Welcome to America!

We arrived in Sacramento at about 10:30pm on Friday night.
We were met at the airport by our friends Jason and Malissa and baby Christian. They were holding up a big banner saying "Welcome to your new home in America!". After the physical and emotional upheavals of the past 33 hours, it was all I could do to keep from bursting into tears.

And from that point on, we just sat back and let these angels carry us for the next two days. And angels they have been.

They took us to their home, where they had prepared a king's welcome for us. The bed was fresh and clean and comfortable; the bathroom was stocked with towels and toiletries and bubble bath! They let us spread our luggage out in their dining room, and boy did we make a mess!
They made us a time capsule with the week's newspaper and current Time magazine. They cooked us good, healthy delicious meals and never once let us wash a dish. They even bought us Halloween decor to help make our new home more inviting. They offered to lend us Christian's clothes when I couldn't find Ariane's. They took us shopping, they gave us the low down on the area. They didn't mind when I fell asleep on the couch and missed dinner, or when the kids woke up at 1am and played in the lounge, setting the dogs barking. They bought our kids toys because they'd left all theirs back in South Africa. They let us phone home from their mobile phones.
They received our kids' car seats ahead of our arrival and set them up in their own cars. They let us use their address for everything we needed. And when we left their house to move into our hotel, they raided their pantry and gave us groceries, and towels and drinking glasses and Ziploc bags and pens and paper and all the things we would need to make our lives a little easier.

We've been truly blessed to have such supportive people here to take of us like the babies that we are. One day we hope we will find a way to say thank you in a way that truly expresses how grateful we are to them, because words fall far too short. Thanks, Jason and Malissa - we are forever grateful to you!