Planes, Trains & Automobiles

After 7 flights, 5 hotels, unknown miles, and many different modes of transportation...we have arrived safe and sound back in good ole Moses Lake. Thanks be to God.

Our last 2 days at the Hong Kong Disney proved to be a wonderful time for our family. It was a perfect ending to what was, in many ways, the perfect trip. The main thing was the Ming seemed to have the time of his life. I believe Caryn mentioned in an earlier blog that when she told Ming that we were going to Disneyland, he actually teared up. My sense of it was that our time there was everything he hoped it would be. The rides, the shows, and just the energy of it all. And we capped it all off with a late night swim before the piano shaped pool closed down at 10pm.

Caryn and I then stayed up way too late getting everything packed back in our bags for a very long day of travel. I think we got 3-4 hours of sleep before the 4:45am alarm jolted us back into the land of the living. We were down in the lobby by 5:45am for our taxi ride to the airport. And thus began our "Two Friday" day. The first Friday was the 14 or 15 hours of air travel that took us from Hong Kong to Tokyo, and Tokyo to Seattle. We landed in Seattle at 9am, less than an hour after we took off from Hong Kong (taking into account crossing the international date line). It's a good thing we had our time travel glasses on!



Touching down in Seattle began our "2nd Friday"...and it also was essentially the moment that Ming became a U.S. citizen (made official when customs stamped his passport and cleared him for entry). The weather in Seattle couldn't have been more perfect...80 and sunny. It truly was a wonderful welcome back to the States. We were all worn a bit slick, but not too bad considering the journey. Customs took a bit longer than we anticipated, but the great news was that by 11am, we were claiming all of our luggage, and being greeted by the Bailey family who brought our car back to the airport for us...complete with some nice fruit and delicious chocolate chip cookies (thanks so much!).

We still had a 3 hour drive up and over Snoqualmie Pass, and down into the Columbia Basin. But not before the joy of $4.40 gasoline, and some Starbucks. The drive...and in fact ALL of our travel...was smooth and completely uneventful. You really can't ask for more than that. We rolled into a pleasant and wonderfully sunny Moses Lake around 3pm this afternoon.

The rest of the day has been: 1) fighting off sleep, 2) showing Ming his new home, 3) fighting off more sleep, 4) enjoying a delicious meal compliments of the Alcorns, 5) getting our PJ's washed, 6) allowing the kids to play off some pent-up energy (they got some sleep on the flights...Mom and I didn't get a wink), and 7) just now getting them all tucked down for the night with Ming in the bed that has been waiting for him since last September 15.

As a family, we thank God for his watch-care over us.

We also thank all of you for following our journey, and holding us up in your thoughts and prayers. We have been completely blessed, and are acutely aware of your support. This concludes one chapter, and begins another. We can't promise a nightly blog as we've maintained these past 2 weeks, but we'll update regularly...so please check back often. Ming is a very brave young man...more brave than any of us realize. He has faced all of these massive changes head on and full of courage. We have no doubt that will only continue. Please pray that he gets a handle on the english language in a God-accelerated manner. And pray for our family as we now work him smoothly (we hope) into the operating systems of our family.

And one more thing before we finally put our heads on our pillow after being up somewhere around 32 hours...if God is tweeking at your heart regarding adoption, please at least be willing to pray about it. There are so many children in this world that are longing for a loving home. Ming is one of millions. He and Jamae are two that God intended for our family. Might He be intending one for yours? We are the first to admit that it is a HUGE leap of faith. But that's precisely the life that our Master has called us to. We follow an unpredictable carpenter. And what a ride it is.