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.