Tuesday, June 17, 2008

115 East Sheridan Court, Waukegan, IL. Home. We made it!

The past four days have been a blur: one 37 hour “day”; a 5 hour weather related flight delay @ the Beijing Airport (3 and ½ sitting in the plane at the gate); family and friends anxiously waiting for us to exit US Customs via A doors…we exit via B doors; tears and hugs and kisses; 7-cheese lasagna, potato and egg strata, taco casserole in the refrigerator; Father’s Day spent at an acute care center(Daddy’s turn for antibiotics); Ellie adjusting to a strange and unfamiliar environment…her bedroom and bathroom, a high-chair and dining room, two cats named Kirby and Max.

During our lay-over in Beijing on Friday, June 13, all of us tired, anxious and hungry, we found a quiet corner table at the On the Border Bistro. The name of the place got me thinking about Taco’s El Norte, our favorite Mexican restaurant in Waukegan; a chicken quesadilla and margarita would be a great pre-flight lunch. As with so much of international travel, translation and execution of translation is everything; the On the Border Bistro is an Italian Panini sandwich place.

Our orders in, Ellie munched on a few Cheerio’s, Caroline braved the House Cabernet, and I nursed a Tsing Tao (a popular Chinese beer). Watching Ellie attempt to get the Cheerio’s balled up in her little fist to her mouth, I said to Caroline, “We made it through the day’s tough sledding.” As she acknowledged my comment and as I was formulating my next statement, I was suddenly overcome with a wave of emotion and through the tears came, “In a few hours, we’ll take our daughter home.”

And so we have. My heart was filled with indescribable joy as I watched Caroline, tears trickling down her cheeks, Ellie clinging to her side; push her luggage cart through the B doors of US Customs at the International Terminal of O’Hare airport looking for our homecoming entourage. Watching our family and friends meet Ellie for the first time, it suddenly hit me that this was a homecoming for only two of us. For one, a 10 month old, formerly named Bo Tong, going through the B doors was a life changing moment the likes of which she may never experience again. For Elizabeth (Ellie) Bo Satre, Friday, June 13 was much like the lyrics to one of my favorite U2 songs...Sort of A Homecoming…
Tonight we'll build a bridge
Across the sea and land
See the sky, the burning rain
She will die and live again

Tonight

And your heart beats so slow
Through the rain and fallen snow
Across the fields of mourning
Light's in the distance
Oh don't sorrow, no don't weep
For tonight, at last
I am coming home
I am coming home

Across sea and land she has come…
Her abandonment has died…
She will grow in newness of life…

So tonight, dear Ellie…
Oh don’t sorrow, no don’t weep…
For at last...
Forever and always you are home.

(Author’s Note: On June 4, 2005, I began journaling to Ellie. My goal was to journal something everyday from June 4, 2005 to “Gotcha Day.” As with much of my goal setting, I tend to overreach! My last entry was January 17, 2006; the day we received our official log-in date of January 6, 2006. To help chronicle our fears and anxieties, our hopes and dreams, from time to time I will post snippets from that journal that I’ll call Notes to Little One.)

Notes to Little One: June 4, 2005
Greetings little one! Today began a new path in life’s journey for us. Today at 9:00 a.m. Caroline and I turned in our application for adoption through Children’s Hope International. We are so very excited! And scared! Scared not of you, but scared of ourselves and the thought that soon there will be three of us. Just the same, this is a life changing day for us.

It was kind of funny. After we got home from the Children’s Hope International informational meeting, we both went to work…by the way; we’re both pastors at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Once in my study, I fired up the computer to check my email. There I found an email from Sunny. Sunny is a woman for helped us by reproductions of antique Chinese furniture. Sunny had emailed to inform us that the four pieces of furniture we’d ordered were finished and would soon be shipping from Beijing. Yes! We’ve already been to your country of origin! We traveled in your homeland from March 28, 2005 to April 13, 2005. It was awesome! Anyway, I thought it was serendipitous that on the day we turned in our adoption application, we got an email from Sunny in Beijing. More to come. Love, Brad