Homecoming

I know it has been a while since my last update. We've been a bit busy. We have good news that will be surprising to everyone. We're Home!!!! How strange to be typing those words.

We actually got our visa for Ava early, last Friday to be exact. Anna, our liaison in Vietnam had our passports expedited for us since the holiday was coming up. She was afraid that the paperwork would get delayed as people take off of work. So we ended up at the Embassy Friday morning and our Visa was in hand by 5:00! That was the last hurdle in this marathon we've been in for a year now. What a relief to have it. Now Ava could go home. We didn't think we'd be able to get home on an earlier flight as our travel agent said it would be difficult due to the holiday. But he called on Saturday evening to let us know that we had a flight out the following day at noon. So we packed up, and boy, that took some time, and headed out around 10 am on Sunday. We flew from Vietnam to Taipei, then from there to LA, and then from there to Atlanta. We had a 2 hour lay-over in Taipei and then a 7 hour lay-over at LAX. The flights went fairly smoothly and Ava did as well as could be expected for a baby flying travelling well over 24 hours. She slept a lot on the long leg of the journey which was a huge blessing. We had a bassinet for her on the plane which was heaven sent! She slept well in that which gave our arms a much-needed break from holding her. But the hardest part of the trip was from LA to Atlanta. For some reason, when she gets sleepy, she just wants to fight the sleep and she gets fussy. By that point in our trek home she was exhausted and not wanting to sleep. So we were dealing with that and the fact that Brian and I ourselves hadn't slept for 2 days. By the time we reached Atlanta we were all worn pretty thin. But what a wonderful feeling it was to get to Atlanta and know that we were home. Aaahhh, home. Our luggage, however, was not, so we had to wait a little while for that to arrive so we had some breakfast there at the airport in the meantime. Funny thing, during our wait Ava was just laughing and bright-eyed. How did she get the energy at that point?!?

So we've been here since very early Monday morning. I didn't blog about the trip simply b/c I knew we'd need some time to settle in and recuperate from the long trip and change of time zones and all that. So please forgive the tardiness. We are enjoying our time at home, although we have not quite figured out how to get Ava switched over from day to night. She wants to sleep in the day and keep us up all night. Exhausting. BUT, every new parent goes through this, so this is our initiation I guess... "Welcome to the world of parenthood!"

She seems to have adjusted well otherwise. She seems to take it all in stride. My family came over Monday to meet her. And Brian's parents came Tuesday on their way back to New York and they will be here until Friday. They have been quite a help, letting us nap here and there while they hold Ava. Wonderful!!!! Now, I just don't understand why she doesn't like naps!! Doesn't she know that naps are the BEST?!? She seems to have taken a liking to them all, the family that is, showing no fear, just quizzical looks here and there and then a smile breaks through.

Through all of this I have seen God work on our behalf in SO many ways. His mercy towards us was and is great and He is to be praised and thanked for the way it all flowed so effortlessly after our arrival in Vietnam. And really as I think back, the entire process, although long, went well for us. After talking with other couples, it seems our experience in the process was without event.

As I type this, I am holding Ava. She is watching me type away. How many times have I sat here, blogging about her and my desire to go get her, and hold and kiss her, and now, here she is. This beautiful, happy child, I can kiss her soft cheeks, and hold her sweet hand and hear her cries and laughter. How great is God?!!! In His mercy, He reached over to the other side of the world and grabbed up this sweet thing to make for us all a family. God's ways are not man's ways. He works in ways that are beyond our ability to comprehend. And the way in which He works His plans our beyond our ability to imagine. The evidence of His providence has been before us throughout it all. How awesome that He lets us experience and see His providence. A little bit more of God Himself revealed.

Thank you all so much for your encouraging emails. I was always so excited when I saw that I had an email to read from someone back home! It was nice to know that there were people praying and thinking about us. It all went more smoothly than we imagined it would --truly. And on top of that, it was lots of fun. I have to say that it is a little surreal that we are actually home with her. I am still a little in la-la land because of the whole switch over in days and time. But even with that, we are still all enjoying each other. We are just so blessed to have her home and so quickly too--that was an added bonus. We hope to see you all soon. Please be patient as we try to adjust her and ourselves to this new time and schedule. Again, we just haven't been in much contact with anyone since our arrival simply due to this fact. We will probably be able to bring her to church in a couple of weeks. We will just be going with the flow here.

We can't say thank you enough. So here's one more...THANK YOU TO YOU ALL.