Home Sweet Home!

So glad to say we're finally home!  Kaylee did wonderfully on the flight.  In fact the man sitting next to me on the plane commented that he had never witnessed a child so well behaved on a plane ride.  And that was a FOURTEEN hour plane ride from Hong Kong to Chicago!

When we went through Customs in Chicago, little Kaylee became an official US citizen!   We were so excited!  Kaylee?  Well, she was much more interested in her new grape flavored gummy candies!  :)

All was going splendidly until we went to check on our connecting gate and saw the word "CANCELED" printed there instead!  Let me tell you, when you've been in a foreign country for over 2 weeks, you're hot, you're sleep deprived, you're dying for American food, you have a sleepy toddler who wants to be carried 90% of the time, and all you want to do is get home, you do NOT want to see the word CANCELED!  Needless to say, we did not have our "happy attitudes"!  We switched airlines while standing in the 1 hour long United line due to all of their canceled flights.  We finally arrived home at 7:30 PM to a precious group of friends carrying balloons and welcome home Patriotic signs for Miss Kaylee!  We were blessed beyond words!  

Since being home Kaylee is continuing to attach extraordinarily well to me, however, this means constantly wanting to be held.  (Not easy on someone who is under 5" tall with a child who weighs 23 pounds.)  When that's not the case, she wants one of my hands.  Needless to say, I'm learning how much one can do using just one hand!  However, we are both suffering exhaustion from jet lag, extreme change in routine, and the newness of the situation.  It's not an easy road but will be so worth it.  

Please pray for the process of Kaylee trusting that I will not leave her, that she will not wake up one morning and be taken from me and placed with yet another care giver.  She was taken care of by a faithful nanny in China up until age 1, then they removed her from that floor and placed her in the orphanage program on another floor.  This was done because she was physically ready.  However, upon seeing the brief reunion between the 2 of them while in Hohhot, it's clear to me that Kaylee adored her.  I don't know if she then attached to another nanny or not, but it's easy to see how trust could become hard to come by for this little one.  She has definitely attached, but is understandably not yet trusting that her situation is a forever one.  She has times of great joy, letting down, silliness, and sweetness.  She also has times of grieving, fear, and anger likely due to the lack of control she's felt during all of these changes.  Though she knows this change is good, she still had no choice in it.  She seems to feel the need to exert control in any area she can in order to compensate.  And really, I'd do the same thing!  Please pray the jet lag ends soon so that we can get into more of a routine.  This will be very helpful to both of us.  We also need prayers for her acceptance of the booster seat and car seat.  Obviously, I need to be able to go places with her.  The booster is optional, although would provide me some much needed relief.  The car seat isn't.  She screams and cries to the point of gagging when placed in it.  We need some serious heavenly intervention on this one!  It's not an uncommon thing to occur in these situations, but we do serve a God who is able to accomplish peace in this situation for her little heart.  And while we're at it, the darling little one needs to be okay with a bath of some kind....I'd settle for a sponge bath at this point.  Same reaction as the car seat.

In the meantime, below you'll see what made me fall in love with this little cutie pie!