Coming Home...

As I posted earlier, Hong Kong appeared to be a beautiful city.

We had to go through customs and immigration to enter Hong Kong.

On our way to the hotel

Our view from the hotel - there was water on the other side.  The airport was 5 minutes away.

Although we would have loved to spend more time there, we were so happy to board the flight home.  (Our friend, Karen, and her kids had to spend an extra night because her flight was cancelled.  However, they did not seem too upset; they went to Disney because of the delay.)  At the airport, we me up with four other adoptive families that were on our flight.  One of them adopted a little girl from Chloe's orphanage.  They went to school together.

They went through stages of showing love for each other through  sharing, hugs, and kisses.

But mainly they acted catty to each other as you can kind of see through this picture.  Although we couldn't understand what was being said, it almost appeared that they were in competition, saying, "I have this drink" or "This is my back pack."  They sat in front of us on the plane and there were a couple of times we had to tell them to keep it down...Interesting....

The flight was 14 hours to Detroit.  Chloe maybe slept 4 hours and I slept maybe 3.  Despite the LONG time in the air, she was a very good girl.  She watched a few movies (She did not listen because she refused to wear her head phones.) and we walked the aisles a bunch of times.

When we arrived in Detroit, Chloe was wide awake and in a great mood.  We ate dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant and boarded the plane after a 5 hour layover.  (We tried to get on an earlier flight, but all was sold out.)

When we arrived in Atlanta, John, Amy, Hannah and Zach were there to greet us.

Hannah made a great sign. 

Chloe stuck to her big sis like glue. 

She was so happy to meet both her and Zach.

At home, we met my mother-in-law and father-in-law.  They had been taking care of the kids for us and were watching Kaleb.  All was fine until John and Amy began to leave.  I think it all was just overwhelming for Chloe, and she started crying.  She cried and kept repeating a phrase for over an hour.  I'm sure she was saying, "I want to go home," but I couldn't understand her.  I just can't imagine what this is like for her --- new people, new house, new language, etc.  I gave her a bath and put her to bed in my room with Kaleb.  She slept until about 2:30 and started crying again, so I put her in bed with Tim and me.  She then slept on and off until around 7:00.

Today was a much better day for Chloe.  We stayed home as I feel that it is better to keep her world small.  She played with her brothers and sister nicely today and took a good nap.

We hope each day gets easier and easier for her and that she continues to adjust well to our family.