One Week Home

Wow, I cannot even believe it's done. We started the process, 2 years went by, now it's done! Now life has started with our new little precious jewel. Let me tell you, she has spunk! She has made many great leaps this week!

When we got her she was scared to death of animals and would cry every time she saw a picture of our dog and cat. 2 days home and she was following our cat everywhere, getting as close as she could, finally petting him. She loves him! And, Ty's daughter Amanda is here with her guide dog so Lulu has also gotten use to dogs which has helped her accept our big wild dog, Navy. She now pets Durwood, Amanda's dog.

Saturday night through Tuesday was rough from jet lag. We would get up around 4 am and crash around 7pm. By Wednesday we kept with a strict nap schedule for her and she began sleeping in until 7 am or later! I also got her meds switched to our time so that it does not interfere with sleeping. Friday I finally began feeling normal and not tired throughout the day. I thought it was going to take longer to get her on our schedule, but so far so good.

Lulu loves all the kids in the house! Of course she uses them to carry her around, up and down the stairs constantly, to go to her room and play, basically do whatever she wants to do! We have to tell the kids they can say no and let her be. They could not believe the first fit they ever saw. It lasted 30 minutes and she fell asleep right there on the floor. It was the second night home and we believe it was a combination of jet lag, new adjustments, tired, and of course a little strong will in there as well as grieving. Overall she has adjusted very well. She cried only the first few nights and nap times we put her in the pack n play, but she's doing pretty well with that too. She continues to sleep in our room in her pack n play.

As far as bonding with me, we are doing pretty well. I have been the one getting up with her first thing in the morning and her fear of the cat the first few mornings really caused her to cling to me. As the week progressed she even gave me kisses. We are doing great!

Concerning food, she has eaten pretty much everything I have cooked. Fish, fries, quasedillas, steak, and Friday night I made my first Asian dinner of broccoli and beef with white rice from Thialand. It was great! I can't wait to make more! Catherine Cambra from WCIC is going to give me some recipes she gathered while at Maria's Big House of Hope. I can't wait to make some of them!  Lulu also loves blueberry muffins! So much healthier than Oreos! HAHA

By the way, check out WCIC on April 23rd at 3pm. Lulu and I are going to be guests on their show that day! Scott and Catherine met Lulu back in Sept. while there on a missions trip. How neat to get to see them again! They confirmed her strong spirit after I asked what she was like when they visited her. I wanted to find out if what I was experiencing with her was what she was like there. Yep, pretty much the same!

Now that the first part of the journey is over.....I can say that it was nothing like I expected. If you are adopting my advice to you would be to go in with no expectations and just let it be the way it's going to be. I envisioned her personality to be like what I made up in my head. Am I fine with her personality and who she has turned out to be in reality, ABSOLUTELY!  Just like birth, no one knows how their kids are going to turn out! God creates their personality! We will mold her and teach her, but she is who God intended her to be. I also wasn't aware of all that goes into finishing the adoption while in China. It wasn't a bad thing, it was just neat to see how it all gets done. I cannot say enough AWESOME things about our agency CCAI and all that our guides do. They work so hard! All we had to do was show up and sign here and there. They do all the leg work! They are amazing! Plus they plan all of our tours and take care of our needs while there too! Truly GREAT people! Was it worth it? YES!  Just like birth labor, it has it's challenges while it's happening, then you forget it all because you have such a wonderful gift in the end.

Thank you to EVERYONE! I know we had many people praying for us! Thanks for all of the funny and encouraging words while we were gone! Our kids were VERY well taken care of too! Thanks to my wonderful, irreplaceable mother-in-law! I could not have asked for my kids to be in better hands! We adore you and thank you for taking over our family while we were gone! The kids love you so much! I am humbled by the way you love our kids and the fact that you think they are great says a lot to me too. They sure loved your cooking! And, thanks for having my house in such great shape when we returned! It was nice to be able to collapse into clean sheets and a nice clean shower the next morning!

Thanks to our Almighty Sovereign Savior that orchestrated this whole thing, hand picked our baby girl, and provided every bit of energy and cent it took to complete the journey! Our faith has grown in ways we cannot verbalize! If you want to adopt, take the first step. He will complete the process, and it is never in a way you can comprehend.

Coming up this week: we visit Lulu's pediatric cardiologist on Monday the 8th. I will update after the appt. to fill you all in on what we learn about her heart condition.

Here are some pictures of our first week home:

 At this point she is trying to tell me she's gonna rule this household! Oh what she will soon find out! Mama is in charge around here! LOL!

 First tantrum. All because I wanted to take her from Keri and put her pjs on! She never did stop and after 30 minutes she fell asleep for the night. We believe she was just so tired, grieving, and plane old mad I took her away from Keri, all combined. The kids just could not believe she could do that and they sat there dumbfounded until we turned our movie back on, ignored her, and told them she was fine and not to worry.

As you can see, Kaden even went and put rolled up toilet paper in his ears to see if it would help with the loudness of her screaming.

 Loves the trampoline at the neighbors house! But, we won't let her jump until we find out what is safe for her to do and not do from the cardiologist.

 Listening to the Easter Trivia the kids had to endure from dad so that they could get a clue to find their baskets. Each question led to a new clue until they finally got their baskets.

 Listening to big sister Amanda play the piano and checking out her guide dog Durwood. At this point she is still pretty scared, but warming up to the idea of possibly liking him.

 Finding Cheddar, our cat, under the couch.

 This lasted for about an hour! Loved it! I needed a break! I have forgotten what it's like to play with a 3 year old all day long!!!!

 The closest she had ever gotten to him. Now she kisses him and pets him!

 Washing down the oreos with her favorite beverage, water. I can't get her to drink anything else.

 Learning to be gentle with her doll. She would just always hit it and get rough. Now she plays gentle with it.

Our Flight Home

   She was having too much fun and would fight the sleep! In all she only slept about 3 hours of the 12 hour flight to Detroit. Did not sleep at all on the other 2 flights. She's a great traveler though!

We could not have asked for a more pleasant travel experience with her! She was GREAT! Just less carry ons for me! Haha, next time we travel by plane I have decided what I need and don't need so I don't carry so much!

 2 hours into our flight...we weren't all that enthusiastic being so close to No*th Kor*a!

 She would sort of watch Disney movies while she snacked and played, but I could not get her to listen to them with the ear phones at all. No matter what she would not let me put them in her ears.

Most of the time I looked out the window of our 12 hour flight this is what I saw! It was amazing! Sure puts our large world in perspective. I saw a lot of snow, mountains, and glaciers.