We're baaaaaaaaack!

My goodness, how time flies!
I must apologize. I intended to post something much sooner than this but the jetlag was awful and there was no internet connection at the cottage and then I left my power cord at the cottage. Whew! Anyway, we are back and have fallen right back into step. :)

The flight home was brutal and great all at once. The beginning of the challenges was leaving Ben at the airport while we headed into our journey. When Sophie realized he really wasn't coming with us it was tears and sorrow. Thankfully she pulled it together once we made it through security and had headed up to the lounge for some snacks.
We ran around a bit and burned some energy before boarding. I had 5 carry-ons, the stroller and 2 kids. Here we go! 19 hours and counting...
I put on some Dora to entertain the kids while I put Coop's harness on his seat. I had one child on each side of me. The one thing I am so thankful to GE for is the business class seats. It's so nice to have the extra room and reclining seats and free drinks. ;)
The flight home almost mirrored our flight to Shanghai- snacks, movie, walking around, nap, snacks, Dora, nap, snacks, toys here and there. The kids actually slept a bit more on this flight, however, I slept less. I think I probably got about an hour total, broken up. It's hard to sleep when you're on duty with your babies. :)
The layover in Chicago was so intensely stressful. I had to get my kids, all 5 carry-ons (including the IPad- NOT leaving that behind this time!) and the stroller through immigration, get our 4 suitcases, go through customs with them, recheck the suitcases, get on the tram and get to the domestic terminal and then get through security again and then find our gate. All in less than 2 hours. And solely for all your prayers and the grace of God, we did it.
They lost our stroller and sent me on a goose chase (so I had to carry Cooper and 4 carry-ons while dragging a sobbing Sophie- she was tired). I finally got it but then the line for immigration was so long. But it went quickly and then we found our suitcases. With some help from a kind couple I got the suitcases, Sophie and the stroller through customs and then, hallelujah, the lady told me I could still make my flight, so I rechecked my bags and then there was an angel from Heaven waiting for me. My brother drove all the way from the Chicago suburbs, 40 minutes away, to see if there was anything he could do to help us make our connection. I wonder if he will ever know how much that meant and how seeing a friendly face helped me get through to the end when I thought I was losing it! He helped us get to the tram, to our correct terminal and off to security. So to my baby brother, Ben, thank you for loving us and helping us and taking care of us!!
We barely made the connection as we were originally sent to the wrong gate, but then to get off that plane in Grand Rapids was such a relief. I had made it.
We had a huge group waiting for us- my parents, Ben's parents, my brother-in-law and nephews, my best friend, Christy, and her husband and Soph's best friends, Ava and Gerrit. It brought tears to my eyes just seeing all their faces again! Sophie sprung to life at seeing her cousins and best friends and there was running and hugging and giggles all around. Even Cooper was looking at each face and smiling.

Since then there were about 10 days of brutal jet lag but lots of fun with friends and family in between to help buffer the pain. :) The first night was the worst. Cooper barely slept and then was up screaming at 5 am, so then Sophie and I were also up. When he was still screaming at 7 I decided we may as well head to Meijer and do some grocery shopping. He screamed throughout the store for the hour we were there and then I finally headed to the baby department and got him a pacifier. I seriously did. And I don't regret it bc it totally worked. My soul couldn't take anymore and I don't think his could either. Poor buddy. :( It's been the hardest on him, for sure, but that only means I'm not far behind bc he's my special boy and so much is so hard on him anyway.
Here's a bit of what we've been up to:

A few days after we got home we headed to the pool in our old neighborhood with some good friends.

It doesn't look it here but Cooper was really happy in the water!

After the pool we headed to Christy's house to hang out. So far, this house is where I have seen Cooper the most relaxed and comfortable. I guess it makes sense bc this house is where we spent the most time besides our old house. He's climbing all over the swing set while Soph (with Ava and Alanna) "lay out" in the sun. :)

 The next day we went to my sister's place bc Soph was wanting to hang out with her cousins. My sister and niece were in Washington DC so it was just Soph, Coop and the boys. Oh how fun trampolines are for my kids!!

That weekend we headed up to the VP cottage for the July 4th holiday. Our friends, the Oostings, were up there as well so it was going to be a fun few days with friends and family!
Cooper is getting more and more daring with everything. Here he is venturing out onto the dock.

Grandpa VP put up the trampoline so the kids were on cloud nine. :) Coop's favorite game is to lay flat on the trampoline and have sissy bounce him.

The view from the back deck out onto the lake.

A new toy- the inflatable raft has been a huge hit! Sophie has became fast friends with the 2 boys next door, Carson and Max, and has spent a lot of time with them up north already!

Here, the Oostings had come to play at the lake. "Uncle" Peter went swimming with all three 5-yr-olds (brave!).

This was hilarious. Peter and the three kids were all going to jump in off the raft at the same time.

