The Homecoming

Hi Everyone!

Well this is finally the last email of our journey.

After 22 hours of travelling we finally arrived home to Lara on Monday afternoon.
We had requested a baby bassinet for the big overnight flight, and when we
collected our tickets were assured we had one. However, on boarding we
found that although we had a bulkhead seat, there was no bassinet. Luckily
the stewardess was able to organise a row of four seats for Alex and I, so that
Jade could sleep in the two seats between us. It worked out really well and
she slept all night. The padded suit she is wearing lets her know this is
bedtime, and we continue to use it here, so hopefully we don't get any hot
nights soon. Our flight home from Shanghai was delayed a bit and we just
missed our connecting flight to Melbourne from Sydney - due mainly to one
of our bags being one of the last off the plane. The next flight was already full,
but they managed to get us onto the one after. Sigh. Some quick phone
calls let those waiting know that we would be late.

I was frustrated they did not just transfer the luggage for us between Qantas
flights, but we had to go through customs in Sydney with the bags. My
nightmare of the hassle with 5 suitcases, 5 carry ons, baby and coats etc on
and off planes came true. What a pain. The boys were tired and cranky (as
were we) and we were rushing them to try and make our flight. Not a fun
experience for any of us.

Finally we were on our final flight of this mammoth journey. Jade was on my
lap and fell asleep before we took off on the domestic route, and she slept
through the entire trip and even the rough landing. She woke only when
people started moving about the cabin. As far as she was concerned, people
got on the plane, sat down and then turned around and got off the plane.

It was lovely to be greeted at the airport by Sue and James and one very
excited bouncing Jacqui, with flowers and balloon. It was very special and it
took away the stress of trying to fit us all (and the luggage) into the Prado,
as the Stents were able to take a couple of cases, and Joshua too, who was
eager to beat us home and see Moni.

James also offered to collect my Sister Melissa, Rob and their 2 kids from
Avalon Airport for us, as they were flying in to meet their niece and cousin
and flying out the next day.

Meanwhile, Kim along with some help from Jackie and Jan had decorated our
place with welcome home banners, balloons, cooked up a storm and
restocked our fridge. What an amazing thing to do for us. For the drive home,
I was on cloud 9 - so excited!! Jade looked tiny in her big car seat (still
reversed), and she played happily the whole trip home, as we were all singing
and clapping hands. She is not fazed at all by a racket - just joins in with her
happy squeals.

There were a few tears on our arrival (not from Jade) - very emotional. So
many people have joined in this journey with us, it was lovely for them to see
her arrive home. Sue, James, Jacqui, Kim, Patrick, Jonathan, Benjamin,
Nicholas, William, Jackson, Princess Jazmin ("do I get to meet my sister
Jade today?"), Melissa, Rob, Kelsie and Andrew, gave us all a lovely
welcome home and some lovely gifts for Jade too. We all had something to
eat and drink and then the visitors took their leave, to give us some quiet time
settling Jade into her new environment. It was lovely Melissa and her family
could make it over, as it might be a long time between visits.

The boys all had Tuesday off School, and Josh tried to catch up on some of
his school work. Jade had gone to bed about 11.30pm (8.30pm China Time)
and woke at 9am (6am China time). I was hanging around in her room for her
to wake up, so I could reassure her and show her around her room. She woke
with a lovely smile. We visited the Dr, and he thinks it is best to continue with
the antibiotics she is on until the end of the week. I will give the other
medicines a rest though. We had a lovely day on Tuesday with her Uncle,
Aunty and cousins, (sweet Taylor spent so much time with his young cousins,
playing games and taking them fishing), and they then cooked us a lovely
BBQ and salads, so that we could both focus on just the baby and unpacking
the suitcases. It made our first day home very special. We collected Rusty
the Jack Russell from the kennels, and she is really not sure about him -
prefers to be in your arms when he is around.

Then it was time for the drop off at the airport, before settling Jade again for a
full nights sleep. Today she woke at 7am, when Alex was up with the boys
getting them ready for school, and he put her in bed with me, where we both
slept until 9am. She has been a bit fidgety this morning, and I actually think
she is missing the boys who have been so much a part of her life over the
last few weeks. I can't wait to see her face light up when they get home from
school. Alex has been de-spidering (how quickly they take over!!) with the
vacuum and Jade in a sling. So cute.

Well I plan to enjoy the next 1.5 weeks of leave with Jade, before it is back to
work for me, although things will never really be the same again.

She is a happy contented little treasure who truly does light up our world. It
has been a huge wait of over 4 years, and a real pain to get here, but it is oh
so worth every single moment and so much more. I would like to thanks
those that have been there on this journey before us, that have supported us
through the tough times. I hope we can do the same with families on their
own journeys in the future.

Thanks so much (again) for being part of this experience with us.

Cheers,

Cindy...

Last Day in China

Hi Everyone - apologies for the delay, but I tried to send this from the
Hotel and then the Airport with no luck.

