Return to Me

Hi everyone! We made it home and returned to all of our loved ones. Oh, how sweet it is!!

I won't lie, the trip home was L O N G. But I also won't sit here and whine about it. Even by myself, it would have been a long, terrible trip... add a 17 month old... and what did I expect? She did WONDERFULLY, but she is 17 months old... and I was tired. (Why are the only flights leaving Almaty at 3:20 a.m??) The worst was the second flight - completely filled and over 8 hours long. Add a medical emergency on board the flight (none of us!!) and added time waiting on the plane after landing to await the paremedics, and then clearing customs and immigration... it was LONG and TIRING. The thought of family and HOME kept us going though. Nothing was going to stop us now!

The awesome part came (and is what kept us going all day) when we cleared immigration and walked out and saw Matthew waiting for us! He pointed across the walkway (as if to let others know we were there (I did wonder where dad was!)) and I turned to see Regan, Marie, Caleb, Kate and Ezra all there as well to welcome us home and to meet Maia! They had a wonderful sign and balloons, and it was just so so wonderful!! We were so thrilled to see Dad and Matthew and so excited to have the extra bonus of having Regan and the kids meet us there too. What fun!! Regan and her family could stay until Sunday (today!) so we had a nice long time to get to catch up and for them to get to really meet Maia. My brother Bobby was also able to come on Saturday for the day and WOW! Did Maia take to HIM!! It was amazing! She wouldn't let him put her down almost all day.

Regan cooked delicious meals and desserts and really made us all feel special. She even stopped and got us our first Starbucks yesterday. Yummy! We are very sad to see them head home, but also ready to try to settle in to a 'normal' routine and figure out what that even means!

I let Matthew stay home on Thursday with us all. He did go to school on Friday. He gets Monday off for a teacher work day, so our 'normal' should start on Tuesday. He has adjusted very well to Maia. Maia, on the other hand, took a few days to adjust to Matthew for some reason. No huge deal, we're pretty good now, but she was more excited with younger cousins or woman (like Regan) than Matthew or my Dad. As I said, each day has gotten better and she seems fine with Matthew now. I am really pushing some time together so that she gets used to him too. I'll need him to be able to help sometimes, so I need her to know who he is and accept his help.

It has been rainy pretty much since we got home. I promised I wouldn't complain about the weather, but I am ready for some nice sunshine to brighten the days. As excited as I am to be home, a nice sunny day would be great and would really be nice to be able to walk outside. I may try an outing with Maia tomorrow - we'll see!

We've had calls from family which has been really nice. It's always nice talking to family - and even nicer to celebrate special occassions together, if only long distance. Family is great!

I haven't downloaded pictures yet. I am still trying to baby proof a room or two that Maia can play in without getting in trouble or without getting hurt! :) Then, maybe I can focus on pictures again. There is so much 'to do' being back home, I must admit, I'm not much in the computer mood... I will try to continue with updates at least weekly though to chronicle our adjustments and changes as Maia grows!

She seems very excited and happy. I am so glad. She has been such a trooper and is just so good. She even slept through the night the very first night home and hasn't looked back since. WoW! How did that happen? I won't question it, I'll just accept that! :) Yeah!

Thanks for all the well wishes and emails too. All is well and I will email you all back as soon as I can. So much to do!! :)

Stay tuned - more to come.