October 17th: Bringing Ellie Kay home day! (started writing on plane)

Ellie Kay awoke this morning about 4:45am.  By the time we gave her a bottle, it was time to get up for our LONG stretch of a day.

Doormen were at our doors promptly at 6am to pick up luggage.  Not sure why our guide arranged such an early time for luggage pick up.  Probably so we wouldn't late.  We didn't have to leave the hotel until 7:20, so we got a good breakfast before we left.  A driver then drove us to the Guangzhou airport to meet our guide, Kathy.

Checking in with a guide who can speak Mandarin makes such a big difference.  In Beijing, the Bujnoseks and we were on our own and it was a bit of a challenge to navigate everything.  When Kathy checked us in, she was arguing with a lady at the ticket counter.  Someone arguing over us in a language can't understand has happened several times while we've been in China, and every time, it was my quite unnerving.  Kathy explained that they didn't have a record of Ellie Kay flying back with us.  They couldn't find where we purchased a lap ticket.  Oh goodness.  The whole way TO China, it was trouble checking in because I didn't have a baby with me.  They even kept trying to give us baby food at meal times.  But, when we finally got her on the way back, they had no record of her ticket.  Lap tickets are cheap and the only way to avoid further troubles and make our flight was to just purchase another lap ticket which Kathy helped with.

She was also arguing with the ticket counter lady because instead of checking our bags through to the States, we had to claim our luggage in Beijing, take it through security, then go through customs and recheck our luggage before we could board.

The first flight to Beijing was only 3 hours long and smooth sailing.  Similar to our flight to Nanchang earlier in the week, we had to walk down steps to disembark from the plane and then take a shuttle to the airport.  Then first thing we noticed while waiting for the shuttle was how cool Beijing was compared to Guangzhou.  It had not been cool while were there, but it had definitely gotten cooler since our visit.  I'm sure the Chinese ladies were not pleased with me for Ellie Kay being in short sleeves. They bundle up their babies in much warmer weather.

Once in the Beijing airport, we were able to find our way fairly easily considering. Security in China to board an international flight is definitely more strict than the US!  Our suitcase set off some alarm so Matt had to unlock it and show the contents and they didn't find anything.  We went through SEVERAL security check points again, with one including an extremely thorough pat down and two points involved swabs of us, Ellie Kay, and our carry on bags. After all that, it didn't seem like too long before our flight, even though it was a 3 hour layover.

Then, we were in for the long haul: Beijing to Detroit.  The first part wasn't too bad.  Lights were on and snacks and a meal were served.  Ellie Kay ate almost a whole banana, all of my dragon fruit (her last chance to eat it for a while), and jar of veggie baby food.

After a while though they cut off lights and she got sleepy, but unfortunately couldn't get comfortable.  My angel of a husband stood up with her, walked with her,  bounced her, etc and could only manage to get her to sleep in 5-10 min intervals.  I think she just wanted a bed!  I tried a little while, but she doesn't go to sleep for me yet under ideal conditions, much less under these circumstances.

Later, I was able get her to sleep but only in intervals and only if I was walking around the plane.  Matt probably had her 80% of the time, so my little of walking around the plane was comparatively insignificant.  It was a long, long, long flight and we were SO happy to hit US soil in Detroit.

We had to claim our luggage AGAIN and then take it through US customs.  There was a funny thing that happened at this point. We had come directly from China, where almost no one spoke our language and where no one certainly knew us and where we got all kinds of strange stares just for being Americans.   Then, as soon as we landed in Detroit and stand in line for customs, a man walks up to us and says, "Do you go to Bellevue?"  (Bellevue is the name of our church).  What are the chances?   We were immediately greeted not only from someone from our hometown, but someone from our church!   We had never met him and he'd just heard that someone from Bellevue would be in China adopting while he was there on business and he just took a chance that it might be us.  (There were two other adoptive families on the same plane but we "happened" to be nearest him in line).

There was the nicest, most helpful young gentleman who walked us over to go through to the next step of an immigration specialist reviewing a sealed envelope that had been given to us by the US consulate and warned not to open.  This agent reviewed everything  and gave us the go ahead and as simple as that, this 7&1/2 year process was finalized and Ellie Kay was a US citizen from that point on.   I asked to take pics, but it wasn't allowed. In fact, we took one several feet away from her booth thinking it was OK, and an agent came over and asked to see the pic, which he deemed harmless and asked us to refrain from taking any more until we were completely through security.

At this point, Aidan started getting very, very sleepy.  He'd slept none in about 24 hours and he is a person who needs quite a bit of sleep!   He fell asleep in a very awkward position at the airport gate, and we walked him while he was in a trance to his seat on the plane.  He immediately fell asleep, but with his head bobbing and not resting back on his seat.  The flight attendants ended up getting a blanket and laying it on his tray so that could rest his head on the tray, but he was in a restless, weird state of sleep and his head kept bobbing on the tray - poor thing!!  He did that the whole 2 hour trip and we were a little worried about him, but he was fine once we landed and he was so glad to be back in Memphis.

We proceeded towards baggage claim and we were so happy to be greeted by familiar, friendly faces who were eager to meet Ellie Kay.  All four of our parents were there (or as Ellie Kay will call them:  Grandma, Papa, Nana, and Gabby) along with little precious Tru.  How happy we were to see him!   The first thing he said to me was "I need her!" (speaking of EK).  I loved getting my hugs I'd been missing for over 2 weeks.  Ellie Kay's Aunt Amy and her cousins, Madelyn, and Landon were there as well, along with ALL of the Mundays (Dave, Waverly, Titan, Josie, Koen, Heidi, Zain, Bonnie, and Griffin).  They were all happy to meet Ellie Kay and even though we were dead tired, we were so happy to see them all.

We had to strap EK into her car seat for the first time (they don't use them in China).  Well, she wasn't a fan!  She screamed the whole, entire 30 minute ride home.  Tru was very disappointed about his first experience with his long awaited sister, so he decided he'd cry the whole way home too.  Whoo!  Was this a long end to a long, long day.

We finally made it home, unloaded and caught up with our parents.  Amy had driven straight to the Mundays since she was staying with them for the night, since our house was full and the Mundays live close.

Due to EK being tired, she only woke up once during the nights and quickly went back to sleep.  We were hoping this would be a trend, but that was not to be.  :)