Home Sweet Home

Well, we FINALLY made it home…and just by the skin of our teeth. It is now 0130 in Texas and we are WIDE awake! The day (or days) started with our departure in GZ. It was great being able to enjoy the bus ride with many of the families that have been with us over the last week. Most of our group continued on the same flight to Beijing, where we spent the night. Enyi LOVED his first plane ride, and you would have thought he had done it his whole life…really enjoyed the take off and landing. His face was like, "Seriously, we are going to fly around and they are going to feed us, too?" Speaking of eating…the stomach crud finally got me on the plane ride to Beijing. I held it together until we got on the van when I had to ask Jay for a couple of ziplocks…YUCK! I was better by the next morning when we left for Chicago. While it was another LONG trip, everyone did great on very little sleep. When we landed in Chicago, it was a mad dash for customs and immigration. This the place where Enyi became an American Citizen, today!! Luckily, they had a line exclusively for military personnel or we would have NEVER made our connection. In fact, where they sent us out of customs, there was no place to re-check or bags…we even asked one of the agents where we needed to drop them and we were told to take them to our departing terminal (this was bad info)…no fear, we have a full 30 minutes until the plane leaves…sure, they're probably boarding, but we will make it!! So we impatiently wait for the train to take us two terminals over to our departing gate…only to be told that baggage check is yet one more terminal away. "You'll never make it", says the oh-so-helpful United agent. "We'll make it!!!", we yell as we continue to run to the next terminal. Kudos to Cam and Enyi who ran with their backpacks the whole way! So we find another agent at this terminal and show her that we have boarding passes and our bags are already ticketed through to San Antonio…she graciously takes them and we run BACK to the previous terminal to try to get through security with SEVEN minutes to spare! "We'll make it!!", we cried as we tried not to push people over as the Ferland Four went racing through O'Hare! Well, we did make it…BARELY. So we sat sweating on the plane thinking…we made it…but our bags will not. No sooner were the thoughts crossing my mind when the pilot announces: "Folks, I'm told we are waiting on a few bags to arrive from the international terminal, so we'll just stand by for a few minutes". Groans could be heard from behind us as we shrunk down in our seats. However, as we pushed back from the gate, there were two suitcases left sitting on the tarmac that looked remarkably like ours. Sure enough…we are missing 2 bags on this side of China…but we made our flight!!

Our dear friends, The Harneys, greeted us at the airport (and waited an extra 30+ minutes for our late arrival and the meeting with the United Baggage claim folks). When we pulled up to the house, there were signs on the front of the house, signs on the inside of the house, and dinner on the stove!! (Thanks to my BFF Carolyn!!) Not only that, she knows that I REALLY missed my good coffee, so in a basket of goodies was homemade cookies, a pound of Starbucks, and fresh fruit! In the fridge, she made sure I had a gallon of milk, some juice, and the all important Half and Half for my coffee. Our other dear neighbors, The Meyers and the Wongs and their daughters were there to greet us and were actively involved in the house decorating…SO SWEET…how can we ever move away! Enyi is VERY excited with his new room and went nuts when he saw all the Legos, Thomas trains, and cars/trucks that are in their room. He saying, Enyi's??

So we are trying to settle back into Texas time…warm baths and homemade chile should help do the trick. Good night…it's great to be home!