Ecuador Day 45: OUR LAST!!

YAHOO YAY HURRAY HALLELUJAH WAHOO YIPPEE SKIPPY HOT DANG WOOOO HOO WE ARE HOME!!!

We are a bit excited. Can you tell? I don't know what I will do without daily blog updates, but one thing I can promise you is that I won't be updating the blog daily any more. Back to real life and I can already feel that I'm going to be busy, busy.

As for yesterday, our last day in Ecuador, it was pretty standard, but a great day nonetheless. We met with MJB at the McDonalds in the morning so she could get a recap of how Guayaquil went and to say goodbye. We also finally got to meet the Young family, the other family that was there adopting at the same time! They adopted a sibling group of 3 and already had 3 children, so they have been busy busy with bonding and meeting the needs of their kids. Our meeting was brief, but it was wonderful to get to know them in person a bit. Amy and I have chatted quite a bit on FB and commiserated about the misery that is the Ecuador adoption process.

That afternoon, the kids took solid naps while I cleaned and packed. We then went out to dinner because we had zero food in the house (gave it all away) and came home in time to meet with the missionaries one last time. We walked to the park down the road and had a good visit with them. They taught Mishell about the Spirit and how to feel it. They also asked her questions about her experience at the baptism we went to a few weeks ago. I was very impressed with her answers. She is maturing spiritually and showing a lot of desire to learn and grow.

I just thought this was a cute picture of her!

Why oh why is this crooked? Too lazy to fix..anyway, we had been on the search for the best hot chocolate in Quito when my mom was there and who knew it would be found at good ol' McDonalds? It was really very tasty.

While I was talking to Amy, I turned around and Jace was getting his face painted. He told her he wanted Spiderman, and Spiderman is what he got!

Amy Young and me

I can't believe we never got a picture of MJB this whole time! Here she is with the kids.

Two of the wonderful missionaries who helped us while we were in Quito. They are such wonderful young men. Elder Bahr from Colorado and Elder Gallardo from Argentina.

After our visit with them, we headed home to get ready for Ramiro to come pick us up. We made it to the airport about 9:45 pm for our 11:30 pm flights (WHY OH WHY DO THEY DO THIS?! THAT'S NOT A GOOD TIME FOR ANYONE, FRIENDS!). I was slightly worried for a minute when they took Mishell's passport and disappeared for a good while. They told me it was to check the validity of her visa. Well they did finally return it and said it was fine, but then we got to the counter to check in and the girl there went through the whole thing with us again. She called some number (in the US it appeared as she began to speak English) and wanted to verify that our visa was in fact valid. Oh boy. This took at least an extra 15 more minutes. I was getting super impatient because how many people need to verify that the visa is legit?! Nevermind that huge sealed packet that I was carrying from the Consulate that looked pretty darn official. Anyway. We finally got that figured out and were fine getting on the plane.

That flight took us to Atlanta where we landed at 4:30 Quito time. I slept some on the flight, but not comfortably. The kids did okay. I told them we were going to try to sleep the whole way. Jace went to sleep and I fell asleep for a bit, only to wake up to find Mishell sipping on a drink and watching a show. Hey, newfound freedom to do what she wants in the middle of the night? Yes, please.

We had no problems getting through customs in Atlanta. The process with the heavy duty sealed package was MUCH easier than last time. They took it from me in the regular customs line this time, whereas last time, I had to sit in a scary prison looking room for hours waiting to be called. Good thing it was fast this time, because we did not have hours. I didn't look at how close these flights were, but our next flight to LAX was boarding by the time we got there. We ran to grab some bagels on the way and that was all for meals today until we arrived home.

The second flight was uneventful as well. When we landed in LA, I was sure we had some time to get some food, but I looked at my boarding pass to see that we had only a 1/2 hour until our flight left. And we had to go to new terminal. Oops. So we ran to that flight and were close to the last ones on. We were pretty hungry, but it was a short flight, so we did okay. That is until the end when we were getting ready to land and Mishell got a little airsick. Little might be an understatement. She barfed up a whole lot. Thank goodness for those lovely barfy bags! We landed and she felt a bit better. Devin met us there and shortly after Che' and Jovi came. Angela and Kenna were on their way to see us too, but they were picking up the girls from school and Flor had had a blowout, which delayed them. So instead we met them for lunch at Kneaders in Bountiful. We thought soup would be good for Mishell and I was craving a salad. I know, a salad of all things. They just don't have many good fresh salads or vegetables in Quito.

We spent the afternoon getting unpacked and getting the house in order. Nothing too exciting. Now we have a list a mile long starting tomorrow for getting Mishell settled into her new life. Wish us luck!

Thank you all for following along on our adoption journey, round 2. As always, you have all been such a wonderful support to us and we are forever grateful. XOXOX!

Landing in Utah today!! YAY HOME!

These two have become such good buddies. I hope that bond continues.