It's been a long day, but a great one! Alexandra Joy is now a United States Citizen with all the rights and privileges thereof! I have to admit that I am now relaxed. For some reason, I was waiting until that part of the process was finished before I let myself really let go!
A word to the adoptive families after us, you may have to wait a while for your paperwork to be processed at immigration. You go to one line, and then they usher you to another line - this is Seattle - where we waited until the agent had finished admitting everyone from our flight. At least we were first in line for "special handling", but we still waited another hour to get through that. I'm glad I still had new things in the bag of tricks that came with us on the plane. The Mazes book was a big hit! So, make sure you use the restroom in the plane if you can before you leave. It might be a long wait....
I have to tell you about how wonderful this child has been! She never broke down, not even when woken up abruptly or told she couldn't sit on the floor, or that she had to hold my hand NOW. She was so obviously tired and hungry, but didn't cry at all! We started to get that worried look, and thankfully, food arrived at the hotel restaurant just about then. She was SO excited about the plane ride! There were squeals of delight when she saw the lights on the runway and then the plane took off and we left them behind. There were more squeals on the last part of the trip, when we could see how close the plane was getting to Seattle (on the Compass function on the tv). And more squeals when we landed! She also slept for about 6 hours straight on the plane, which helped.
I'm just in awe! She always seems to be in a good mood. She has been well trained and knows she needs to pick up things, to wash her hands, (the wiping part is still a hit or miss thing), and she knows that she's supposed to eat her food and chew it and then swallow it. However, that last one is still a battle ground. We fought it when we absolutely needed to, but not too much. I only got mad when the blue M&M came out of her mouth because she was upside down on the couch in the Lounge and then it left blue marks. She got to hear the Stern Mama voice. It did have the desired effect. This time at least...
I also want to thank all the people who helped us on this journey home. They won't ever know about this blog or really know how much I have appreciate their kind words or help. One young lady was coming home after teaching English in Korea for a year. She had 4 and 5 year olds in her class and she just adored Joy. She answered all sorts of questions (or what we thought Joy was asking). Some were obvious - like, what is that on your fingernails? Fingernail polish? Ohh, Mama, I want some of that! And can I have that pretty sparkly ring too?
What she did, more than spend some time distracting Joy from our anxiety about getting on the plane, was treat her like any 5 year old who was curious, smart and polite. Joy just glowed when she said goodbye to her. Thank you!
And to the young woman studying to be a Buddhist priest. Thank you for understanding how a little girl could be upset about your shaved head. Thank you for answering her questions in English and Chinese and being sweet and laughing with her about it. I appreciate that especially since this child has already told us, through the translator that she wants to grow her hair long. They have to keep it short at the orphanage, but now that she has her forever family, can't she have it long? Yes, sweetie, you can. And no, you won't have to shave your head unless someday you choose to.
Thank you to the father in the hotel who just offered up that he had 2 little ones from Ethiopia and told us how impressed he was with Joy, and with us. He commented on her beauty and her quickness and calmness. He also told us that as adoptive parents of a child from another race, be prepared, because now it starts. The questions and the looks and stares. He said there are 2 ways to handle it, but he has gotten tired of taking the high road. After all, he said, these children are now YOUR children and God means for you to protect them! We couldn't agree more.
His words came at a good time for me too. In the airport in Seattle, Joy had tried to talk to a pretty young girl, about 7 I would think and from California, I think, based on what her parents were talking about. This little girl just stared at Joy instead of answering back. Joy had even said, Merry Christmas! I watched as Joy felt the lack of response. She was hurt by it, on some level, I'm sure and we don't have the language skills to explain to her that the other child was the one who was wrong. I hope we do before too long...
We are now asleep, after protesting for about 5 minutes. Tim is also asleep (he beat Joy!), and I'm soon to follow. I had a rough plane ride. I have NEVER, EVER gotten sick in a plane, but I must have had food poisoning somewhere, because about 2 hours into the flight, after fighting cold sweats for a while, I used the paper bag in the seat back pocket! I've never done that! And the funny thing is, I had told Tim to remind to locate them at the beginning of the flight because Joy has a little throwing up tendency when she's stressed. There are a few coughs, then a plea to go to the restroom that proceed it, so I wanted to be prepared in case we couldn't get to the restroom. Little did I know that it would be ME who couldn't get to the bathroom! Oh well, that's what they are for and the stewardess didn't yell at me or anything when I handed her the used bag! I'm fine now. But I need to go to sleep because tomorrow is going to be a big day too!
HOME!
love to all! We can't wait to see you and for each of you to meet Joy soon! She's a charmer! ;)
Margaret
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