We're home!

We are home and are doing great! Grace was incredible on all 3 flights, with only a bit of fussing over not being able to have more gum when she was supposed to be going to sleep. Of course, flying with a four year old takes a little bit more entertaining than flying with 7-11 year olds. Here's Lily playing peek-a-boo from the seat in front of us.


Reading to DiDi (little brother) is fun too.
Of course, lots of barrettes provide endless hours of enjoyment.





But, she did eventually sleep, and kept sleeping all the way to Portland. Here she is in the customs line, completely zonked.



She cried pretty hard in her car seat on the way home. I knew that this would be an issue, because she did not like wearing a seat belt while we were in China. We wanted her to get used to it from the start, however, and are pretty strict about car seats. It was hard for the other kids to hear her cry/scream like that, but she did eventually fall asleep.

When we got home, Grace began exploring everything with her brothers and sisters. She LOVED her little rocking chair and her bed. She was absolutely thrilled with all of the stuffed animals, as well.

We ate dinner and everyone went to be at around 7:30. David woke up at 12:30 and gave everyone benadryl. This woke Grace and Lily up, but they went back to sleep within an hour and everyone slept until we woke them up at 8:30!!! Grace had joined us in our bed at about 1:00, but when I woke up she was back in her little bed. She just loves it! We were so grateful for this great night of sleep.

Today was wonderful. Grace had such a fun time checking everything out. Lily gave her a doll to play with and she has carried it around lovingly for the whole day. All of the other kids are absolutely in love with Grace and are enjoying her immensely. It was the first time that Grace has ventured away from me (in China she would cry if she couldn't see me), so I think that she really knows that this is home.

We did bring Rosemary home today, and that was the only difficult part of our day. Grace was terrified. One bonus to that though, was that she let Daddy carry her around A LOT, because she didn't want to be on the ground with Rosemary. Grace did calm down enough around Rosemary so that when Rosemary was in my lap, Grace would pet her. And Rosemary seemed to know that Grace was scared and was totally still when Grace would come over to her. So, I think that within a few days they will be good friends.

Please keep praying for sweet Vivi Jo. She is doing much better, and her new family (understandably!) adores her. If you want to see how she is doing, Kim's blog address is: http://www.myadoptionwebsite.com/vivijo/trip111308.htm

I know that I have said this before, but I want to thank you again for all of your prayers, comments and emails. I so appreciate the love that you have shown to our precious daughter and to our family. We were sitting at dinner tonight, simply praising God, for all that He has done in this little girl's life and in our lives. We are so blessed!