Rory has landed...

I repeat, Rory has landed!!!  36 hours after dropping her off at the Malaga airport, my awesome dog Rory has completed her journey to California safe and sound.

First, let me tell you it was a MUCH more emotional event than I had imagined.  Although I knew it was going to be difficult to drop her off, I never expected to feel so incredibly sad!  Rory is our kid, and it is very difficult to have a kid that you cannot communicate with in ANY way.  I couldn’t tell her what to expect, that everything would be fine, that her grandparents would be there to pick her up and take care of her, and worse that we weren’t just abandoning her.  Putting her in the crate and walking away was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.  Needless to say I got into the car and completely broke down and cried.  All I could think was how scared she must be, and that she was having to do this alone without understanding why she was being put through this.

My parents, after filling out a bunch of forms and showing their ID’s to hundreds of people (okay, not hundreds…but probably close to it.  It’s nice to know that they won’t let just ANYONE pick up your kids though!) were able to pick her up and immediately called and sent a picture so I could see for myself that she was okay.  Yes, I called them twice that morning before to make sure they were up and ready and that they had everything they needed for her arrival, and then again to see if her flight had landed and where was she (this was during their paperwork-filling-out time which I’m sure my Dad SUPER appreciated), but I think overall I did okay with the not over-panicking!  I was a total wreck, but I did my best not to let it overwhelm me and poor Mr. got to deal with the parts that did!

Rory did great on the flights and the people at Lufthansa Air LOVED her, so yay for having a great kid!  I think she’s pretty fabulous, but it’s nice to know that others do too!  Now to wait patiently until we get to see her again next month…patiently…ha!  We’ll be Skype-ing with Rory this weekend when she finishes her final leg of the journey to Arizona with Mom & Dad H.!

On the road...Rory is VERY artsy if you can't tell...

Rory and Mr.

Rory and Mama (aka Me)

Family Shot...way to blink Rory...