Coming Home and Happy Birthday

Yep, so I'm finally updating my blog! I'm just warning you, it's gonna be a LONG blog! I have a few days to catch up on! Thursday night, before we left India, we thought we would go down to the courtyard in the hotel and eat dinner outside. They have nice live music and the food is pretty good. Well, while we were waiting for the restaraunt to open, we couldn't help but notice (along with the rest of the block) that an Indian wedding was just about to take place in our hotel. Indian weddings are undeniably unique and different from anything I've ever seen. They are far more colorful and extravigant than American weddings. Indian weddings go on for days, and we just happened to be there for the final night of the celebration. The groom was outside of the hotel and made his entrance with a very loud marching band and an entourage of dancing relatives! Dustin and I tried to stand back and capture it all on video. Well, a few of the relatives introduced themselves and not only did they welcome us to watch the presecion, they INSISTED that we attend the wedding! They were so welcoming! Dustin and I moved to the lobby of the hotel to watch the groom approach and as the relatives piled in, several placed flowery leis around Mia's neck and on her toy's neck. They leis are usually reserved for the mother of the groom only. It was such a special moment - I'll never forget it. We went to the wedding banquet for about 20 minutes, but found out that the actual ceremony wouldn't start for another 3 hours. It was already 7:30 and we hadn't eaten dinner yet (or packed for the trip home), so we thanked them for their generosity and headed upstairs. This might sound silly, but I had prayed that we would somehow be able to witness an Indian wedding while in India. It's such an unbelievable way to experience the rich culture. I feel so blessed that it actually happened! I'll post a picture of some of the ladies at the wedding (notice the wedding henna on their hands).

Well, we left our hotel at 5:00 am the next morning. The airport experience coming into Kolkata was a breeze. Getting out with and Indian child was very scary. We were passed from government official to government official - all of them speaking broken English. At one point, they took our passport out of the terminal. We had been briefed on most things that would happen, but this wasn't one of them. It was very scary. We were getting very close to our boarding time. Finally, the immigration official returned with our passports and told us that it should've taken them an hour to complete our paperwork - thus we would have missed our flight. I'm pretty sure he was bluffing and just wanted to give us the run-around and get a tip for "saving the day". Well, that didn't happend! We just took our passports and bolted to the boarding line. Wow.

The flights back were great. We had a 10 hour flight from Kolkata to London, a 9 hour flight from London to Chicago and a 2 hour flight from Chicago to OKC. I'm pleased to say that Mia was a complete angel. There were children her age on the same flights that screamed until they couldn't scream anymore. BUT MIA, well she's special! People on each flight came up and talked to her and tried to hold her. They even commented on how well she was doing. I have to say that the flight back home was the only thing I was worried about. I know we had many people praying for us. Thank you from Dustin and I and thank you from all of the passengers on British Air!

Sorry this is so long...

We touched down in OKC at around 11:25 pm. We walked up the long quiet terminal, turned the corner and saw the beaming faces of family and friends! We were so glad to be home! A small group of family and dear friends greated us at the top of the escalator. I tried to have the grandmas and grandpas hold her, but she would have none of it (kinda felt good to me)! She just clings to Dustin and I. What we didn't know was that a huge group was waiting at the bottom of the escalator. Family, friends, co-workers and church members were there to welcome Mia home with balloons, signs and party hats (we arrived 20 minutes before her 1st birthday). Nadra, Charlie and Ian were able come in town for our arrival. For those that don't know, they adopted Ian who was Mia's little buddy at the facility in India. When they saw each other at the airport - they knew each other, I know they did. Mia was a little dazed, but Ian's eyes lit up and I know he remembered her. I'm so thankful that they were there.

At the stroke of midnight, someone led the crowd in singing Happy Birthday. I had managed to keep my composure up until that point. The tears started flowing!

The next night, we had a small gathering of family over to watch Mia dig into a tiny little cake. Who would have thought that watching a kid make such a mess would be so much fun!

Thank you so much to those who prayed for us and helped welcome Mia home. We will never forget such a special night.

I'm attaching a few photos. I'm attaching a picture from the Indian wedding, a few pictures from Mia's homecoming and a few from her 1st birthday party.