I will back up a little. The train to Hong Kong was a little stressful, but it went quickly. This is the one part of the trip that we knew we would be on our own. Grace dropped us off and gave us great instructions, but we now had to think and do everything for ourselves. If you can imagine the luggage for a family of five for two weeks, now imagine Bill and I having to handle most of it and Kora. Up to now, we have been with other families or Grace who picked up the slack thankfully. This we had to do on our own until we get home. Billy was amazing with his carry on back pack and usually would take one of the suitcases. The only thing he would complain about is how every time he looked at Karsyn she seemed to be empty handed. So that meant that Bill and I had to juggle the other four suitcases and four carry one bags. Let's just say that by the time I arrived at our house, I literally had cuts in my shoulders from the trip.
Once we were on the train it was all about keeping Kora happy and content. Billy and I sat with her and we did our job. We were able to see the surrounding area of Hong Kong and the city as we were arriving at the station. Amazing! It is one of the most colorful and massive cities I have ever been to. We managed to get the luggage up to the street area where we had to catch a taxi to our hotel and not lose a child in the process. It was extremely crowded and busy. Directly across from the train station was a big convention center that was having a popular concert so there were people rushing to get over to it. Thankfully Grace was right and most people spoke English, because we had to keep asking people where to go. As we were approaching the line to get a taxi, we must have stood out because a gentleman came up to Bill and asked us if we needed a taxi to one of the airport hotels. Luckily he had a van that all the luggage fit in. He kept us laughing the entire way to our hotel and shared many stories about his life and Hong Kong's history. It was 8 O'clock by the time we arrived so we just grabbed a quick bite to eat in one of the hotel restaurants and went to bed.
We just walked over to the airport in the morning and after a two hour check in process followed by a quick breakfast at McDonalds, we were finally going home. I will never be able to describe to you the feeling of pure joy we all felt as that plane took off. Thanks to all my prayer warriors, Kora did fantastic the entire trip. There were only a couple of times that I was scared she was going to lose it but it never came. She just played and ate and slept and ate some more. I know everyone who was on the trip with us who reads this is not believing me right now, but I swear it happened. I could do nothing but thank God over and over. Billy and Karsyn did great as well.
We landed in Chicago and Kora officially became a US citizen. Very cool moment for the kids and us.
Unfortunately, in Chicago we had to take our luggage back from baggage claim, go back through the check in line for our flight to Jacksonville, and then take the kids back through security. They then switched our gate on us twice and the last time it was to an entirely different terminal. That meant hauling our luggage all over the airport. We also had a six hour lay-over so we were in desperate survival mode. After our fourteen hour flight we were all just so exhausted and ready to be home. Somehow we survived and only had a two hour flight ahead of us. Again, Kora did so good. She just hung out standing up in the aisle most of the time by whoever had food for her. Then it happened. Had to know it was coming. We were about to make the descent down and the stewardess told me she had to sit. Well Kora didn't want to sit. So Kora screamed and kicked for the last ten minutes of the flight. That was it. Only ten minutes out of sixteen hours of flights. I can handle that. And we were home!
As we walked out of the terminal, we could see our family waiting for us. Kora just sat on my hip with a death grip on my arm as she stared at everyone. She managed to give a few high fives to my brothers and her cousins and smiled at everyone, but she wasn't going to leave mine or Bill's arms for anything. We had been warned about the reaction she might have to her car seat since they don't use them in China, but she loved it. She just sang to the music as loud if not louder than Karsyn all the way home. She of course was just babbling but she was in tune. Again, she acted like she knew this was where she was meant to be.
After she was done exploring her new home she got a bath by her Nee-Nee, and she began hamming it up. She was giggling like crazy and running back and forth between her Beachdaddy's and everyone else's arms. She was giving lots of kisses away too. Then around two in the morning, she crawled up in my arms and closed her eyes and that was it for the night. I had to wake Kora and the other two kids up today when I realized it was almost one O'clock in the afternoon. She has had a good day playing with all her toys and visiting with family.
I started this blog out talking about what an amazing support group our family is surrounded by. I want to end this post by sincerely thanking you all from the bottom of my heart. When Bill and I started this process two years ago, we never would have known how much our lives were going to change. We definitely thought about how much it would change our family dynamic and the impact Kora could have on the four of us, but what we didn't know was how much your generosity, prayers, love, and genuine heart-felt words and actions were going to affect us. We are both overwhelmed to say the least by it all. Thank you to Bill's and the kid's school who donated items for our garage sale and pouring your hearts into my family in so many ways, to my Interline family who left me speechless with your generosity and support and sent me many emails with encouraging words, to all my mother's friends who so diligently supported us through positive words, prayers, and donations, to our church family who prayed so many times from the decision point to bringing her home, to all of our friends who continuously supported us through all of it and most importantly to our families. I will never be able to thank our families enough for all the encouraging words when we wanted to give up when going through the incredible paper work process, for the hard work on our fundraising efforts, for the many calls reminding us to pack this or that, for listening to us during our calls from China and encouraging us throughout those two weeks, for the food that our pantry is stocked with when we arrived home, and especially for the love that you have shown this little girl from the moment we made our decision even when you didn't know her.
As a good friend of mine said one day when I was overwhelmed by the support...."It takes a village to raise a child" and Kora is one lucky girl to have this big and strong of one to surround her.
