They are home

Karen here! Janet has asked me to post to the blog as her computer has been down since arriving home. I think that when they were trying to get her internet access up and running from China, they may have changed some of the email properties. Regardless, she will post again when able. In the meantime, she asked me to tell you all the following:

The flight home was uneventful. Lolah and Janet both managed to catch 3-4 hours of sleep, while Darryn was a little less fortunate only shutting his eyes for about an hour.

Their passage through Customs and Immigration took about 75 minutes. Darryn and Janet were overjoyed to see the boys as they stepped through the baggage doors. Poor Lolah was overwhelmed and began to sob uncontrollably. On top of her exhaustion, I think her perception of "brothers" was a bit tainted and inaccurate, so she was not looking forward to meeting them. Thank goodness for our dear friend Hannah, who began reassuring her in Mandarin. After a few minutes, the sobbing was reduced to crying. Several minutes later, Hannah discovered that she liked chocolate ice cream and so the boys were off on a mission with Hannah to find an ice cream cone in the Toronto airport.

They returned to find Lolah in a much more relaxed state and the ice cream ended up being the ice breaker (pardon the pun). Within minutes, Lolah was doing cheers with her cone to Simon and Leevi's cones. It became a family party right there in the airport!

The drive home was again uneventful and they all crawled into bed at 12:30am. The sleep thing has been going well - Janet is probably closest to being on Canada time, with Darryn and Lolah lagging behind slightly.

The relationship between Lolah and her brothers has been very positive. She and Simon are getting along famously and enjoying playing together. This morning Simon said, "I really like having a sister". Leevi has taken his role as a big brother very seriously and is always making sure that she has what she needs. Jordan is in love with her and enjoys her VERY sweet and snuggly disposition.

All in all, things are going better than expected. Janet said to say thanks to all for their prayers and well wishes! She will post when able (hopefully by end of the day Monday.