Um, yeah, Sophie had other plans. Ha!

A hint of my poor Cooper's battle. I was trying to feed him lunch and he just couldn't stay awake anymore. I also have a great video of it but I can't figure out how to upload it.

Great Grandma Barrett and GGpa Dick came for a few days and brought gifts!

This is a vibrating, singing pig. Sophie loves it but Coop is still figuring it out.

Sophie's new butterfly chair from GGma. She loves it!

On July 3, we and the Oostings headed to Crystal Mountain, a local ski resort, to have an early 4th of July celebration. We got there at 7pm so Cooper stayed home with Grandma to go to bed at a good time. There were many booths with kids games, food, music, and more!
The kids made candy sticks. Clear tubes filled with colored powder sugar. Oh boy.

This was great- a spinning small piece of cardboard and then you drop paint in on it and then see what you made! Here are Christy and Ava having a go at it.

This was Sophie's creation.

Having a snack before the big chairlift ride!

Gerrit, Sophie and Ava showing their wins/creations.

Heading up the chair lift. Sophie loved it!

The Oostings behind us.

Our view going up the lift. Sophie said hi to every person that passed us going down. :)

At the top there was a sand box where the kids played and there was a band and a bar.

Christy and I at the top of the hill.

We were all missing Ben that night. It wasn't the same without him. Here's Peter pretending Ben was with us. :)

Gerrit and Sophie showing us their tongues after eating their sugar sticks they had made. Ugh.

Sophie snuggling up for the fireworks.

A shot of our firework fun.

The next morning we headed to Frankfort for the parade. It was a hot one so we were really happy to have some shade!

Cooper watched more than I thought he would. He did a bit of listening, a bit of Dora, and was pretty interested in the things that passed in front of him. Isn't he cute? :)

Sophie and Ava

I have no idea what this is doing in a 4th of July parade, but it was cool. A car covered in mosaic with a lady in her 70s wearing an old wedding gown. Ok....

This, however, took the cake. A trailer full of stuffed dear and bears with small children. Only in northern Michigan. :)

I had to go home that day bc Cooper had his neurology appt and therapy the next day. Sophie was having so much fun playing with the neighbor boys that she stayed up north until Monday.
Coop's doc wants his brain MRI repeated before we go back to Shanghai, so we're in the process of getting that organized.

Since then we've had play days at my parent's lake with family, more swimming days with friends, Sophie has started tennis lessons with Ava and Gerrit, Coop started at a new therapy place in addition to his normal therapy, I've been active in a summer Bible study that I'm loving, and I even have had a dinner out with some work friends already. Whew! I am trying to pack in every day and I think it's working. The kids are finally adjusted and having fun with friends and family. Hopefully a summer to remember!

Prayer Requests:
Are you surprised I have some? Oh, please! If there's anyone that can benefit from constant prayer, it's me. :)

-Cooper is on a mission to hurt himself- not on purpose, I don't think, but still. In the 2 1/2 weeks
  we've been home I have found him dangling from the second floor at the cottage, stuck between a
  headboard and the wall, sitting on the kitchen counter with his foot inside INSIDE of the garbage
  disposal, and he's obsessed with eating shampoo and body wash right now. Not to mention the
  goose poop he ate a few weeks ago. I'm telling you, I'm watching him ALL THE TIME and these
  things still happen. Please pray that he finds joy in his toys and not in things that can hurt him.

-Please pray that I have endless patience with my children and those around me as I continue to be a
  single parent until Ben gets here July 25. I do not know how single parents of special needs kids do
  it bc I am exhausted most days and I am doing the best I can.

-Please pray for Ben as he is in Shanghai still and most of our friends have left for home now so he
  is by himself and certainly getting lonely. Pray he stays busy and has some time to refresh and
  renew as he will be very busy once he gets here!

2 days...

2 days from now I will be in the middle of my 18 hour journey back to Michigan. A 15 hour flight from Shanghai to Chicago, then a very short, less than 2 hour layover where I'm very afraid I'll miss my connection to Grand Rapids. That little puddle-jumper is only about 35 minutes but, oh, how important it is that I make this flight!!
I am traveling with the kids by myself as Ben is joining us in July. I am so incredibly excited to be home and see friends and family and yet I am having a very very hard time releasing my anxiety about getting there to God to let Him have it. I know it's pointless to fret and worry and yet I can't seem to let it go. How annoying, right? I don't want to have it. It gives me headaches and stomach aches and wears at my soul. How will Cooper do? Will he sleep? Will he lose it and go crazy and annoy everyone? Will I sleep at all? Will anyone get sick (fevers have been ravaging our house lately)? Will I make it through immigration in time? How will I possibly get our 4 checkes bags plus our carry ons plus the stroller plus 2 jetlagged exhausted kids through everything that needs to happen to get us to our connection and not miss the plane? etc, etc, etc...
Ugh, I'm so sick of thinking of all these things. I wish I could just be there. However, I do know that all the struggle of getting there will make being there even better. :)

In the mean time, here are a few things we've been up to while we finished up our school year here.

