Mama woke up with an acute case of Yao Ming’s Revenge but she was a trooper. After all, she had arranged for a 3-hour power shopper trip with a personal shopping guide. It was a Sophie’s Choice experience but she decided to keep her shopping date (vomiting and intestinal sickness included). Despite her physical condition, she was able to purchase 16 pairs of shoes and 25 outfits for Lola (supposedly at $2 each), hit the pearl market to have a custom necklace made for some momentous occasion in Lola’s life, and buy the big brother shirts in Chinese for the boys. She also found farmer’s painting, stacking dolls (a new obsession), some jacket-boa combo for her mom, and some odd Buddha statue – all in 3 hours.

After that ordeal, we left for the U.S. Consulate for Lola’s visa to enter our great country. Along with 150 other parent-child combos, we took an oath to always love and care for her for the rest of her life. No cameras allowed, though. BOOOO!

From there, we went straight to the airport (Erin still “revenging” the entire way). At 9:00 pm we left China on a 13-hour plane ride (2 hours shorter than the last trans-Pacific flight) to Los Angeles.

We spent the night in Los Angeles...

...and headed back to Texas on Saturday. Given the 14-hour time difference, Friday lasted about 7 weeks.

During our layover in Houston, our Welcoming Committee of family and friends met us with shouts and cheers...

We were even surprised by Erin’s dad who flew in from Kentucky, and her brother, Neil, and his wife who drove in from New Orleans.

Since our plane was late arriving into Houston (Leaving Los Angeles a lady refused to sit next to a passenger with a parrot in a cage AND refused to change seats so we had to return to the terminal. Can you believe that?!!), we only had 15 minutes to visit but it was so much fun. We thought that the crowd would overwhelm Lola but she got out of her stroller, hugged one of her new cousins, and blew kisses to everyone else. She knows how to keep her fans happy.

At 8:00 pm, we landed in Corpus Christi and vowed to never board another airplane again. We were met at the airport by Mimi, Erin’s mom, and Walker and Murphy. Walker exclaimed, “LOLA!! Is it you? You are finally here. You are the best sister ever. I think I love you already!” Murphy kissed her and just grinned saying, “I cannot believe she is finally here.”

As we got in the car to (finally) go home, Walker said, “I love her so much that I think my heart just got bigger.” That sums it up for the rest of us.