Saturday, July 5, 2008

Our long trip home was grueling but safe and uneventful. It’s tough being on planes and in airports for almost 24 hours with a toddler who has a mind of his own! Philip did as well as could be expected, having several meltdowns on the 12-hour flight from Tokyo to Detroit; but other than that, he was a real trooper.

We were so glad to touch down in Indianapolis! We cried tears of joy that we finally had Philip home after all of the years of waiting! We were greeted by a crowd of dear family and friends at the airport. What a homecoming! Ted was finally able to meet his brother and loved him at first sight. We think Philip must have felt the same because he is very attached to Ted and always wants to be around him. Ted said to us that Philip will be his best friend for the rest of his life! How wonderful!

Philip is adjusting to his new family and home. He seems to feel comfortable here and is very pleased with his family, home, toys, and dogs. Our bigger dog, Soccer, has become an especially close friend, but Philip still walks wide circles around our other dog Disney. Philip is bonding with Kevin, Ted, and me fairly easily. He does have meltdowns at least once during each day though. Sometimes I think it is just being three, and sometimes I feel it is all of the stress, grief, and upheaval in his life during the past two weeks.

We are trying out having Philip sleep on his own tonight. Kevin or I have been sleeping with him to help him feel comfortable, but he is not an easy sleeper. We often wake up during the night with his knees or feet in our back or his hand swinging at our heads! He is soundly asleep and unaware of his actions. Who could know that a three-year-old could be so dangerous!! We feel we have enough bruises for now. It’s time to let him have his entire bed to himself.

So far he is sleeping soundly. We will see how it goes in the wee hours of the morning when he likes to awaken (3 or 4 A.M.). Philip still has his days and nights mixed up, and we are feeling very sleep deprived, so we all take naps during the day when Philip does! Those three-hour naps are great! I could get into the habit easily.

The journey to our young son and brother has been an incredible experience for Kevin, Ted and me - a true test of God’s faithfulness when He sets a plan before you and urges you to follow. At all times when we would despair, something uplifting would happen, and then we would wonder why we had ever doubted. God has been faithful in leading us to Philip. He peppered our way with dear family and friends, and even people we have just met and hardly know who supported and cheered us on and shared in this journey with us. We want to thank you all for the part you played in bringing Philip home – from our beloved older son, Ted, who never wavered in his support for this journey, our dear family and friends who loved us no matter what, and the new friends we have found along the way. Our agency, FTIA, and all of the staff there from the USA and China were a blessing. They helped make straight our way to our son. Our travel group will forever be in our hearts for the heartaches and joys we all shared in China, and Joe and Jennifer, the owners of this website will always have our hearts as well. They made it possible for Philip’s journey to come to our family and friends, and in turn we gained support each day from everyone’s communications. That communication helped ease the stress of the trip and homesickness we often felt.

We want to thank Philip’s birthparents, a land halfway around the world, and the people at the Philip Hayden Foundation for giving us such a precious little boy to have and to hold forever. We also want to thank Philip for being the sweet, loving, determined, strong, and wonderful little boy he is. We will treasure our sons the rest of our lives and thank God for giving us such beautiful blessings. Our God is the God of impossibilities. “For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:37.

Here’s to the end of the beginning of the journey to Philip and the beginning of the journey to the rest of his life!