We are HOME!!!

Emma and I left Hanoi Friday at 7:15 pm and landed in Ho Chi Minh City around 10:00pm where we spent the night at the Rex Hotel one more time. Left Ho Chi Minh City for Hong Kong at 6:15 am Saturday. With only 3 hours of sleep, Emma was a trooper so early in the morning. United was kind enough to upgrade the first leg of our trip to business class. We had a two hour lay over in Hong Kong before heading to San Francisco. While waiting we met a Vietnamese family who lived in Denver and mapped out a plan for them to help me with the language barrier during the long flight. All of my concerns vanished when I met this wonderful family, but unfortunately they were flying standby and were bumped from my flight.

Entering the plane I asked for a Vietnamese speaking flight attendant but there were none, so they requested any passengers fluent in Vietnamese and English to please come forward. Passenger in row 40D ended up saving the day. Having been adopted himself he was more than happy to help and changed seats to sit with us for the 12 hour flight. Since Emma was done with the flight after 4 hours it was extremely helpful to have someone explain to her what was going on. Flight ended up being fine and really overwith faster than I thought it would be. In San Francisco my brother and his family were waiting to see us. We got to spend about 30 minutes with them before my next flight left for Denver.

From Denver we ran from gate 29 to 92 to get the commuter plane to Tulsa and arrived home at 6:20 Saturday evening.

This detail of my flight is for anyone traveling in the future. United has a great discount for adopting parents just keep in mind: 1) They do not fly out of Hanoi so you will have to pick up your visa and jump on a plane back to Ho Chi Minh City where you will have to spend the night to catch a 6:10am flight. 2) In total you will make 5 plane changes and one very short overnight...... It was hard but Emma made it through with flying colors.

I am so thankful to be home and Emma is holding up well. Very tired, but day one was a success. Trying hard to find food she likes. Found Cup of Noodles and she ate the whole thing for lunch. I know how hard and confusing this time must be in her little life and am now going to do my best to make this transition as smooth as possible. She spent quality time with her Mimi today and met several of my friends. Tomorrow I am leaving her with Mimi to check in at work for half a day..time to get life back in order. Oh, and I am not leaving the state of Oklahoma until our Hawaii vacation one year from now. There is no place like home - period. I understand this cannot feel like home to Emma, but it is her home now and she has alot of support in Oklahoma to make this her home as quickly as possible.