Last Day in China (Day 18) - Well, they're off on the long journey home! Their flight was scheduled to depart China at 9:00 pm Saturday night (8:00 pm Saturday morning in Texas) so they've been in the air almost an hour, however I have not been able to confirm that the flight left on time. I spoke to Tara and Dirk around noon their time and they had not had the best night and were not looking forward to the long flight home. Hope seemed to have been very restless and cried at lot all night - could she have sensed a very big change in her little life? and both of the girls have some congestion, especially Faith. They've got cough syrup, antibiotics, and benedryl with them but it seems to be very difficult to get any medicine down either of the girls. Say lots of prayers that their trip will go smoothly and safely and that they will all finally be home very soon.

They will arrive in Los Angeles around 6:00 PM Saturday night (seems crazy to think they will arrive almost 3 hours before they leave :) and will then have to be processed though customs and immigration where the girls Visas will be stamped and they will be official US Citizens. They will be spending the night in LA and will leave there around noon Sunday to fly into DFW and then the last leg to Lubbock. I (Mimi) will be joining them at DFW and will hopefully be of some help getting them and their stuff from one terminal to the next (and hopefully get a peek at those new grandbabies). They are SO ready to be home. Jet lag will definitely be an issue as Tara and Dirk have been living 13 hours ahead of us for the past three weeks and the girls have never known anything else - night is day and day is night, should be interesting for a few days.

Thanks to everyone who has been following this long, somewhat hard but very rewarding journey to Hope and Faith. I (Mimi) will definitely continue to post to this blog for the next week, including the rest of the pictures from China and some from their homecoming and life in the Lindsey family. I am hopeful that Tara and Dirk will want to continue to post at least periodically to the blog to keep everyone informed about how the twins are doing and how they are growing and adjusting to their new lives. Tara and Dirk have tried to keep up with the many messages everyone has left and they are looking forward to being home and being able to spend some time reading and rereading everything. Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated more than you will ever know and are what has gotten them (and all of us) through this very long and sometimes painful process. Good things come to those who wait and I think the wait has been well worth what we've all received. Two new little lights are shining bright in the Lindsey family and three bright stars are shining bright in heaven.