Our flight home went well. Lilly was so good, especially for 30 hours of travelling. The hardest part came in Denver. Our flight from Germany left late, so we arrived late in Denver. There were 2 other international flights that arrived just before us. So we had a little less than 2 hours to make it through customs, re-check our baggage, and make our flight to SLC. The line for customs was very long, but moved at a steady rate. Because Lilly had an immigrant visa, we were escorted to an area to wait for someone to open our packet and stamp her visa. There were about a dozen people already waiting and only 1 man there to process them all. After a few minutes another man came in. I walked up and asked if there was any chance I would make my flight in 50 minutes. The first man said, "Probably not." The new worker asked for Lilly's name and grabbed her packet and took us next. An answer to my prayer.
We went and picked up our luggage and then had to go through and show our passports again. We rechecked our luggage. The man at the United Airlines counter said to take the train to the B concourse, but didn't say what gate. We hurried to the security line and went through. We ran for the train and made it to the B concourse. I saw a departure board and saw that our flight was leaving from B-94. There were 95 gates in the B concourse and ours had to be 94!!!! We ran so fast all the way there using the moving sidewalks to help with our speed. Lilly was great about it. We made it just as they were closing the doors.
When we arrived, Steve and the girls were waiting for us. Grandpa and Grandma Emett, Grandma Gene, my brother Glade (who works at the airport), my sister LaNell and her son Tyson were all there too. Lilly had fallen asleep on the plane, so she was a bit quiet until she saw Madison. Then they were the best of friends and didn't stop talking all the way home.
Steve and the girls had decorated the house with streamers and balloons and I think Lilly was amazed at our home and everything she saw. She went from room to room exploring for a while before we got everyone settled down for bed. She and Madison shared a bed that night. Lilly woke Madi up at 1:00 AM telling her she was hungry and wanted Wendy's food. We had stopped at Wendy's to grab dinner for Lilly and me before going home. (By the way, she didn't like chicken nuggets, just fries). So she got up and ate some cold french fries. I heard them up at 5:00 AM. I got up and told them they had to go back to bed. They did, but then were up again at 6:30 having a tea party.
All-in-all, she is adjusting fine, outside of going to the bathroom on the neighbor's lawn. We of course had a talk about that afterwards. She hasn't loved the food, but is willing to try everything. She had rice with spaghetti sauce and tuna fish for lunch today and ate that pretty well...sounds gross to me, but I guess it was more like home than a peanut butter sandwich.
I kept a daily journal while I was in Ghana, so I will go back through and list the highlights later when I have more time.
