Lord, I'm Coming Home

OK, you blogaholics, here is an update. The trip was very, very long and hard. We were lucky enough to get bulkhead seats and the extra leg room was much appreciated. Unfortunately, you cannot put the armrests up in those seats, so it was impossible to lay Timothy down when he slept. He was held for about 24 hours straight. I also had a very hard time emotionally. I hope this comes out in a way that those who have never adopted can understand. Adoption is a very emotion-laden process. There is a big time investment getting tons of paperwork done. There is the money aspect, which brings out emotions in and of itself. Then there is the pure emotion of falling in love with the child and the hopes and dreams that go with any new child coming to a family. In China, as you are getting to know the child, whole new feelings come out. God, in His infinite wisdom and supreme planning, builds into every human the ability to love each new child without losing love for the others. There is an endless capacity. All of this is to say that I had somewhat of a meltdown on the airplane when I had invested all of my emotions into Timothy, only for him to only want to be with Liz. He would cry and hold his arms out for her if I held him and he was awake. It was very difficult for me. On top of that, Liz wasn't feeling tip-top and needed to rest. Timothy cried for two hours straight until he finally fell asleep. I had big plans that the melatonin was going to put him out. HAH! It ramped him up and made things worse. Somehow, we all survived and made it to Chicago. Once there, we had to go through Immigration with all of his sealed paperwork. That went pretty quickly. Then it was off to baggage claim to get our luggage in order to take it through Customs. I didn't know the baggage hold was so big! Of course one of my bags was the very last to come off the carousel. Our connecting flight was already boarding by this time and we still had to do Customs, re-check the bags and transfer terminals. We were told to take Timothy's paperwork to the Immigration officer in Customs and have a seat. It was nice to be able to tell each family good-bye as they got finished. On Thursday, September 14, 2006 at 4:25 p.m., Timothy Chang Sell became a U.S. citizen. Woo Hoo!!! We managed to get booked on a new flight getting in two hours later than originally planned. We contacted all those who were going to come to the airport and got them to slow down a bit. The flight from Chicago to Dulles was wonderful. I had a nice lady sitting next to me and we talked the entire way while Timothy slept again. We left the plane and were met at the baggage claim by one proud Daddy and three very happy children. With them were two grandmothers and one grandfather. Cameras were just flashing away and Mr. Personality suddenly got really shy. It didn't take long for him to be running around with his siblings while we waited for our bags. Let me say, it is really good to be home!