Here's the Story of How Adjoa Came Home and How I Was Able to Keep it a Surprise

{Ok, ok, so I'm cheating and I"m pre-dating this post. It's actually several days later, as any of you who have checked this blog for the full story lately will know. I'm taking poetic license}.

We got a phone call on Tuesday. A local friend from the Ghana adoption community knew of 2 families traveling in Ghana. She had contacted them through one of her friends, and they had agreed to bring Adjoa home with them. When we got the call, they already knew about the plans and Kingsley was on his way to take Adjoa to them.

She's shy at first, so I thought it would be very important for her to spend a little time with them before loading up on the plane.

The best part is that both families live close to us, so all we had to do was drive to our airport and meet them!

{Well, that, and get the house ready and go buy all the things you put off purchasing until you actually have a child: underwear, socks, shoes, toothbrush, etc.} Tuesday night and Wednesday were VERY busy for us. Which was good. I would have driven myself crazy if I had any extra time.

Robert checked on the status of the plane as she travelled and updated me frequently with text messages.

We knew the flight was arriving a little early, so we headed to the airport about an hour before it was due in. I asked the check-in desk if we could have a gate pass. I explained that our little girl was coming home and they were more than eager to help out.

Robert and I went through security and waited at the gate the attendant had given us. . . .like in the good old days. {Remember them???}

There were no boards, etc. notifying us of the arrival, and no one showed up to open up the gate before hand. The reader boards were shut off and the place was deserted. {Did I mention that it was nearly 11pm? That's why it was a ghost town}

Here we are being silly {well, Robert is being silly}, waiting at the terminal for Adjoa's plane to land.

A little more serious in our happiness.

I was anxious and getting nervous, so I called Lois.

Passengers started coming out of one gate near us. I joked with Lois that if I wasn't on the phone with her, I would be accosting weary travelers asking them where they had come from. Those people should be grateful to her.

Suddenly I saw Adjoa in the arms of . . . well, a stranger whose name turns out to be Missy. I blabbered something to Lois and then hung up on her.

I rushed over to my baby, who was dozing off, and took her out of Missy's arms. Her husband laughed and said, "You must be Jessica." I was so eager and happy to see her I believe I lost all my manners.

I only had eyes for Adjoa.

And ears.

And arms.

And kisses. Lots and lots of kisses.

{Joe, Missy, the Birds, if you are reading this right now, I'm so sorry if I ignored you or you felt brushed off in any way!}

I gushed over Adjoa and babbled to our gracious escorts as we walked back to baggage claim. As Adjoa had no baggage to claim we headed home.

She took to the car seat well. Famously well, actually. I was surprised, but I think her exhaustion helped.

She panicked a little when she saw Cita the Shih-tzu, but she got over that quickly enough. She giggled as she explored the house for a few minutes.

Eden the Weimaraner extracted a high-pitched scream and a few tears. Adjoa practically climbed up to my shoulders trying to escape The Terror. We've been telling Eden her entire life that she is just to eager and too friendly sometimes.

I got her dressed for bed and she slept soundly until about 6am the next morning.

And that's when most of you found out she was here. . . .