We made it home!!

Wow.. i think we were in airplanes for 1.5 days...can I tell you how many times our bags were searched and passports were shown to get out of China??? Tooooooo many. Brielle was a very good girl. She wasn't the wormy screecher I was dreading she would be. She actually slept as much time as she was awake. We flew from Gz to Beijing and had a 4 hour layover..I now know why so much time is needed between flights. Tip to those who plan to leave very soon.... go with the flow and don't let things bother you ! We then had 13+ hours in the air to NJ and another layover which ended up being 2.5 hours longer than we anticipated. NO baby food or liquid is allowed through so we could only carry formula powder... so Ihad to find fuit Sat night at the airport to feed Brie. Anyway ... we survived!

We had an awesome greeting after midnight at the Charleston airport by a big crowd of family and friends! We didn't get home until 1:30 am and talked until 3 am with Kris and Whitney. Brie fell asleep and so did we and we all slept until 12:30PM TODAY! It was wonderful. A comfy bed! Another tip to nexters... bring a pillow or at least pillow cases to have something from home to help you sleep. Pillows are terrible at White Swan and beds are rock hard no exaggeration!

I'll post pics tomorrow as Olivia is spending the night tonight and she keeps begging me to go to bed!

Love to all,
L, R & B

Hello one last time from China........

Well we have had one beautiful last day in Guangzhou. First, Brie slept well last night as did Rob. I was up all night (anxious about this long journey ahead of us with Screech :) but...we had a wonderful breakfast and time at the pool with our friends. Then we went one last time to Lucy's for burgahs and fries and back to the hotel to pack whilst little one snoozed. At 2:30pm we had to meet the gang in the lobby to pack on a huge bus with a couple of other adoption groups to go to the American Consulate to swear in and get the babies passports. It was intersting to hear where everyone was from and the different occupations of the families. Many were first time adoptees many for their second or third child and two families were adopting their 5th child!! wow is all i can say. My hats off to them. There were many teachers, a pediatrician, surgeon, aerospace engineer (our group) even a rock star! :) Each morning when we went to breakfast the place was filled with families from all over with their children.. We've talked to many people this week, very interesting. We met three couples from RI! All over the USA and abroad.

After the swearing in, we received all of Brielle's documents and passport and when we touch the ground in NJ, she will be a US citizen!! She is now offically Brielle Tian Meade.

When we returned we freshened up a bit and walked down the river to a great Italien restaurant. We sat and enjoyed a fabulous last meal together, drank wine and laughed alot. Outside of the restaurant, Kerry and I had the girls in their strollers and this guy and his girlfriend walked by and asked where we were from. He continued to chat with us for some time. What a hoot! He is from Las Vegas and told us he was also here to get his China Doll. She was hanging on his arm - many years younger than him. He told us all about the website he met her through and how he's been to China 5 times this year to try out girls to be his wife! 79 years old. I posted a pic. She did not understand one word he was telling us. It sort of capped the evening!

We have washed Brie and Daddy put her down for nighty noodles. She's spawled out on my side of the bed! :)

I'm going to post a few pics and we are going to finish packing and jump on the brickpile. Literally all the beds we've slept in from Beijing, Nanchang and here are so stinking hard it hurts your bones. Can't wait to get in our bed!!

Thanks for being with us on the wonderful journey to our little girl. From your sweet comments, you've felt my joy & blood, sweat and tears as there have been many peaks and valleys over these two weeks. I would do it all again. China has been fascinating and heart breaking all at the same time. And we've made some terrific forever family friends in the process.

We love you all ~ we'v e missed you..& we've even missed work if you can believe that.
We're on our way home in a few short hours!!

G'nite from Gz,

The Meades
L, R & B