KDyson

March 2, 2005

How proud we are to be the happy parents of a very new American Citizen; after a long time coming this day is so sweet and emotionally magnificent. We are here in Los Angeles waiting out a five hour layover, finished with Customs (what chaos), Immigration, Agriculture, etc. and now trying to relax before our overnight flight from LAX to Atlanta and then home tomorrow morning following a short hop to Florence.

We left Guangzhou tonight at nine and arrived here in LA safe and sound after a bit of a bumpy thirteen hour flight at five thirty (you'll have to use your noggin to figure that timing out). After a couple of hours processing paperwork and clearing the authorities we ate some dinner and are trying to unwind and not crash. Kirby did remarkable on the flight and is a real trooper when it comes to air travel (and I mean long air travel) but we didn't get much sleep; so now where trying to let her run around and expend as much energy as possible.

I'm sorry this post is so late but there was not an Internet connection at the airport in Guangzhou and we just got to the point here in the LA Airport that I could find the time to pound something out. I am not able to send any pictures tonight because the connection is dial-up here and pictures will take to long to upload. So, I will get some posted on tomorrow's update.

I must say the trip out from Guangzhou was really heart wrenching for Temple and me; knowing that Kirby was leaving the place of her birth sounds a bit sappy but really was a little emotional; even though we feel strongly that this is God's plan for her and us, we are still very aware that China is where she comes from and as much as we might want to ignore it there is a birth mother somewhere in China grieving over the loss of a Child. Pray tonight for that mother; pray that some how God will provide her peace. As you can probably imagine, leaving China was sad; but we are so thankful to back in the good old United States.

It was nice to have a drink with ice in it for the first time in two weeks; and to brush your teeth using the water in the faucet and not bottled water or boiled water; and to be able to communicate, boy do we take that for granted. I have traveled abroad before but there's something about China that's different when it comes to communication, it was a bit more difficult for us than the usual problems. You can't just talk louder or add an "a" or "o" to everything in China; those of you who have been know what its like. It will be nice not to be starred at twenty four hours a day seven days a week as many Chinese, at least in the rural provinces, rarely see westerners; let alone westerners with a Chinese baby. They have a hard time understanding why someone would travel all the way around the world and go to so much trouble to take home a culturally insignificant child; hard to believe but true.

So we are so thankful to be back in the states and tomorrow morning we will be so glad to be home. We will see many of you very soon and again I have to say that your emails and these posts have been so much fun for us. You have just been a wonderful part of our trip, Thank you.

Love in Christ,

Temple, Joel, and Kirby

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