Saturday, February 3, 2007
WE'RE HOME!!!

We arrived in Springfield, Missouri on schedule at 4:40 PM February 1, 2007 to a warm and loving welcome. All of Becca's grandparents, my Godparents Aunt Betty & Uncle Gib, our cousin Val, and Sandy, Jeff, Anna, and Olivia Frye were at the airport to welcome us home.

Becca put on a show and was a big hit with everyone. She could sense the love and trust we have for our family and she warmed up to them very quickly. Becca displayed almost all of her talents with everyone and fun was had by all. She had her first real party with cake, presents and welcome home posters (thanks cousin Bill.)

The flight from Guangzhou was smooth. When we arrived in Tokyo, we had over an hour layover and Becca was nice enough to wait until then to produce the "good news" so I was able to use one of Tokyo airport's state-of-the-art nurseries. Angie was hungry as she didn't eat the delicious meal on the flight from Guangzhou, so I headed over to our trusted McDonald's for some food; I didn't have any Japanese yen but fortunately they took a credit card. I also went to the gift shop for some water for Becca's formula and they took American money and gave the change in Japanese money. After the layover, it was time to board the 12-hour flight back to the United States. It is neat to have a child, as we get to board first. Once we sat down, we wished we had purchased a seat for Becca rather than a lap seat. But after a few minutes, we settled in and were happy we saved the additional cost. FAPs, our 747 flight to and from China had about 4 rows of 2 seat areas in the back of the plane with an additional 2-foot space between the window seat and the window - this is where I stowed my carry on luggage that also served as a table. We also found the drop down tray to be sturdy enough to act as a temporary bed for Becca - this gave us some relief from holding her the entire trip. The 12-hour voyage was actually peaceful though turbulent; Becca found the turbulence to be the equivalent of a fun roller coaster ride.

Once we arrived in Detroit, we had to contend with U.S. Customs. This is my first true international flight, so I was bemused by the fact that we had to collect our luggage and take it through Customs. We were the last to receive our luggage from the carousel; it was a relief to see our 12-dollar "Polo" suitcase make its way down the conveyor belt. Customs check-in was not a problem at all and only took less than 5 minutes. Unfortunately, the Asian woman and her child in front of us were sent to another room for a more detailed interrogation. And, some other passenger was sent to the quarantine area and we heard the CDC (Center of Disease Control) being paged overhead to report to Customs. A short layover in Detroit and then we boarded our final leg of the trip to Springfield.

When we deplaned in Springfield, we were greeted by some familiar (though not to Becca) and friendly faces. You could feel and see the glow displayed by Becca's new family. After a short visit in the airport, we headed home.

Becca, as previously noted, displayed her personality and charisma in a characteristic manner. One concern that we had was how Becca would interact with our pets, Rocki, Jake and Maggie. To our surprise, they were all relaxed around Becca. Maggie even lay on Angie's lap while Becca was playing with Angie. This was a perfect ending of our Journey to Becca and a perfect beginning to our new lives as a family.

It is 6 PM on Saturday, February 3, 2007 at this writing. We are still dealing with jetlag; I just woke up from a 2-hour nap and I am still getting up at 4 AM each morning. Becca's sleep and feeding schedule has been disrupted - it will take about 2-3 weeks to get her back to her normal schedule. In about a week or two, I will post one last entry into this Journal to let you know of Becca's progress. We should be in Saint Louis in about a month. We hope to go to Rolla, Missouri for a family reunion on Memorial Day weekend and head to Milledgeville, Georgia sometime this summer.

Enjoy the photos and have a great and productive February.