Arriving at the Airport

As our plane started to descend into Jacksonville, I got a few butterflies and could have probably run a marathon if I needed to just to get to see my babies all together.  It took FOR-EVER to actually land and taxi to our stop.  I mean, literally as the wheels touched down - Cate leaned over, put her head in my lap and started snoring.  WHAT????  Couldn't she feel my anticipation??

I crossed my fingers and woke her up gently - even though I wanted to shake her and say WE ARE GOING TO HUG AND KISS THE FACES OFF OF SKYLAR AND WYATT HOW CAN YOU SLEEP RIGHT NOW!!?!??   Instead I opted to whisper "we are going to meet Skylar and Wyatt! Are you so excited?"  She immediately perked up (thank you, Jesus, for not letting her have an epic meltdown about being woken up after being awake for 28 plus hours?!) and started saying "Wy-it?" and "Jie Jie?" (Chinese for older sister).

When we walked around the corner and saw all the people and all the signs with her name - it was all I could do not to hit the floor, curl into a fetal position and bawl my face off.  I felt so many emotions - thankfulness for our support system and the fact that we finally - literally - actually - physically made it home, love for those two little blonde babies that threw their signs and ran towards us, and this overwhelming feeling of gratitude that the God of the universe is writing such a beautiful story of redemption for Cate and has chosen to use our family.  What an honor it is to be her people.

Wyatt and Skylar were up so far past their bedtime that Wyatt kept asking "Mom, can you take me home and let me go to bed and just talk to these people later on the phone?" HA!  When we finally rolled out of the airport and buckled three kiddos into the backseat of our car - I looked back and thought - oh boy - this is for REAL!  I had braced myself for a really really long night of the kids up all night playing but after we got home we gave Cate a bath - the kids lotioned her from head to toe and all three of them were asleep around midnight.  Nate and I were not far behind and our first night at home was much more restful that I anticipated.  I really think I should be thankful for the plane ride from you-know-where because it got us all on U.S.A. time almost completely by the end of the first night.

Thank you to my sweet friend, Lydia (Lydia Corbett Photography) who took pictures of our reunion!! Nate's friend Mike (I Am Jax Photo) also surprised us and snapped a bunch of beautiful shots of our homecoming.  Thank you both for these photos we will treasure forever!!