Home

We are finally home. Well, we've actually been home since about 11:00 pm on Saturday. Boy, does it ever feel good to be home in the good ol' USA! I would love to post some photos for you of the past few days back and home, but I can't find the cord for the camera to do that. I'll have to get back to you with photos when I find it in the midst of all of the unpacking.

Here's a re-cap of the last few days. We had a seamless time in the airport, processing out of Russia, and on the flight home. It was 12.5 hours from Moscow to LA and our daughter did an awesome job on the plane. She fought the good fight against sleep until the last hour of our flight which would've made it about 2:30 am to her little body, but she did finally give in! It made our flight seem longer than we had hoped, but she really didn't give us much of a problem (yet she wasn't perfect), didn't cry and we were so glad to be able to get off the plane and not feel like everyone on the plane hated us. Whew! I do have to say though that the last hour was quite a relief! God certainly knew what He was doing because her sleepiness made her "out of it" as we went through passport control and immigration which made it easier since she didn't want to get down and run around in an inappropriate situation. My arms felt like they were going to fall off after an hour of holding her, but it was worth it to not have to chase her everywhere!

Once we finished up at LAX, we hopped into a rental car and made the 4 hour drive home. Again, our daughter slept--all the way home. It was kind of nice to turn off my brain for a bit. Of course, where do you think our first stop on the way home was? In-n-Out Burger! Once Nate's belly was full of his favorite meal the hardest part of the last leg our our journey was trying to keep him awake! At that point, we had not slept for the whole flight and it was getting to be over 24 hours without sleep, but we did manage to make it home.

We arrived home about 11:00 pm with my parents and Nate's parents there waiting. When we pulled up into the driveway of our house and got out, we pulled out our daughter's "Family Book" and showed her the picture of our house and then showed her how it matched the house we stood in front of. There seemed to be a light that came on because her eyes sparkled a smile broke out on her face.

Once inside, we introduced her to her Grandmas and Grandpas and showed her their matching pictures in her book and she seemed to know exactly who they were. It was so neat. It made the work I put into her "Family Book" totally worth it. After the grandparents, we woke up each of the kids one by one and introduced her to them. The kids were each so excited once they woke up and realized that we were finally home after 25 days and we had brought their sister with us. This was the sister they had prayed for over the last 2.5 years and she was no longer just a picture, but the real thing right in their home. It such a sweet moment in time! I hope I never forget it.

After a few hours of mid-night bonding, we all headed off to bed until the morning came and we could spend more time together. I'd like to say that the first night went well, but it was rough for our daughter. The second night was better.

We had a great day together yesterday as a new family and even ventured out to Costco to re-stock our food. It was probably crazy, but necessary. We had really scaled ourselves down to nothing so that no food was left to spoil while we were gone. I do have to say that it was weird to keep track of 5 instead of 4, but I will quickly get used to it--I have to--don't want to having anyone go missing on me.

Well that sums it up for now. I will keep you posted as we get adjusted to our new family life. For now, we just try to recover from jet lag, get through the mountain of laundry, put things away and give ourselves plenty of time to bond and give our daughter time to acclimate to her new home. Thanks for coming along on the journey...yet the journey has just begun!

1 Samuel 1:27 "I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him."