Candace Litchford paced up and down the international arrivals gate at Washington Dulles International Airport on Wednesday night. She was frustrated that she hadn't been able to reach her adopted daughter's travel escort. 'Do you have the right number?' her husband, Jay Scruggs, asked while trying to contain the couple's 6-year-old son Ivan. Ivan, like his parents, was growing impatient after waiting more than an hour for his new sister to arrive. 'Did it take this long for me to get here?' asked Ivan, who was adopted from Kazakhstan five years ago. 'Maybe we should try to go back there,' Scruggs said, suggesting the family sneak through the customs (ital) exit (end ital) doors. A family friend quickly convinced them that that probably wasn't a good idea. But, the temptation to trespass was still strong when 4-year-old Harper Yue Ye Scruggs finally walked out of customs and into Litchford's arms. Litchford hugged the little girl and examined the gifts -- drawings and stickers -- Harper pulled from her bright pink Minnie Mouse backpack. The new siblings greeted each other in kid-speak: Ivan stuck his tongue out and Harper, unable to speak English, returned the greeting. The homecoming, months in the making, was complete. A month after new immigration regulations barred Harper, who had been receiving treatment for tuberculosis, from entering the United States, Litchford, 43, and Scruggs, 38, welcomed their tired and confused little girl home. The couple had been forced to leave Harper in China with an American missionary for more than two weeks until a deal could be brokered to bring her here. Harper's arrival was delayed by federal regulations aimed at limiting the number of immigrants entering the country with tuberculosis. In 2007, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new tuberculosis testing and treatment rules for immigrants older than 2. The policy applies to all immigrants, including foreign children adopted by U.S. citizens, and it outraged many adoption organizations. The guidelines went into effect July 1 in China, turning what was supposed to be a simple trip to pick up Harper into a month-long nightmare. Litchford and Scruggs embarked on a worldwide campaign to call attention to their plight and that of hundreds of other parents attempting to bring children adopted outside of the United States into the country. Nancy Robertson, of the Grace Children's Foundation, a New York-based charity that advocates for children in China, acted as a liaison between the family and the agencies involved in bringing Harper home. 'This is not about China, this is about children,' Robertson said. What exactly changed in Harper's case is somewhat a mystery. The CDC would not comment on Harper's case specifically, but CDC spokeswoman Christine Pearson said that the Department of Homeland Security can issue waivers like the one Harper's parents think she received. According to the CDC Web site, the agency reviews medical records and provides a recommendation to Homeland Security during the waiver process. Most likely, the CDC recommended that Harper be allowed into the country. Harper's parents were notified Friday that she had been granted a visa. Soon they booked a ticket from Guangzhou, China, for Harper. They had spent much of Wednesday preparing for Harper's arrival. At their home in suburban Alexandria, Va., Ivan sat on the sofa asking questions, his grass-colored eyes fixed on photos of a shy Chinese girl in bright tangerine Crocs. 'Are we bringing baby sister home today? What is baby sister going to do?' Litchfield had her own worries: 'Is she going to recognize us?' Scruggs had bought bananas, strawberries and watermelon, hoping the fruit might make the little girl's transition easier. Harper's room, prepared two years earlier for the girl her parents knew they would one day adopt, would finally have someone sleeping amid its pale blue walls. The large pink princess castle would finally have someone to sit inside it. The Mulan Barbie doll would finally be wrapped inside small fingers. 'It's always been Harper's room,' Litchford said. Late Wednesday night, as Harper got her first look at her new home, she said little but smiled as she held her new daddy's hand. Ivan welcomed his sister with a kiss. 'I love you, Harper.' Litchford said that although her family's ending is a happy one, she hopes Harper's case will bring to light the problems that hundreds of other adoptive families face. 'There are hundreds of kids waiting to come home,' Litchford said. 'The bigger question is how are we going to address this problem? How do we fix it in the right way?' 