We are finally Home Sweet Home! I apologize for taking a few days to update the blog to let everyone know we were home safe and sound, but we MADE it! The girls (all four of them) did an amazing job on the flight. Everyone even got a little bit of sleep in…
I discovered that MG likes to roll around when she sleeps, and several times I jerked awake just in time to push her back from the edge to keep her from plummeting off of the side. I was so worried she was going to roll off the seat or plunge head first between the seat and the arm rest that I ended up laying down on top of her legs with my head in a squenched up position. So maybe I should say everyone ELSE got some sleep; but let’s be honest, I was too excited to sleep anyway!
After making it through customs in Chicago (not a super fun experience), we boarded a plane to head to Houston, and all of our seats were spread out all over the plane because of having to book flights on such last minute notice. We looked like the Griswolds with all of our carry-on’s and backpacks, and Mia Grace strapped to the front of me in her carrier. We all somehow miraculously ended up together, and thankfully, we all fell asleep for most of that flight as well.
When we stepped off of that plane onto Houston soil and came down that escalator hearing cheers and seeing signs of “Welcome Home, Baker Six!” and “Mia Grace” held by people we love dearly was unlike any other experience I have ever had and one I hope to never forget.
Here was this little person on my hip who had no idea who any of these people were, had never, for all practical purposes, stepped foot outside of her orphanage in China, and now was an American citizen, a member of a big, loving family and part of a support network of friends who will love her and go the extra mile for her until the day she dies. It was such a beautiful, powerful picture of the body of Christ to Jason, me, and our entire family. MG had done nothing to earn or deserve the love that was poured out on her that night; all she did was just appear. She was simply was a recipient of…Grace, that word that is in the middle of her name and smack dab in the middle of adoption. Adoption is simply a gift of grace, to a child, and to the family who gets to adopt him or her. I am constantly reminded of that fact every time I look at her and see my own inability to help or save myself and then remember the One who risked it all to come to get me out of the hopeless situation I was in to make me a part of His family and a citizen of His country.
Thank you, thank you to each one of you who came out to welcome Mia Grace and our family home that evening; we felt so deeply loved. And it was pure joy to finally see her with my own eyes in the arms of people I love so very much. And I cannot wait to introduce her to those of you (including many family members!) she has not met yet who will play such an important part in her life. Your prayers and encouragement throughout this journey have been monumental.
We finally left the airport and strapped one very sleepy girl (who was a CHAMP, by the way, at being passed around to so many people) into a car seat for the first time (nope – no car seats in China; Robin, I can hear you groaning now :))…
…and headed…home. Some wonderfully fun and creative neighbors decorated the outside of our house (thank you, McDaniels!),some very thoughtful nephews decorated the inside (thank you, Ty and Wes!), and Aunt Ana stocked the fridge and printed out pictures from our trip to have when we walked in the door – I was absolutely blown away by everyone’s thoughtfulness! Grandparents were there to greet us, and Mia Grace settled right in to Nana, Papa, Mia and Popsie’s arms like they were people she had always known and loved.
It was truly so very good to be…Home.