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But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD-Joshua 24:15

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Homeward Bound

1 bus ride
2 flights totaling 17 hours
1 car ride 2.5 hours

... and we are officially home. What a journey! We flew from Guangzhou to Beijing on Friday morning to catch a 6:25pm flight direct to Dulles Airport. The flight went very well as Lily slept over 8 hours of the 14 hours we were on the plane. The people sitting around us were very pleased as she was the only infant or toddler we saw on the flight.

After arriving at Dulles we boarded the transport vehicle and headed to customs and immigration. It was only a little bit painful as we presented all 7 passports and Lily's special immigration envelope. Once that was complete we were able to leave. As we came out we saw most of Heather's family and our niece, Julia and her husband, Eric. What a welcome sight after two weeks in China!

Lily was great in the car. We made it home at 12:20am... we had a big surprise waiting for us. Our friends had put balloons on our lamppost. When we opened the door we were welcomed with flowers, more balloons, a cake, cards, books for Lily, and some delicious food, so we didn't have to rush out on Saturday morning. Thanks so much. It was perfect. What an awesome surprise! In addition, Julia and Eric made a Welcome Home sign and hung it with a note. It was a great welcome home.

Here are a few pictures of the adventure

Airport in Beijing. Now that is a lot of bags

With quite a bit of time until our flight to Dulles, Lily and Ryan had time to share a drink

Lily traded for Ryan's drink

Lily liked the food on the airplane at least a little bit

We were blessed with some extra seats so Lily spread out for a long snooze. The Passengers seated around us were quite pleased as it was touch and go for a while with a lot of crying before she dozed off

Stickers were a big hit as well

Welcome Home!

Our welcome home balloons

3 comments:

  1. Welcome home! Looking forward to getting together...once you are over jet lag!

    Bracco Gang

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  2. Oh my goodness! I am crying while reading this! Welcome home Painter Family of 7!! Praise be to God!

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  3. This is all so sweet, but the "Welcome Home Lily Painter" sign is what brought tears to my eyes! Looking forward to seeing all of you and meeting Lily when we get back to Richmond!

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