Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time ~Oswald Chambers

Sunday, January 30, 2011

First Day At Home

Although our trip home was filled with trials and tribulations, when we arrived home, we discovered that our house was filled with quite the opposite.

Pulling into our driveway late Saturday afternoon, we were greeted by balloons and streamers, welcome home signs, donuts and dragon cupcakes, pictures of our adventures in China, and love.  Thank you all for the sweet welcome home we received after such a long journey.










I have been continually amazed by how well we are transitioning to a family of 8.  God has been very, very gracious to us.  I know it doesn't always go that way and we are thankful for His mercies.  The kids have all been amazing.  Lily and Caroline are pretty tight buddies and Lauren loves being (and they love for her to be) the doting older sister.  And Michael is the funny big brother who makes her giggle.

The weather was gorgeous today and so they had plenty of time playing outside.  They loved the trampoline and spent a good deal of time jumping, giggling, and being silly.  And don't you love how Caroline and Lily dressed themselves this morning?  Right down to the same hairstyle.






This afternoon we had one more transition to make.  My babies were back!  They came running in and the noise level elevated about 25 decibels as it always does when they are here.  But it was a sweet noise.  They ran to Lily giving her a hug and then were off playing with her as if they had been doing it together forever.




There have been moments of jet lag induced friction but not nearly as much as I would have expected.  And there are times when I sense the language barrier is alienating her.  I know she will get it soon but it is hard for all of us right now as we want her to be fully involved in everything.


Tomorrow we tackle school and some chores just to keep the natives from getting a little too restless.

 I'm really interested to see how that is all going to go...

...and how many pots of coffee I will ingest before lunch time.  :)

9 comments:

  1. Glad you are home and what a lovely homecoming!! I think I will copy the dragon cupcakes for our CNY celebration!!

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  2. Welcome home and I am way jealous of the kids playing outdoors in sweatshirts. We are buried in snow and expecting another storm. Poor little Jenna won't be able to move outside for the deep snow. Glad to hear that you're all together again and doing well. Yeah for coffee!! I'm getting my first cup right now!

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  3. Wow! Looks like the kids are doing so well together and Lily is jumping right in! I'm also jealous of your weather! Ready for my kids to go OUTSIDE!
    So sorry about your flights - I just read that. Wow. So happy you're all home safe and sound. Prayers for the continued transition.

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  4. So glad that adjustments are going so well! What a precious family.

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  5. oh my word!!!! look at what people did for you!!!! the pictures??!!!!! the cupcakes??? how sweet is that??!!!! home is so super sweet after being in china for 2 weeks and travelling for over 2 days!!!!!!!!!!

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  6. It was such a pleasure to meet you and your family in China! Just love those girls of yours!!! I'm sooooo sorry to hear of your crazy travels home!!! WOW! More than that, just glad your home safe and sound and everyone is together and looks great! Keep the updates coming and hope to stay in touch!

    Love,

    Myra

    (send hello to everyone else for me please!)

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  7. What a sweet welcome home, you have wonderful friends down there! And thoughtful with all the pictures! Glad things seem well, hope you all are recovering. We can't wait to meet her!
    Always praying for you! Love ya!

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  8. Oh reading about your kiddos all finally together! Wonderful news!!!

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  9. Wow, that was some trip back! We were looking for you Sunday, but I hadn't read the update at that point. I'm going to go out on a limb and say you were too tired for church on Sunday! We're excited to see you when we can!!

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