Saturday (8/29)--Homecoming!!

Sometime during the longest flight of my life, it turned into Saturday. And that day was nothing short of how I had imagined it would be for over a year and a half...


Taken by a sweet soul who emailed these to me just today...we had just gotten off the plane and were on a shuttle to the actual airport. Just looking at that picture makes me tired...

We landed in Washington DC around 8:30 am, zoomed through customs and immigration (Praise the Lord!) and went on a mission to find our gate for our flight to Chicago. We were all starving, but a little confused as to whether we should have eaten breakfast or lunch. We opted for lunch since the first thing we came across was a Wendy's...Welcome to America boys!! Sam downed a cheeseburger and a half and totally avoided the fries. (He'll learn soon enough!)
My favorite part of that morning was Kenny leaning back to tell me that Charlie had just exclaimed, "Yes, America!" as we landed in DC. I still get chills just typing it! He was SO excited and despite what we thought, had a pretty good grasp on what was going on. And for some reason, this landing was quite emotional for both Kenny and I...I don't know if it was extreme exhaustion from a 17 hour flight or just the emotions of the whole week coming crashing down, but we both shed our share of tears as the wheels touched down in the great US of A! I really had a hard time holding it together! And to top it off, after being awake for almost 10 hours straight, Sam had decided to drift off to sleep 20 minutes before landing...little stinker!

We had the stewardess on Ethiopian Air tell Charlie before we got off the plane that he had 2 more flights before he got home. Our flight to Chicago was quick and uneventful and the 3 hour lay over seemed to last forever. Sam and I rode the same moving sidewalk back and forth probably about 47 times. And Charlie and Kenny took their share of walks as well to help the time pass.



When we got on the plane to Louisville, we could barely contain Charlie! He was SO excited and kept letting out little yelps of joy! Not to mention he was a wiggle worm...Kenny probably apologized to the lady in front of Charlie 10 times during the 45 minute flight because he was bouncing around so much. And of course, I cried again when we landed in Louisville!

I don't know why, but I was jumbled mess of nervous and anxious as we made our way through the airport with the boys. I was SO excited to have the boys meet all their family and friends and was in desperate need of hugs from several select people! (Mommy, Nicole, etc...) It seemed like we were the only ones in the airport and we could see (and hear!) the crowd as we came down the long hallway! I wanted to run, but since Sam had fallen asleep again, that was out of the question!


It was SOOOOO good to see ALL of your smiling faces as we rounded the corner...I didn't know who to go to first, but y'all solved that problem for me as we were covered in hugs! The boys...well, Charlie...did amazingly well with this big reception! He was passing out hugs left and right to all who wanted them, surprising me and Kenny! Sam, on the other hand, was a little disturbed that we had woken him up (again!) and wasn't quite as happy about the overzealous greetings he was receiving. I personally couldn't have been happier that so many people cared enough to come to the airport on a Saturday night to welcome us home!! We felt so loved and blessed to know that you all cared so much for us and the boys!

There is no way to put all the pics from the airport on here, so if you care, they are ALL HERE... but here's a few of our favorites...


Here we are...We have doubled in size!


Love this! Daddy & Charlie...


Someone gave Sam a sucker...made things better since we had just woke him up...it was, after all, 12 AM in Ethiopia...


Emma kept coming up to me and saying, "Put him down so I can see him!" Poor kid had just waited so long to meet Sam, she couldn't stand that she couldn't see his face!


Eli came to welcome his friends home...Love this since 9 months ago he came home from the same orphanage!