Our Trip Back and Jet Lag

So we are now back in Hong Kong after being in the US for two and a half weeks.  We had a wonderful time with family and friends, and although it was a whirlwind of a trip, we are so glad we did it.  There were times it felt we had never left..that this Hong Kong adventure was just a dream. But then you realize how much has happened since you have been gone...life does go on.

Andy and I both felt that we could have used a few more days to see people and get some things done, but time was up and the kids needed to go back to school-three weeks off was enough! We also found out we would not be coming back to our house in the summer, so with the huge help of my mom and some friends, we were able to finish that chapter, as well.  We packed up our five kiddos, a ridiculous amount of luggage, and traveled the two and a half hours to Newark, NJ to catch our afternoon flight.  Unfortunately when we got there we ran into a little bump in the road when we had to redistribute some items in our boxes...yes, checking in took about an hour! But our kids were relatively patient and nobody had told Sarah that it had been four hours since she ate.  After getting through that fun, and then security with relative ease, we ran to our gate with about 20 minutes to boarding.  Andy got us some soft pretzels and we ate some snacks before getting on the plane.  Because we had one business seat, we boarded with the first round.  Andy blazed the trail through all the anxious travelers, as the rest of us followed like we were following the Piper.  You should have heard the comments being said as I strolled Sarah through the masses.  One man actually said, "you better keep that binky in your mouth." It was all I could do not to turn back to him and let him know that it wasn't Sarah he should be worried about:)

Once we were on the plane and found our seats, I could breathe a bit better.  We had the same configuration as on the way over...I had a back seat in the business section and the rest of my family were in coach (economy plus).  The trip went pretty well...Sarah ate and slept much better on this trip, and the lady in front of Abby only had to ask her once to stop kicking her seat (although I heard she wasn't very nice about it-but she was too young to have kids). Everyone got some sleep, and we were happy to have landed 16 hours after we took off.  We collected all our luggage, found our shuttle, and were home pretty smoothly.  Marina welcomed us with open arms (she missed us) and we were relieved to have made it back in one piece. Then the fun begins....

We all were pretty awake, but went to bed around midnight. Abby woke up around 3pm with the others to follow around 3:30-including Sarah.  After I urged the others to go back to sleep, they finally did...but not Sarah, who thought the day had just began.  I finally got her back to sleep around 5:30am.  We have just done three consecutive nights with this routine.  Although two nights ago the older four got about 12 hours of sleep, last night they had a party going on from 3:30am to the morning.  Sarah has been consistent about waking from 3ish-5ish, which makes things extra challenging because at least the others can entertain themselves.  Not to mention, I have noticed that she and I are more dehydrated than usual, which makes for a challenging time nursing.

So tomorrow is our first regular day...kids start school again, Andy goes back to work, and I figure out how to live in such a drastically different place.  If I'm honest, it has been a bit harder in some respects than I imagined, leaving home after being reminded of what we have left.  But Emma reminded me that this transition was so much easier than the first go around in September...we are all together coming back as a family, our house is ready to be lived in with no hotel stay, we have Marina, and we know a lot more than we did then. So we will be thankful for the safety and relative ease of coming back that the Lord has given us...and we will continue to pray for more sleep!!!!