Home +1

Well . . . we made it!  We have been home for a day and it feels SO good. I will pick up where the last post left off.  

Thursday (the 8th) we had the morning and early afternoon to pack and make sure everything was ready for our travel extravaganza home.  Unfortunately on Wednesday Randy's back decided it was DONE.  Zeke didn't want to be held by Mama so Papa fielded all of the squirmies at the US Consulate appointment.  26 pounds of wiggle did him in so on Thursday and Friday Randy was down for the count and Zeke only had Mama to hold him.  Zeke was not pleased that Papa couldn't pick him up.  So hard to understand for a little guy!  But, he did end up taking his nap with Papa, which made things a little bit better.


After everything was packed we were killing time in the room until our 4:00 checkout deadline.  I had purchased a USA hat for Zeke prior to the trip and we decided it was time to see if he would even wear it (and if it would fit)!  We were also told that Dum Dum suckers were a great way to ease little ears when the airplane ascended and descended.  Since the child will put NOTHING in his mouth that he isn't absolutely certain he knows he likes I wasn't sure if the Dum Dum idea would work.  We decided to try both at once, the hat and the Dum Dum.  The hat was a little small but doable and we about fell over when he put the sucker on his tongue and then popped it in his mouth!  The crazy thing was, he dropped the grape sucker he had on the carpet (fuzzy, sticky mess) so I got him another one (a different color) and he refused to even try it.  Oh bother . . . Mama should have found another grape Dum Dum!

Then we were off!  We met Helen in the lobby and she handed us our envelope of documents from the US Consulate (to be given to Immigration after clearing Customs at Sea-Tac) and put us in a van to Hong Kong.  It was a horrific 4 hour ride.  Zeke was a MESS!  Crying, throwing things, not wanting to stay in his seat . . . it was chaos and all Randy and I could think was what in the world is he going to be like on a plane?  We arrived at the airport hotel around 8:30pm and crashed for the night.  Friday morning came for us at 6:00am so we could get checked in for our 9:40am flight to Tokyo, Japan.  Zeke had done really well that morning so we were hoping it wasn't the calm before the storm.  Our seating assignments put Zeke and I together and Randy one row back and to the side.  We boarded and prayed!

We were blessed!  Zeke spent almost the entire four hour flight playing with the headphone jack.  Seriously!  Plug it in, take it out, plug it in, take it out, drop the headphones on the floor, have Mama pick them up.  Over and over and over again.  He didn't make a peep other than singing.  We were astounded and overjoyed!  It also turns out he does not have ear issues on airplanes so the Dum Dums were not needed.  After a two hour layover in Tokyo we boarded the 9 hour flight home.  Again, Zeke was a trooper!  He played with the headphone jack (in, out, in, out) watched bits and pieces of cartoons on the seat back screen without sound (too busy playing with the headphones to put them on) and then slept for several hours.  An interesting side note:  even though Zeke was exposed to TV in the orphanage (the song DVD's) he really shows very little interest in watching.  YAY!

When we arrived in Seattle at 11:00am on Friday (yes, we lived Friday twice because of the time difference) we cleared customs and then had to wait for the Immigration officials to go through the package of paperwork we had brought from the US Consulate in Guangzhou.  Once that was finished we were done and free to go.  Zeke is now a US citizen!!  AND they let us keep his Chinese passport . . . very cool!  We picked up our bags, put them on a new carousel and then went up to the main baggage claim where Grandma and Grandpa Youngquist, Uncle Brian, and cousin Danika were anxiously waiting for us.    

Grandma and Grandpa came armed with balloons and a squishy prickle ball and Uncle Brian produced a new Little People car (perfect!) and, of course, a baseball.  Zeke was taking everyone in and loving the new toys.  Mama and Papa were exhausted (no sleep on either flight) and Zeke was raring to go. 

Here we come!

Balloons from Grandam and Grandpa.

Hanging out with Papa while
everyone was chatting. 

A new car and a baseball from
Uncle Brian! (Mama was tired, she
needed to sit down!)

Look at me!  A US citizen!

Not too sure about the whole
car seat thing . . . 

 Once we had our bags and had finished visiting we headed home via the chiropractor's office!  When we walked in the door at home we were unsure how Zeke would react to his new surroundings.  I was holding him and as we walked into the kitchen I looked at him and said, "Zeke, this is your new home.  You get to live here with Mama and Papa."  He looked at me and smiled and I would have bet money he understood exactly what I meant.  I put him down expecting him to shadow us like he did the first few days in the hotel but my expectations couldn't have been more wrong.  Off he went, exploring the downstairs and eventually his bedroom (he can't traverse the stairs by himself yet).  We were happily amazed.  He found some toys he like, we took them downstairs, and he was happy as a clam.

Bedtime . . . where would Zeke end up sleeping?  The pack-and-play we had set up in our room or the crib in his room?  We told him he had a new bed he was going to sleep in and I put him in the crib.  He did not want to lay down, started crying, and immediately put his arms up to get out.  I pulled him out and told him again that this was his room and his bed.  We pointed out his name on the wall, the toys he had been playing with, etc.  Then Randy grabbed a stuffed bear and put the bear to bed.  Zeke thought this was hilarious!  He wanted down next to the bear and then put himself to bed.  That was that!  Zeke did wake up around 1:30 crying (we think he woke up disoriented about where he was) so I picked him up, rocked him for a bit, and put him back down.  Then he tried the fake cry to get Randy or I to come back but we waited him out and the fake cry turned to singing and then he was out.  Successful first night!

Today was all about playing with new toys and hanging out with Mama and Papa.  We are so happy to have Zeke home!!

RRZ

P.S.  I would like to extend a HUGE "Thank You" to my brother Brian for taking care of all of our blog posts while we were in China.  Not only was Facebook blocked but the Blogger site was as well.  Every post you read while we were gone was a group effort.  I wrote the posts, Randy edited the pictures, and each day everything was sent to Brian via email and he put it together on the blog site for us.  I am looking forward to going back and seeing how it all came together!