A bit about the Himsels

In July 2011, we were drawn to a posting by our adoption agency of a little girl that was soon to "age out" of the orphanage in China, and they were hoping to find her family before her birthday in February, when she would no longer be eligible for adoption. After reviewing the information, giving it alot of thought and prayers, we knew she was to be our daughter. So we started the paperwork chase to bring her home. But God had a bigger plan in mind for the Himsels. Along the way, we decided to pursue adopting a little boy, and that journey actually led us to two little boys, who are 18 months and 14 months old. All three children are located in the Guizhou province. We are excited to be so close to bringing home Ella (Jinglan), William, and Ethan, and we hope you follow along with our journey.



Saturday, February 11, 2012

Back in the USA

Just a short post. We are back in the states. The flight from Tokyo to Chicago was very long, but luckily it was not a full flight and they moved us to a row with an extra seat for Ethan as well. So we really were able to spread out and the boys could lay down and sleep some. Made it easier on them. I really caught something while in China, and was miserable on the flight. I slept little, as I was so afraid little Ethan would flip himself off the seat, as he's quite the restless sleeper. Ella did very well, and slept off and on. And sweet little William was a dream on the trip. Very pleasant, easily pleased and slept some. Andrew used the time to work on some of his math homework. There was a lady from Vietnam sitting a couple seats down from Andrew who was smitten with him. She offered to go over his math with him and check it for him, and he readily agreed (not like him at all).

We were all very anxious as Chicago came closer and closer, and when we finally touched down, our row had a small round of applause for the newest US citizens. All we had to do was turn in the paperwork. Again, glad that Aunt Nay was with us, as she again earned her keep helping us wrestle luggage. We went thru the first stage of immigration, and then was directed to "the man behind the desk" to turn in the kids' paperwork. Just as we approached the desk, he very clearly told his co-worker how much he hated his job. And the sentiment was certainly not lost on his attitude while working us. I counted two rolled eyes, a handful of "sighs of exasperation", and at least 5 rudely given instructions that assumed we knew what every step of this process was. The only time he softened was after he asked Ella to sign her name. When she didn't respond he looked at me with a confused look. I said "she doesn't understand English", let me get the translator. His response "but when i said hi to her, she replied very clearly "hi", so I thought she understood English". Well, she's got Hi, Good Morning, Ok, and Let's go down, but we haven't worked on "can you sign your name" yet. Yes, we got a chuckle from him on that, but overall I can say that if he hates his job that much, get a new one please - he made the experience quite unpleasant.

Next stop was the shuttle to Highland where my dear friend Betsy picked us up and took us to my mom's. Everything went great - kids held up well, and before you knew it we were at Mom's and taking over her house. Everyone seemed to be quite at ease very quickly, and warmed up to MawMaw - even little William. The only small issue - well, maybe not so small - all the kids are terrified of the dogs. Ella wants to like them, but they were all so excited to see us, that they were jumping and barking, and acting stupid, and she just squealed and made sure she was far away. We'll need to work on that, as one of those barking messes goes home with us :)

We had planned to only spend the night at Mom's and then head home, but with me being sick, (and it appears I've now passed it on to Ethan), and everyone suffering from jet lag, we decided to stay two nights, and head home Saturday. Good decision - as Andrew managed to keep mama up both nights because he couldn't sleep. His clock is really messed up. Poor kiddo was nearly hysterical one night he was so tired. But we are now safe and sound in Fort Wayne, and at least for now all kiddos are asleep. Not sure how long that will last, but as for me, I'm going to try to catch up a little on my sleep before someone realizes that it's only 11:30 am in China and they should be eating lunch.

Since I'm feeling much better, I hope to upload more pictures in the next day or so now that we are home. Sorry this post has none - I promise to update soon.

5 comments:

  1. Welcome home!! Hope everyone recoups and overcomes jetlag quickly.
    Betty

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  2. I enjoyed reading your jourmey. Just home in December with my 6 year old who was TERRIFIED of my little dog. HYSTERICAL every time she looked her way. By day 4 they were the best of friends. Good luck!

    Michele

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  3. Welcome Home!!!! All of my adopted Chinese children have been terrified of our dogs. They eventually get over it. We are having the hardest time with our newest daughter (home in November), she is blind and her first day her she stepped on one of the sleeping dogs and got growled at. She hasn't forgotten.

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  4. Welcome home to the Hexa-Himsels and welcome to the USA to three new citizens! So happy for you all!!

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