I entertained her and then visa versa.

Our last leg was a debacle from the beginning. We stepped off the plane into the good ole U.S.A. only to find ourselves in a long line for customs. We had been told to have all of her immigration paperwork in hand and ready for customs. We had less then two hours until our flight to Nashville left and we had to get through customs, claim our luggage, recheck our luggage back in, go through security and find our gate in the Atlanta airport, all while entertaining a two year old who is now in a new country. As we were waiting in line I was catching up on facebook and saw that two other families that had left the day before us had missed their connecting flights because of the line at Atlanta. I started panicking because again, I am the "What If" girl. We finally get up to the counter and the guy looks at our immigration paperwork, that I have now had in my hand for over 30 minutes and passed numerous immigration officials, and tells us that we are in the wrong line and need to go down to the end of the room to another line. What?!?! We now have to race down to this line where there is only one family ahead of us, the group that was on the plane with us. The immigration official tells me to place our paperwork on the counter and he would call us when he is ready. I kindly tell him that we are in a hurry and need to make our flight because we have people waiting on us. He tells me that he will get to it when he can and I need to "wait". At this point in time being told to "wait" is not what I want to hear! To cool down and pray I decide to take Cherry Blossom to the bathroom in order to change her into her "Coming Home" outfit and to freshen up. I come out of the bathroom 15 minutes later to see my file still sitting there and the two guys talking to each other behind the desk. Argghhhhh!!! I go stand in front of the desk to let him know that I am patiently waiting! He picks up my file and begins to go through it. He then asks me if I have any fruit and I realize that there is a banana in Cherry Blossom's diaper bag that we had brought on the plane for her from China. I honestly tell him yes and try to hand him the banana. He refuses to take it and tells me that I now have to go to a different part of the security section to be searched for other foods. Cherry Blossom is about to see her mama have a meltdown now. I could have lied and just gone back into the bathroom and thrown it away, but I could not lie. He finally finishes our paperwork and we rush off only to be sent to the line for food in luggage. Of course we are behind a couple from India who apparently has a lot of food in their luggage and do not speak English. I hold up my banana at the security official hoping he will let me go through but he tells me to "wait". We finally get through the banana security and have to claim our luggage. It is nowhere to be found on the carousel. We are about to say "forget it" they can send it to us when I see that someone has pulled it off and left it to the side. We grab it, check it back in again and go through security. Thankfully security was way faster then customs.

If you have ever been in the Atlanta airport then you know how big it is! We have to find the train to take us to the right building. We get off the train and try to find the elevator because we still have Cherry Blossom's favorite stroller that she refuses to part with. As we are getting on the elevator God hears my prayers because an airport employee gets on too and sees from my expression that we are stressed. He asks me where we are going and he knows where it is and has a cart upstairs right outside the elevator. He throws us all on the cart and speeds us through the terminal to the gate. We run up to the gate just in time and we are the last ones on the plane. Of course Cherry Blossom had to make her entrance because she marched right onto that airplane and marched down the aisle in her squeaky shoes while everyone laughed and waved at her. She loves attention! This lasts until we are in the sky because then she passes out again.

We land in Nashville and Cherry Blossom is grumpy!! She has no desire to carry her American flag and I am dreading that she is going to throw a fit once we get into the airport. As we are coming up the terminal we hear Grandma say "Here they come" and Cherry Blossom perks up. The Rock gets left behind with the stroller and the carry ons as Cherry Blossom makes her entrance to her welcome home party. There was so many people wearing our Chosen shirts and she was all about entertaining them. She wanted down in order to play with the kids and was waving her flag everywhere. We were so overwhelmed by all of the love of our family and friends that came out at 10pm on a Saturday night to welcome home our family of three! She was giving everyone high fives and kisses and was just full of herself.

Her happiness ended when we got to her car and she was introduced to a car seat. She screamed and cried as her baba put her in it, but settled down soon after leaving the airport. She came home to a house decorated with balloons and signs from our dear friends as well as a stocked fridge and pantry. We all crashed in the master bedroom and Cherry Blossom was in her house! Everything was good, until the first four legged sister came home! (Next post -hopefully to come tomorrow)













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