What an arrival!!

Wow.  Just wow!!  Those are the only words to say when I think about our arrival home last night.  We arrived in Birmingham last night, January 5, at 10 pm.  We knew that our family would be there and we expected a few friends who told us that they were coming.  As we walked up the terminal we were completely overwhelmed by what we saw.  We could hear clapping and screaming, and as we got closer we saw over 100 of our friends and family ready to welcome our newest family members home.  Unbelievable.  I'm not going to name individuals because I will certainly forget someone, but to those of you who were there, we are so thankful to you for making our night so special.  Those of you who wanted to come but could not, we are thankful for your prayers and support too.  Ming Yu, who acted quite shy throughout our trip, started beaming the closer we got to the reception.  I had not seen her smile the way she smiled last night.  I was afraid that she would be overwhelmed but it was exactly the opposite.  As she was met by her MASS of balloons and flowers given to her by John and Kendra (I know I said no names), she stood there like a princess getting picture after picture.  It was exactly what Lauren and I wanted and exactly what she deserved.  She normally will not have her picture taken.  She normally doesn't like hugs, but last night was different.  She welcomed each as she was welcomed by so many friends and family.  She stood and talked to her sisters, cousins, and new friends just like they didn't speak different languages.  God is amazing.  Davidson stayed close to Mom, and he did great through the endless hugs and kisses.  It is hard to believe how well he did throughout 25 hours of travel.  He had to be held almost every part of the trip, and of course Lauren did that holding 95% of the time (that may be a low estimate).  She is completely worn out, but so thankful to hold him in her arms that she didn't want to put him down. 

As we arrived home Lauren and I were so thankful for what happened next.  We weren't sure how Ming Yu would react, but we were fairly certain that we wouldn't see what we saw.  Maggie started introducing Ming Yu to her new home, and they began talking and laughing like they had been sisters forever.  They looked at Ming Yu's picture albums and then our family albums.  They ate noodles and cupcakes.  They stayed up until after 3 am, but we were not about to stop what was happening.  Ming Yu talked more to Maggie last night than she did to us in 3 weeks.  The smiles and laughs just kept coming.  All Lauren and I could do was shed tears of joy.  We had been praying that God would prepare Ming Yu's heart for her family.  We never doubted that he would do just that.  We were just waiting for his timing.  As always, he timed it perfectly. 

We begin the next phase of our adoption journey now.  I am still amazed at what God has done in the past 10 months.  I am more thankful to Him than words can express.  I can not wait to see what He does next...