We have been home for a while now, but getting home was so eventful, I wanted to write it all down! Plus, it is all part of Emma's coming home story and I want to remember it. :) The 15 hour flight from Hong Kong to Newark went amazingly well. All three girls did great. We were blessed to have an extra open seat by us, so we used it! Emma and Callie took some naps here and there, but Matt, Sydney and I didn't get any sleep! When we got to Newark, the captain came on and told us that although we were there, we couldn't land because the Newark airport was closed due to bad weather. He said the good news was that they had plenty of fuel, so they were going to circle around for a while to see if it would open again. After about a half an hour, we were able to land in between storms. We were thankful to be there, but our flight to Omaha was cancelled. Omaha must be a popular place to go, because everything for the next few days was booked. We couldn't get home for a couple days if we wanted to fly directly from Newark. So, they decided we should try to fly standby to Houston and get a flight from Houston to Omaha the next day. The flight was supposed to be full, but there were so many other flights cancelled that people missed their flights and we were able to get on. So, after our 15 hour flight, we got on another plane for 3 1/2 hours. I think we all slept some on that flight because we were so exhausted!
When we got to Houston, there was one flight still from Houston to Omaha at 9:00 pm. Matt actually had a seat on that flight because everything was so screwed up. So, we decided we might as well wait and see if we could all go on standby. Everyone was loading and it was looking pretty promising. There were 5 other single people flying standby. They were letting them on one by one. And then she called our family and said, "I am sorry family, but we would be short one seat, so it won't work to get you on." Really. Letting all those singles on seemed like a better idea. I wasn't so happy at that point.
So, we had to go find a shuttle to our hotel. It was funny because we were discussing whether we should find a shuttle or take a cab and then realized that we had no car seats, so we needed to take a shuttle. The car seats didn't matter so much in China!! We finally settled into our hotel at 11:00 and I was soooo ready for like 15 hours of sleep. Ha. 1:30 is when Emma woke up. I think she woke up because she was hearing the generators outside our windows and it was really dark in our room. Yes. The power was out in our hotel! They came on the loud speaker saying that it was out and they were working on it, but it wasn't any emergency. By then, Callie and Sydney were up too. Emma was just too loud and it felt like the middle of the afternoon to all of us. So, we just gave up and hung the rest of the night. At about 5:30, Matt took a cab to a Walmart. We only brought enough diapers, wipes, and formula to get home when we were supposed to. When he was gone, I kind of lost it. I was so tired, and it was getting hot in our room, and it was dark. It just seemed crazy! When Matt got back, the power turned on and we got ready and went downstairs for breakfast. At breakfast, we decided that we would all go back to the room and take a nap. We all did and it was a great 2 1/2 hour sleep!
When we were headed to the airport, I knew that Matt was on a 3:30 flight and the three girls and I were on a 5:40 flight. I was worried about that a little bit, but not too much because I was just sure that it would all work out and we would be able to fly home together. When we got to the airport, I realized that wasn't going to happen. Everything was overbooked. There was no chance in flying standby to fly together. We asked if Matt and I could switch tickets, so I could take the earlier flight with Emma and Matt could fly later with Sydney and Callie. They said we couldn't do that because if they tried to switch, Matt's seat would automatically be taken because it was overbooked. That is when I was really holding back the tears. All I could think of was Matt was going to leave and our flight would get cancelled and I would be stuck there by myself with the three girls.
But, I knew God was with me and I decided I needed to suck it up and be brave. I was really a mess inside, though! After Matt took off, I went to check on my flight and it was delayed an hour. I just knew that it was going to keep getting delayed and then get cancelled, but it didn't. Yay. When Sydney and I were walking around the airport, Emma and Callie slept most of the time, which was a blessing. Callie was asleep in the stroller, there was a backpack on the stroller, Emma was asleep in a front pack on me, I had a huge backpack on my back, and Sydney was carrying a backpack also. We were quite a sight. I got many of concerned looks. I even overheard someone say that they could see the stress on my face. When I got to our gate, I realized that Sydney and Callie and I were all seated all over the place. I went to the counter to see if they could change that. As she was looking things up, she said, "You have paper tickets, but Callie is the only one booked on the plane. You and Sydney are booked on a plane to Chicago and then to Omaha tomorrow!" Seriously. I know I was being prayed for and God was giving me lots of peace, because that didn't even really rattle me. I just thought it was absolutely ridiculous. She did fix it after about a half an hour and we were even all seated together.
We loaded the plane and I was soooo relieved! We were finally going to make it home! There was a guy on our plane that was making his way back to the front. He said his seat was blocked off and said it was out of order. The flight was full, so there wasn't any room for him. I was feeling sorry for him and there was much discussion and finally a lady came up to me and said, "You need to get off the plane. This man's seat is broken and he needs your seat." No kidding. That really happened. I was shocked. They really told a lady that was holding a baby with two other small children next to her to get off the plane for a business man. She said that I was flying standby, so I had to get off. I had a paper ticket! I wasn't flying standby! I didn't really know what to say. I felt like I could be that crazy woman in the news that just lost it with a flight attendant but I didn't have to argue very much because a really nice guy sitting in front of me volunteered to get off instead. He must have been an angel. I thanked him over and over. We did take off and we did make it to Omaha! Whew!
So, that was our long trip home from China. That was probably too many details. We are just thankful that we made it and that we had such a great trip. And we came home with a pretty awesome souvenir!!
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