Back in the U.S.A.

Hello everyone. We arrived back in Detroit a half hour earlier than anticipated. I had heard many U.S. Customs horror stories, but thankfully Detroit Customs was amazing. The lines for the Foreign Immigrations was actually shorter than the Citizens lines. Very shocking, from what I have been told. The Customs Officers in China and in the U.S. (Detroit) exceeded my expectations in every way possibly (must be all of those prayers).
My airport experience in Guangzhou the day before was a frightening experience. I will explain all of that this evening. It is quite a funny, yet an amazing experience of how the Chinese people pulled together to help Jiliang and I: something that never would have happened in The States.
I wanted to check in on Friday will all of you. Sorry to keep you in such suspense. I apologize. My parents arrived before Scott and T.J. arrived at the airport. Because my flight arrived 30 minutes early (For the record, I have NEVER had a flight arrive EARLY), and Customs was faster than I anticipated, Scott wasn't there yet. Thankfully, my parents were waiting. It allowed me to take a load off with my daughter, our 4 bags of luggage, a stroller, a tote bag and a heavy laptop bag. Whew! T.J. and Scott arrived shortly after. It was a nice homecoming. It took T.J. and Jiliang time to warm up to each other, but that is pretty typical of both of my kids.
We arrived home and had lunch. I familiarized my children with one another and then they started to play. T.J. wanted to go outside and ride his four-wheeler. Jiliang watched excitedly from the back window, so I dressed her in a snowsuit so she could join Baba and T.J. As I put the coat on her, she sadly said, "zàijiàn", and started to cry. It means "Goodbye" in Mandarin. I told her that we were not leaving, but going outside to play. It warmed my heart to know that she did not want to leave her new home. She did so much moving around from hotel to hotel those last few days.
On our last night in China, we stayed at a hotel in the Pudong area of Shanghai, near the Shanghai (Pudong) airport. She had literally had it with traveling and moving from plane to cab, hotel to hotel, to shuttle to airport. The 14 hour flight from Shanghai to Detroit was smooth and comfortable. Delta airlines was very accomodating with traveling with a young child. They gave us a 3 seat area to ourselves and worked to make our travels on and off the plane smooth. I thank God for that! Even with all of the accomodations and Jiliang's natural tendency to sleep on moving vehicles or planes, Jiliang refused to sleep on that flight, until the last hour. It made for a very long, frustrating flight for Mama. The flight meals made me really look forward to every meal, snack, and drink, because it occupied her. Otherwise, I was unable to pass the time with the in-flight movies, like the flight to China.
Back to our homecoming, our kids had a wonderful first night together. They had such a wonderful time playing inside and outside together. Jiliang loved her Dora bike. T.J. loved his China souveniers. I went to bed with Jiliang at 6 p.m. on Friday.
Saturday was spent entertaining Jiliang and T.J. Papa and Grandma Koeppe stopped by to see Jiliang. It took her about 2 hours for her to share a smile and laughter with them, but they found the wait very worthwhile.
We are adjusting to having two kids in the house. It just amazes me when I look at them playing (and bickering) together. I feel like I have known her all of her life, but it is like getting an instant 3 year old. I have two kids now! They play and laugh and occupy each other. As I took photos of them riding bikes together yesterday, I could believe my eyes.
As a sidenote: Before I was married to Scott, I used to joke around and say that my favorite age for a child was age three. I used to kid around that I wanted to give birth to a three year old, because I loved that age, and skip right past the diapers and bottles and jump right into the fun part. Of course, that was all in good humor. I do feel blessed to bring home a little girl that it old enough to play and interact with my little T.J. Did I mention that she is fully potty-trained?
I do grieve the missed years, but I can never get those back. I am thankful my beautiful children and love the fact that they can interact so well. Oh yes, she can drive my son batty when she messes up his room, eats all of his cherry tomatoes, or stands in front of the television during Phineas and Ferb; but they also make each other smile, laugh and carry on a straight conversation in two totally different languages.
Jiliang was horrified at the big black lab when she first arrived. Licking her face brought a new meaning to her wildest fears. She must have thought he was a monster about to eat her up. Now, as I type, she gives up her Chinese gelatin treat with him on the living room floor. Bear has also sampled many Chinese rice cookies this morning. She really enjoys our cat, Oliver, but he freaks her out a little when he jumps up in bed with her during the night.
Life is good in the Koeppe household!!! Scott is totally in love with this new addition. She is becoming Daddy's Little Girl. We are so happy that she is finally home.
Thanks for all of your continued prayers! They certainly paid off. I will write more tonight. God Bless you all on this day.
With Love,
Jill, Scott, T.J. and Jiliang Koeppe