Merry Christmas! We're Home!

Christmas Morning. From our home to yours We wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! And a merry one it was. Boy are we glad to be home with our sons and for Christmas no less. Praise the Lord!

It was a long day traveling. We left Ukraine around 12:30pm. All three boys behaved so well on the first flight. We had a 3 hour layover in Paris, which was a bit challenging trying to keep all three boys in one spot for three hours. Thank God the airport had a play area near the gate where we were waiting for our airplane. We thought for sure that they would sleep as soon as they got on the airplane....NOT. They were just more exhausted since they didn't have a nap. The boys didn't want to eat their dinner on the plane and didn't fall asleep until the last 3-4 hours of the flight. Just as we were landing in JFK airport Robert said that we had an issue. I didn't know what he was talking about at first until he told me to grab one of the paper bags in one of the seats in front of me because Steven was getting sick. I guess his stomach was a bit nervous from the plane getting ready to land. Thank goodness it was only liquid that came up since he didn't eat his dinner.

We made our way through customs with no issues and were extremely happy to see Robert's Dad waiting for us at the airport. Robert had all of our luggage on a cart and I had all 3 of our sons holding my hands walking them through baggage. As soon as Andrew saw PopPop he dropped my hand and ran up to give him a hug. I think Steven and Evan recognized his picture from our photo album since they smiled at him as PopPop said hello and tostled their hair. Thanks Dad and Mom for all you've done taking care of our house, managing our bills, resurfacing our tub and picking us up at the airport and bringing us home!!! You're the best!!!

We made it back to our house about 2:00am Christmas morning. Robert and I had very little sleep on the planes, however, since the boys slept about 6 hours between the plane and the car ride home they were wide awake when we got back to the house. My Mom and sister, Marli surprised us with a Christmas tree in our living room and some gifts underneath it. We were all tickled to see the Christmas tree or "Yalinka" as Steven and Evan call it. I was hoping for a Christmas tree. Thanks Mom and Marli for the Christmas tree, presents, and for the mattress for Steven's bed! You're the best! I told the boys to wait until morning to open the presents, therefore, Steven and Evan took over some of Andrew's ride on firetruck and dump truck.

After playing on Andrew's trucks we showed them down the hall and took one look at Andrew's room and started going through his toys. Surprisingly, Andrew was okay with them rooting through his toy box. Steven found some toys he liked and immediately took them into his room and hid them in the cubby hole in his bed. Steven then went back into Andrew's room to find more toys that he could hide in his bed. Evan was doing the same thing, however, Evan would hold onto as many toys as he possibly could and still stretch to grasp another toy, even though his arms were full. (Thanks Cousin Karen for the youth bed for Steven, for the presents for the boys and for helping my Mom set up the bed when we were away. It certainly made Steven feel welcome upon our arrival home.

We finally all went to bed between 3-4:00am Christmas morning. We all woke up believe it or not at 8:30am. It felt good to get some sleep, however, we were so excited to get up and spend some time with our families after not seeing them for a month and a half.

Evan cuddling with his new doggie.

My Mom, sister and brother arrived with a breakfast cassarole, fruit salad, juice and coffee. With only a few hours sleep it was such a blessing to not have to think about fixing food for the family. The boys had a great time opening up their gifts, playing with their new toys and spending time with our family.

Nana teaching her grandsons to play the piano softly

At one point, Steven and Evan discovered the piano. Andrew, Steven and Evan hopped on the piano bench and started playing the piano. My Mom was showing them how to play the keys softly opposed to banging on the keys. When I was taking pictures of the 3 boys sitting on the piano bench, it reminded me of the vision the Lord gave me in February of 2004. I saw 3 young children (all around the same age), not biologically my children sitting on a piano bench reaching their arms out to me at the same time and calling me Mama. At the time of the vision we didn't have a piano (we recenty inherited it from Robert's late Uncle Armond). I knew from the vision that the Lord was leading us to adopt our children. It's interesting to see how the Lord works everything out for good for those that love Him.

We spent the afternoon with Robert's family for Christmas dinner and gift giving. During the drive over to Robert's parent's house, Robert tuned the radio to a station with Christmas tunes. The boys were quietly taking in their surroundings as I listened to the radio. As I listened to a song called, "Christmas Carol", by Brookes and Dunn I started getting all emotional. The song was about a girl that was born on Christmas day named Christmas Carol. The lyrics talked about that she didn't know who her Daddy was and her Mama left a while ago and all she wanted for Christmas was someone to love and care for her. I had never heard the song before but being it was our first day home with our sons, Christmas day with our families for the first time in over a month, knowing our sons background and being around many orphan children over the past month the song got to me. Yes, I got all choked up and emotional just listening to the song. I pray that all the orphans in this world find their forever families.

Steven and Evan playing ball with Uncle Rich

Andrew in Santas Hat

It was so wonderful to see and spend time with both of our families. When we arrived at Mom Moms and Pop Pops house I told Steven and Evan to say "Hello" to everyone in English when we walked in the door. They said they understood and surprised everyone when we walked in by saying hello to them in English. Steven, Andrew and Evan had a blast playing ball with their Uncle Rich and wrestling with cousin Billy besides opening their gifts. Evan really took to his cousin Nicole. He was running to her and she would pick him up and throw him in the air. Boy did they have fun...so much so they didn't want to stop to eat. Andrew was excited to see all of his cousins and had fun playing with his cousin Julia.

Both families are thrilled with Steven and Evan joining our family. They all were surprised at how smart, coordinated, active, on-task for their age, and adorable they are. They loved listening to them talk with such enthusiasm, even they couldn't understand them. It was the best Christmas ever....a dream come true. Thank you, Lord!