Here's Mia, Aubrey, Soph and Colin on Soph's last day of school waiting for the bus. Aww... :)

On the left is my friend, Penny, from England. She just had a little girl, Gracie, about 3 months ago. Such a sweet baby! My good friend, Liz, is on the right. The bump is growing! Everyone thinks boy but I'm firmly planted in the girl camp. We'll find out in October!

The line up waiting for the bus. Coop chillaxin in his stroller- he finished school the day before.

Happy to have this be her last day! All she's been talking about is seeing her friends at home!

Getting onto the bus with her usual "watch me leave!"

Soph's school bus. This is one of three that pick up kiddos for the British School and they're pretty full!

On this day the children were given their learning journals. These are binders that the teachers use to show how each child is meeting goals and progressing in school. It's full of their artwork and pictures of things they did throughout the year. A huge task for the teachers, no doubt, but I will treasure it forever! By getting their journals it says they are ready to graduate from Reception and move on to Year 1 (what is kindergarten in the US).

Sophia getting her learning journal. Happy girl. Proud mama and daddy. :) Growing up too fast!

That night it was decided that a bunch of us girls would go out for a drink to hang out and chat before we all head to our various parts of the world for the summer. These women have become my closest friends here and have seen me through my scary early days, my great days and my low days. God has deeply blessed me by knowing each of them.
Next to me is Leslie from Wisconsin, then Liz from England, Laura on top from Chicago, Sally on bottom from Australia, Penny in the blue from England and Heather also from England. Heather is moving home and also maybe Penny. Makes me truly sad that I may never see these people again!
God's blessings on them on their next journey.

On Friday afternoon we were invited by the mom of one of Soph's classmates for an end of year party. Wow. It was meant to be a pool party but, in true Shanghai fashion, it decided to pour rain. It was held in the clubhouse of their development and these people can put on a party!!
They had drinks, food, a professional photographer, games, you name it.
This was our saving grace with Cooper. He had not slept well at all for nap so we were very worried about having a tired, overstimulated, autistic boy in a new place with a bunch of people he didn't know. However, there was a ball pit. And a slide. God knew what we would need and provided. He was happy to play in here the whole time and was just as content as could be. :)

Oh, it's raining? Who cares?? :) When you get ten 5 yr olds together and there's a pool, there WILL be swimming! So all the parents stood by the edge of the pool in the rain while the kids happily swam away. After about 45 minutes we all dragged our shivering kids out of the water.

The hosts had these amazing put-together houses that you can color. These were really popular with the kids! That's Rachel, Soph's best friend here, and Moritz on the right.

Check out some of the food! Red bean paste spring rolls, chicken skewers, fruit, pizzas, fried rice, potatoe salad, cupcakes, cookies, moon pies, and more. Tasty stuff! Soph's favorite were the red bean paste spring rolls! Who would have ever thought? :)

Happy boy with his daddy.

10 of the 18 from the class- Joseph (host), Jing Ting, James, Sophia, Rachel, Imogen, Betty, Min Jun, Moritz and Charmaine. A great group of kids! Chinese, British, US, New Zealand, Swedish, Singaporian and more. But play and friendship is international!

This is a traditional Chinese treat (Zongzi) that is typically eatten during the Dragonboat festival. See, this is actually a long weekend celebrating the Dragonboat festival. The other kids have three and a half more days of school but we're skipping town early. :) The festival celebrates a poet who committed suicide in a river bc of political reasons and traditionally people throw zongzi into rivers to feed him. Ok.....
So, it's red beans and sticky rice (a bit sweet) wrapped in bamboo leaves, tied with string and then steamed. You serve it with honey. The hosts were very impressed that one of the Chinese families had brought this and said it was like an honor that they had. I was impressed at the effort put into the treat but not impressed with how it tasted. :)

Anyway, tomorrow is packing and organization day. Ugh, just got nervous again. So. Annoying.

The next post I do will be from home, though!

Please keep us all in your prayers in the next few days.
Specific requests:
-that Sophia, Cooper and I are healthy. Soph came down with a cold today and I'm worried the fever
  is next. :(
-that we have a safe drive to the airport with Ben and that he has a safe drive home without us.
-that we run into no issues checking in.
-that the flight goes smoothly-that the kids and I can get some much needed sleep and that the hours
  go by quickly!
-that our connection goes smoothly- that the line at immigration is short and I can get a cart easily for
  our bags and find all the places I need to go with little effort. That a kind soul sent by God helps me
  if needed.
-that we make our connecting flight to Grand Rapids!

Thanks again for reading and keeping up with us. It's weird to think our journey here is already 1/3 done! Crazy. God is good! :)