Finally Home

Hello Everyone,

We're finally home! We have truly found out that we are very blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on earth, the good ol' USA. Clean water, clean air, and the freedoms we enjoy are no longer something that we will ever take for granted.


Lily Grace became a US citizen at 12:47 pm CDT on August 2nd in Detroit, MI when the US Customs official stamped her immigration card and passport!!! Then we arrived at 4:30 pm at Huntsville International Airport and were welcomed by an awesome group of family and friends. Even though Lily Grace, our little miracle, doesn't know it yet, she is already very much loved in her new community. That was evident by the number of friends and well-wishers at the airport. Thanks to all of you who were able to come and welcome Lily Grace home. That really meant alot to all of us. We were very tired and so maybe didn't seem coherent or didn't get to talk to everyone, but please forgive us for that and know that we love and missed every one of our family and friends here in the good ol USA!









Thanks to everyone also for the flowers and decorations and the GOOD AMERICAN FOOD!!!! We have already had three meals brought to us. Now we know why Lily Grace ate so much her first few days with us!

Lily Grace has already met her four big sisters, Emily, Amanda, Kristin, and Kaitlyn. She laughed and cut up with all of them and we hope that is a good sign of how she will adapt to her new family and surroundings.

Austin is really glad to be home and so is Little Cav - Austin's cat! Little Cav had to spend two weeks at the Vet while we were away (I think they fed him too much!). Austin will start school tomorrow and is anxious to tell everyone about his trip and his new little sister.

Connie and I are just trying to figure out where we are, what time it is, what day of the week it is, whether we need to sleep or eat, etc... Lily Grace does alot of exploring around the house, but doesn't stray too far from one of us. She seems to take to all of us now about equally, but I think Moma still holds the trump card!

Hopefully, as the days and weeks go by, Lily Grace will become more and more able to receive visitors and meet her new family and friends. We are all looking forward to taking her to her first high school football game Sept 2 when Austin and Connie's high school, the East Limestone Indians, takes on the mighty Athens Golden Eagles (Jerry's high school) for the first time ever! Austin will be on the sidelines helping the East Limestone coaches as usual, but his heart will be in the stands with Lily Grace. At first, I said I would spend some time on both sidelines, but with Connie and Lily Grace sitting on the East side, that's where I'll be also. No matter who wins that night, we will celebrate and Lily Grace will get a taste of good ol' small town America.

Thanks for all your comments and emails. It was really good to hear from so many people while we were in China. We're very glad that we kept a blog and would recommend it to any who travel down this same journey. It really helps you to know so many back home are praying for you and waiting for you to come home.

There are still more details that we'd like to share, particularly Chapter 3 which will describe the awesome job that Lifeline Children's Services, and particularly Karla, did after we decided to adopt Lily Grace. Karla has to be the most patient person we've ever met for the way she continues to support her clients when things get slow and frustrating. She is simply an awesome lady for accomplishing the work that she is doing. If anyone reading this is trying to find an agency to help them, you cannot go wrong by selecting Lifeline. They work with domestic and international adoptions in at least three different countries and their in-country personnel and contacts are nothing short of excellent.

After a few more posts, we'll post a little less frequently, but often enough to let everyone know how Lily Grace is doing and how Austin is doing as a big brother. Austin enjoyed posting so much that he'll probably continue more frequently than we will! Surprise Surprise.

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace
Green, Party of Four

PS. Yes, that's our bed! Her's is upstairs. Oh well.