This is Sunday's email:

Well today is our last in China. We catch the bus for the airport at 4pm,
and arrive in Melbourne at 1.30pm tomorrow after transferring in Sydney.

Jade continues to be a delight, but we now remember what sleepless nights
are all about, as Jade has had two trips to hospital and has been diagnosed
with bronchitis. Finally we were able to get antibiotics after they took
blood to check her white blood count. Interesting mix of medications we
have been given after the two visits. We have drops for up her nose, adult
cough mixture, fever medication, 2 kids cough mixtures, anti diarrhoea
medication, and powdered sachets of antibiotics – I need to mix 1/3 of a
sachet of granules with water, quite tricky. Anyway she takes the medicine
like a trouper now, and after 3 doses seems to be improving. I am looking
forward to taking her to my doctor though. The Chinese Dr asked me if
Jade had a rash, and I just mentioned the spots over her that seemed to be
old scars. Again maybe scabies scars, I queried, but no-one seems to
know. The Dr. asked me how long she has had them, and I said she has
had them since the first time I saw her last week, but really I have no idea.
I can’t believe how little information I have on her past health.

She has fared better than her batchmate Jessica, who has been visiting
hospital for drip medication for pneumonia. Poor little mite. But she too is
improving and will be visiting her own Dr in Australia very soon.

We enjoyed our visit to the Zhou Zhang Water Town – China’s answer
to Venice, and where Arthur had his first date with Susan. We had a
lovely day there and the shopping was amazing. The boys helped Gerard
with Zheng Fei who is 4 and who was missing his new Mama who had to
return to Melbourne early. He thought our boys were wonderful and he
hung off their arms all day.

We were looked after wonderfully by the ANZ on Friday. We got to
have a good look at the new office in Shanghai, and Daniel organised a
lovely Shanghaiese lunch with Fang, her husband Mark, James and Frank,
and Daniel even had some lovely gifts for all of us which will be treasured.
We were very spoilt. After lunch Mark then took the boys shopping,
giving Alex and I some hotel time with Jade.

There is a photo of Jade from the 26^th Feb, when she tried to pull off my
red thread and jade bracelet, and I decided to give it to her to play with.
The bracelet was an adoption gift early on our journey from Sue Stent,
and has been on my wrist for almost 4 years without ever being removed.
There is a saying in China that two people destined to be together are
connected by a red thread, and it will never break. Jade and I have now
been drawn together, and I no longer feel the need to wear it. She
seemed very excited by it.

Saturday was Alex’s 45^th Birthday. The Hotel Manager rang to say that
they would be sending up a cake from the kitchen, which was a lovely
surprise for him when he answered the door. I had organised some bird
and flower water colour books for him, sadly all in Mandarin, but he can
see the pictures. I had given the boys some money to get him something
else, but they failed to find anything suitable. So we will have to make it up
to him when home. As I had a bit of an upset tummy, I sent him out with
the boys to enjoy themselves, and they caught the fast train, 431km, to the
airport and back. This was the exact time when Jade’s temp went through
the roof and I had to manage a hospital trip with her in a sling on my front,
my backpack on my back, our coats and medical documents in my hand,
and my upset tummy. While waiting I had to prepare a bottle and feeding
at the hospital, and then get back to the hotel when I failed to take their
card with their address in Mandarin. Argh. I do not know how single
parents can do it.

Later in the afternoon we met up with Fang and her family again, and we
got to go to the Peoples Park where the boys had bumper car and pirate
ship rides with Fang’s daughter Ming. We thought the gardens themselves
were busy but still relaxing. It was funny to see the number of groups of
middle aged+ folks sitting around advertising their marriageable-aged
children for matchmaking purposes. We then went on to the Yu Yuan
gardens with them to finish off our purchases, where Fang assisted us with
the bargaining, and we had a lovely meal of dumplings before Fang took us
back to our hotel. The Bund Hotel, not on the Bund. Tricky.

This morning at breakfast we met Australia’s newest twin Chinese girls
and their parents from Darwin, who have just started their last week of
their journey before flying home. Today Alex and the boys have headed
back to the Yu Yuan gardens, to collect some orders from last night, then
it will be time to pack these 2 bomb sites that are our rooms into 5
suitcases. We are hoping we will not have to organise another China Post
Parcel, but we will see. Luckily we have 10kg allowance for Jade, so we
will be able to be over our 20kg each limit a little.

We are looking forward to seeing those of you that are meeting us at the
airport, and those that are gathering at our place to welcome Jade home.
I know that you will understand if we seem a little tired and Jaded (no pun
intended), but here’s hoping we, and the rest of the passengers, get a good
nights sleep on the plane. Although so sad at leaving, I am really looking
forward to being home again, and getting into our own normal daily routine
with our little one.

I hope to catch up with everyone sometime real soon, and you can meet
our little treasure in person.

Cheers,
Cindy…

Sandi's lovely t-shirts!!

Jade and Yasmin - travel buddies