E&J's Homecoming

We officially took custody of the Elijah & Josephine late Sunday night - at least that's what date our papers have on them from the US Dept of Health & Human Services - Jan 24, 2010. Around 12:30 am, Monday morning, we were given the approval to leave the Sanford airport with the children. We headed back through the customs/immigration section of the airport, back through the rental car area, and then back to the baggage claim area, where there were media and extended family of some of the other adoptive parents waiting. (I've seen that clip of us on CNN (and maybe Fox News) multiple times now, and would love to have a copy of it on DVD if someone knows how to accomplish this.)

Jock got me settled in a chair with our two sleeping children so he could go fetch the rental car from the parking ramp. When he came back in, he sat with Elijah while I took Josephine with me. I had to get the rental car seats installed in the back seat of the car. Josephine SCREAMED when I sat her down instead of holding her to get them buckled in. Then she SCREAMED more when I sat her in her seat and tried to get her buckled in - all the while kicking and hitting and arching her back to attempt to get out. When Jock came out with Elijah, he was happy to get in the car (the boy loves cars!) - and immediately climbed up and sat down on the seat in between the toddler car seats. I told him in creole, "chita isit" (sit here), pointing to the toddler seat, and he happily complied.

We thought about driving to near the Orlando International Airport that night, so we'd be very close for our flights the next day, but we only made it a few miles before we saw a Hampton Inn sign that called our names. We were settled there in bed by around 2 or 2:30 am. E&J slept just fine between us in the king bed - although Josephine thought it would be fun to sleep on top of my head all morning instead of just beside me. :) We had scheduled a wake-up call for 8 am, but we slept through it. Jock woke up at 8:30, and then we hustled to get ourselves showered and the kids ready for the trip home. Jock grabbed breakfast at the hotel and checked out while I finished getting the kids ready and packed up. We got to the airport around 10:30, returned the rental and headed to check-in. We checked our bags of dirty clothes that we didn't need, and purchase another carry-on bag in case we weren't able to sit together. At the gate, they moved us to the row right behind first class with the extra leg-room, and we were right across the aisle from each other, me with Josephine in a 2-seat section and Jock with Elijah, with another guy on his other side.

That first flight, from Orlando to St Louis was not fun. I had forgotten to take my Dramamine, so I wasn't feeling the greatest. Josephine didn't like getting buckled into her seat, but once she was and I tightened it so she couldn't squirm out, she was fine. About a half-hour from the end of the flight, I noticed that smell that all Haitian adoptive parents know all too well. Josephine had pooped through her overnight diaper and her pants, so I had to wait for the front lavaratory to be free, before taking her in to change her. That's fun, changing a diaper of a scared two-year-old in an airplane lavaratory, who doesn't like to lay still while getting her diaper changed anyway! Elijah was having a grand time on the plane until he started looking at books - one of which was a baby photo book we'd taken for him on our last few visits to Haiti. It was like he suddenly remembered what had happened and what was going on and was struck with grief. He threw a huge tantrum for about 20 minutes before falling asleep, and then did the same for another 20 minutes or so when he woke up. Then he was OK. The poor man (who was wearing a suit!) that was sitting next to Jock was so humble though and very kind about it all.

We did, however, all make it to St Louis in one piece. I just wanted to find a chair so my stomach could calm down. We had a few phone calls to make, and then headed to our gate to catch our final flight - which was miraculously on time even though there was a blizzard going on in Des Moines! We gave the kids a snack, Jock got a sandwich for us all to share, and then he got some french fries, which we brought on the final flight home - LIFE SAVER!!!! E&J love french fries, and it kept them occupied for over half the flight! I had some really cute photos of them on the airplanes, but my camera told me that my memory card needed reformatting when we got home. :(

When we arrived in Des Moines, we were congratulated by some of the others on our flight, who realized what was going on - and also by a few other passengers in the terminal. We stopped off in the restroom, before heading downstairs to meet Kaylen and a small blizzard-braving crowd of family, friends, and media. It was so good to see familiar faces and to be back (almost) home. While we visited with people, friends of ours grabbed our checked bags from the baggage claim, someone pulled up our van to the doors, installed the car seats that'd been hastily just set in the back seat, and brought in our winter coats. When it was time for us to go, it was interesting seeing E&J's reactions to the winter weather gear and to the blizzard. Elijah's was caught on camera by one of the news crews. I was carrying Josephine to the car, holding her head down on my shoulder, but she wondered what was going on and turned towards the snow blowing in her face. She quickly turned back towards me with a wierd, "What is that?!?" look on her face. :)

After a treacherous drive from the airport, we finally arrived back home late Monday night, January 25th. Well, it really wasn't all that late (around 7 pm), but it seemed late. After little sleep over the previous week, anything after dusk felt like it was 2am! Elijah & Josephine fell asleep in the van on the way home, and they were completely out - they didn't even wake up when we unbuckled them and carried them inside. So we peeled off their winter coats and plopped them down on the living room floor. Friends from our church brought us dinner - very welcome after living on airport food for the previous three days - and being gone for a week, with no food in the fridge. They also stocked us up on bananas and milk - awesome!!!

After supper we got Kaylen to bed and then got E&J settled in bed with their warm PJs. At about 10 pm, were about ready to collapse (actually I think Jock already had), when Kaylen was up again. She'd puked all over herself and her bed! I think it was all nerves, but at any rate, we had to get her cleaned up and clean bedding before we could get ourselves to bed. Luckily she was fine, but we couldn't send her to school on Tuesday. That was probably good though, because it gave us all time to settle in at home together, and to really start to be a 5-member family.