Wheeeee! All the way home

We are home. So happy to be back! So happy to introduce Pearl to her Mema, Nona, and Pop-Pop and some great friends today and looking forward to seeing everyone else.

Faith broke into several rounds of "America the Beautiful" as we approached Los Angeles last night(?) She made a recovery I can only call miraculous before we left for the Guangzhou airport Friday afternoon. It was a good thing, too, as we had some semi-tense negotiations over Pearl's ticket and consequently some long waits as we were checking in there. Fortunately our agency got us there in plenty of time to work things out before time to board. I can't say enough about all of our guides in China. They were wonderful - professional and obviously dedicated to their work.

We were able to get a bassinet on our long flight over the ocean and Pearl slept in it quite a bit. Faith was asleep before we took off, and Davis caught quite a few ZZZZZzz's on that one, too. Then we negotiated LAX, which along with crazy construction and a very Hollywood moment as at one point we pushed through a crowd of photogs snapping pictures of some celebrity arrival, was pretty much a nightmare. We needed every minute of our five-hour layover to get to where we were supposed to be. We did make it, though, and our flight from there to Atlanta was only a little over 3 hours. Amazing. We got a bit of a break to clean everyone up at the Atlanta airport and then a quick jump to Columbia. Pearl traveled great, even eating on the go which had been a challenge before. Davis and Faith kept pretty much all of their enthusiasm intact, and my dad was kind enough to drive us home.

Home. All of us - home.

No sweet homecoming scene for us, as we were completely out of Pearl's food by the time we hit Columbia. Since she was due a nap, we made the call to make the drive home instead of stopping to get more in SC, and that worked fine until the last 15 minutes when little bit woke up. So instead of happy homecoming we had teary Target trip and then a rush to get the food ready in time for her to take about five sips and then go right to sleep. She ate great after nap, even though the formula and cereal mix here is definitely not as sweet as what she had in China.

We are doing great, and I have just been able to read all the sweet comments you guys made. We are very blessed to have such wonderful friends. Thanks so much for all your kindness! We appreciate it so much.