Traveling home

Analina's family met the three of us at the airport, donning us with lei's, necklaces, flower crowns and jewelry. We hung with them for awhile and we then said our pleasant goodbye's as we were herded into a "waiting area" for about 45 minutes and then we walked the tarmac to the plane and noticed the family was waiting by the fence to watch our departure! We blew kisses and waved all the way up the stairs to the plane. Analina was just so excited to get on that plane for her very first plane ride out of her country. Analina hurriedly took the window seat, situated her belongings and turned to look at her family still waiting at the fence and whispered Marshallese to her family and continued to wave.

As we taxi'd to the runway, Analina closed her eyes and fell asleep. Her first big plane ride and she slept through the lift-off and the next 4 hours until I woke her for our landing. No major excitement from her there either. I think she was too tired to notice anything. On our flights from Honolulu and Tokyo, she was a big hit with everyone around her! She did fantastic and laughed and slept and watched tv and acted as if she's done this a thousand times before!

She had many firsts during our trip - escalators, elevators, moving walkways, Japanese and so much more we probably simply take for granted. She just took it all in like and acted like she belonged.

Janette, our generous and big-hearted friend, brought Christina and William to the airport to meet their new sister! How wonderful it was for us to see our two older children! What a wonderful moment to have the Brinegar family of 5 together!

Our family friend, Ro and her children, Rebecca and Jarrel stopped over to welcome Analina. They brought her a stuffed doll as well as a baby doll that talks and sings and has a bottle. What a hit that was with Analina! She slept with them!

The kids all slept together in the family room and all was quiet throughout the night. How lucky we are to have each other.