Sunday, January 30, 2011

Home Sweet, Suh-weet Home.

4 airplanes.
32 hours total flying time.
8 taxi rides.
1 train.
2 minivans.
4 hours of driving.
1 private bus because no 2 taxi's in all of Hong Kong would take our family.(Totally not kidding. We had to rent a bus.)
2 hotels.
3 airports.
and
we
are
home.

Praise you Jesus!

Flights went great......unlike my dear friend Angela, Lilly's mommy.
Oh my.
I was near tears from exhaustion when we landed and everything went seamlessly for us....I cannot imagine.
You go Angela!

We arrived back home with America's two newest citizens to this

 and this
 and this
 and this

which only served to make me cry with joy and thankfulness for our friends who love us.
I was overwhelmed by it all after I got everyone in bed and I came back downstairs.
I just sat.
Just sat
and
cried.

My fridge is stocked,
my house is sparkly,
my freezer is full
and they even went as far as to get their favorite snacks.
Yeah.
I have the best friends a girl could ask for.

My friend Lanette....bless her sweet little heart, drove 2 hours each way to pick us up cuz our minivan only seats 7 and adoption agencies frown on tying your child to the roof.
I was never so glad to see her smiling face as we got off of that shuttle bus.
After 16 hours on a plane we were smelly,
we were ragged,
we were smelly....wait I already said that...
and she hugged us anyway.
Cuz she be cool like dat.

So here we are.
Sunday morning, 7:30am.
Joey is bopping around the house oooohhhing and aaahhhing over everything which is like the cutest thing you have ever seen.
Justin is catching up on his DVR'd cartoons and the other 3 are still sleeping.

It was a great night!
Jacob and Joey climbed right into bed after their rapid fire house tour at 11pm and I am sitting here pounding down the coffee about to get everyone ready for church.
Anyone wanna take a guess on how long it's going to take me to get 6 kids ready for 9:30 service?
Yeah.
Me neither.
Well, there's always 11:30.

I'll be back later if I'm not comatose on the couch from jet lag with a post about how the boys are doing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your unending support over this last year.
You have lifted us up, encouraged us, made us laugh, made us cry, and helped to make this entire adoption possible.
We are ever grateful.

22 comments:

  1. Welcome Home!!!!!

    OMG!! You're going to church?!?!?! HOly Moly! YOu are the bomb!! I couldn't lift my head for a week!!!! (Of course, my 2 year old did not sleep!!!!) Can't wait to hear more!!

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  2. Ha- I was on the same page as Jennifer- Church? After being home less than a day? I don't think I could have found toiletries and clothing that fast- good luck! Oh, and WELCOME HOME!! :)

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  3. Glad you had a safe trip home. Blessings

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  4. I don't want to seem nit picky, but don't you have 6 kids now. You accounted for Joey and Justin and mentioned 3 more sleeping. Where was that last boy?? :) Just curious! I am impressed with your drive to get to church. As much as I would want to go, I don't think I could get everyone there on such short notice. WELCOME HOME!!

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  5. Yea!! You're home!!

    Church?!

    Geesh! I had serious jet lag for like 3 months! And didn't even feel normal for 6 months!!
    You are WOMAN!!

    Welcome home.
    Glad everything went smooth.

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  6. Welcome Home! Glad to have you all back on state side. :)

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  7. those are some sweet friends!!!!!!!!! what a blessing to not have to shop or cook for awhile!!! and after reading poor angie's trip from hell- yours was a breeze!!!soo glad you are home:) get the boys outside as much as possible to help reset their clocks!!!!
    now don't you love and appreciate your bed and pillow so much more now??!!!!
    and blue skies?
    and to DRIVE??!!!
    and to do your own laundry (seriously-- do they laugh at our underwear??)

    to eat YOUR food-- not junk food every day.

    yep-- home is sweet!

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  8. Welcome home indeed!!!! Angela's story is crazy, way crazier than Gracie and my mad dash escort by officials through the ever so large Hong Kong airport to get to our seats with 5 minutes to take off!!!

    Glad we are all home safe and sound!!!

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  9. Incredible. Lanette's awesome and ya'll are too. And church today? Wow. Heard on the radio about an app that has the Bible in ... a lot of languages. bible.is But you are tech queen so you prolly already knew that! Welcome home Team Martin.

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  10. Welcome home, back at 'cha! Here's to recovering quickly from jet lag and kids that love to obey! :) Glad we got to chat (briefly) in GZ!

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  11. Welcome Home!

    I'm with Lisa. You haven't lost one in your house have you? ;-) Do you have elevators in your house??? :)

    I am so sorry! I couldn't resist! I'm sure you are too jetlagged for math! And I am very impressed you are going out???!!!! I know it will feel wonderful to have them their on the pew worshiping with you. What a blessing.

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  12. Ahem. There on the pew. See girl, it's ok. I can't spell today, and I'm not even jetlagged! :0)

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  13. Welcome home, mama. I could NOT apologize more for that giant PINK Vera Bradley bag. The boys must have been appalled.

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  14. I am sitting here crying and crying at your welcome home. Your friends truly do ROCK!! (I might have to borrow some of them. Hopefully some are AF friends and I'll be blessed to have them near ME someday!!)

    And I'm crying 'cause you're going to church. I think that's really awesome.

    And FWIW, I felt ZERO jetlag on the return trip. We came back on the day of Jim's b-day and promotion, so maybe it was adrenaline because I knew there was so much I HAD to do, but I really did great returning. Maybe it'll be the same for you :)

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  15. Welcome Home!! I'm so happy that everything went well. Get some well deserved rest!!
    Krista D

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  16. Welcome HOME!!!! I loved following along .. and now the real adventure begins! :) Get some rest - cannot wait to hear more.

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  17. Welcome home! Hope you are getting some rest. Jet lag definitely did us in!

    Your friends do rock!

    Hugs,
    Robin

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  18. Welcome home Super Mom and Dad!! What a whirlwind journey to be on. Our Lord has blessed you in many ways. Contratulations on the beginning of a job well done! Now comes the fun stuff!! Can't wait to see them all!
    Daddyo

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  19. Welcome home!!! WOW! So happy you made it, how did it go getting to church yesterday? How are the boys adjusting? Hugs and prayers. Going over to hear about Lily and family and their trip home...uh oh.

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  20. So glad that you made it home safely. Blessings to you as you begin this new journey.

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  21. Welcome home. What a feeling. Peace. No more separation. Love your blog.

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