Today we leave China for the USA!
At 4:40 am we met Lily and our driver for our trip to the airport to catch our 7:30 am flight from Guangzhou to Shanghai on China Eastern Airlines. The flight was 2 1/2 hours. Lily was amazing...she even arranged for the hotel to prepare an early breakfast to eat on the way. We had difficulty finding Delta airlines in Shanghai...actually we had difficulty finding someone to speak English in Shanghai. Thank goodness for our 2 1/2 hour layover.
We flew from Shanghai to Seattle on Delta on a ten and an half hour flight. Melanie did pretty good...she slept half the trip. Food seemed to be her comfort on the flight. It was impossible for me and Jason to sleep on the flight. Delta was great on this flight...we were treated great!
Once we arrived in Seattle, there was a very long line to clear customs. We then had to wait for a health officer to clear Melanie to enter the US and then an officer approved her paperwork and cleared her as a US citizen at approximately 10 am today. After she was cleared, we grabbed our luggage and had to wait in a very long line to clear security to catch our next flight. We made our flight just in time for MN. During this leg of the flight we were able to sit in Economy Comfort with Delta, which was nice to have the extra legroom. Jason and Melanie were able to sleep during this 3 hour flight. Unfortunately, I was not able to sleep due to the two rather energetic toddlers sitting behind us. I think my seat was their punching bag. I was not upset because I know how challenging it is to travel with little ones. This poor dad had four kids by himself.
We landed in MN on time. This airport was amazing!! The eating places were great! The shops were nice. We REALLY love this airport!!! It was nice to eat a sub sandwich from the states with lettuce. Funny how those little things you appreciate when they are not available around the corner for ten days. We met some very sweet people while waiting for our flight. At this point, we have been traveling for 22 hours. We were able to change clothes and brush our teeth before our last leg of our journey home. We left on time for TN on our Delta flight. Melanie was a little more fussy for this flight...but she has done AMAZING for how long she has had to sit on our laps on this journey.
The last thirty minutes of the flight were very anxious for me. I could not wait to see Cohen!!! This entire time I had mentally prepared myself for being away from my Cohen. I know he was in good hands with my parents and Jason's parents. Up to this point, the longest I had been away from my Cohen was three days. I thought that was too long. So this eleventh day seemed like the longest day in the world. I desired so badly to be home...to be somewhere familiar...to see my Cohen...to see my family...to officially have Melanie join our life and family...to worship freely without fear of persecution.
We landed on time at the Nashville airport. We were blessed to be at terminal one so that when we got off the plane we could see the crowd of friends and family waiting to see this precious child they have been waiting to meet. These people have been the pray warriors and our adoption cheerleaders over the past two years. I remember waving my hands and hearing the cheers. All I could think about was hugging and kissing my Cohen...with tears pouring down my cheeks (yes ugly cry)...I ran with my ten thousand pound bags and weak body that has not slept for 26 hours into the arms of my blonde little boy as his arms were stretched out to hug his momma. Oh I will never forget that moment as I held him in my arms crying tears of joy and relief. As I turned...my Melanie and Jason were approaching the crowd. There were cheers and tears. Oh what emotions to finally put your eyes on this child we hoped for this many years. The crowd was overwhelmed....I cannot express the faces and emotions that I saw. It was like time stood still. I hugged everyone in appreciation and gratitude for them traveling out late at 9:30 pm to greet us on our long journey home. Those that were present were: mom and dad aka G and Papa (Charles and Velda Beams), Cohen, Jason parents aka YaYa and Papa (Ed and Kathy Taylor), Lisa and Danica Herman, Rebecca Bowles, Jennifer Miller, Heath Nichols, David and Linda Stacy (Melanie Stacy's parents), Kay, Kyle and Micah DeGrood, Pastor George Austin, Craig, Gina, Ashton and Nathan Wright, and Kirk, Annah, and Ryan Hopkins. Melanie hugged everyone and clapped and smiled once she started feeling comfortable. We feel so very blessed. Our journey home was wonderful as I sat in between Cohen and Melanie's car seats. Reality set in that I now had two precious little ones. Cohen instantly showed his awesome big brother skills and was probably the most excited to get his sister home. He has prayed for her so many times the past two years...for her safety...that she would have food...that she would not be sick. He loves her so much!!!
What things we so take for granted when they are not at your fingertips for a short eleven days. My perspective has been changed. I am so VERY thankful for the simple yet important freedoms and luxuries we have here in the states. Family seems more precious. Time seems more precious. I feel guilty for taking for granted my religious freedom. How precious and blessed our life really is...oh how humbling. How thankful I am for being born as a US citizen. How thankful I am for being born into a Christian family. This trip not only added a precious member to our family...it was a spiritual wake-up call for the blessings I have in my life. I pray I do not get wrapped up in the petty things when I return to the states. I love my country for its freedoms. I love and respect my husband for so many reasons that would take ten pages to explain. He has been so patient and loving on this trip. I love and appreciate the plan that God has set for my life. I love and am so thankful for the precious gift of my Cohen. What a privilege to be given the responsibility to raise him to be the godly man he is to be in this world. Oh what joy to see him grow and change and see God's plan for his life. Why have I been blessed so much? I love my family and appreciate them for the path they have directed me on in my life and the sacrifices they have made for me...oh there are so many. I am thankful for my inlaws for raising my husband to be the godly and God fearing man that he is in this world. I am thankful that they love me as their own. I am thankful for friends that I have prayed for so many years ago. Friendship is a special thing...to trust people...to believe in people. We are blessed by our true friends. The list can go on and on for those things that I have realized I have taken for granted and I am so thankful to have in my life. I have received more than a daughter on this trip. No words can express my gratitude for God being my Jehovah Jirah during this amazing journey.
This journey has not just been twenty two months. I sit back and see how God has unfolded this plan minute by minute throughout the past years. It started exactly four years ago when I miscarried on July 7, 2009...then exactly two years ago I had my hysterectomy...then this week two years later as we pick up our daughter in China. There are so many details along the way how God has molded each moment, the neon signs to show his plan. We never thought during those times how these horribly challenging times would be molded into a blessing. We now hold the blessing in our arms. This child...our Melanie...God choose her specifically for our family. Oh how humbling...oh what a blessing. How her abandonment in the lawn of a Honda dealership in China would turn into a blessing for our lives. How God picked her to be ours over the days when we had lost our patience during the adoption process...God knew the entire time. What challenge we have now to find the plan and direction God has for our little girl. We cannot wait to see how God will use us to help shape her life, to encourage, to mold, to guide her into the godly woman she has been planned to be in this world. We are the blessed ones...me and Jason...to witness two precious children (Cohen and Melanie) grow and become children of God and fulfill God's purpose in this world. (Psalm 139) Each day that I have with these precious ones will be cherished. I will pray for these children. I will seek God's guidance for His plan for our family and my role he would have me to possess. I will pray for Jason to be the spiritual leader of our home...for the decisions he will make...for him to seek God and His plan. This experience in China has given me a whole new perspective on my life. There is so much that is new...seeking a new place of worship...seeking God's plan for our family...raising two children to seek God's plan for their life and desire Him above this world...to be the godly wife God would want me to be for Jason...to be the godly woman He would have me to be in our community...to show Christ to others. Oh there is so much more I want to say and are blank on how to express it with my words. I pray that my actions will praise God and will express the gratitude and appreciation for this experience and growth. Jason and I will never be the same from this eleven day journey that was more than an adoption trip.
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