Our First Night Home

Kari:
What an awesome welcome Jim and the kids had at the airport today! Thanks to all of our family and friends who came out to welcome them home and meet the kids! It was so fun to watch Tatum bouncing up and down with excitement waiting to see them walk through customs. Austin and I have been asking each other all day, "Are you excited?" and saying "Yes!" because that is what everyone asks us, of course. I think Ashley and Josh did very well with all of the cameras and meeting so many new people. They quickly gravitated to the other recently adopted kids from Ukraine, the Roge's kids, Nadia, Julia and Kolya, and Mari Barrett. It is so nice that they have instant friends here that speak their language.

After the crowd thinned out, it was only the die-hard UOOers left ;) I think we could probably all hang out for a week together and never run out of things to talk about. And then it was time to go home. The six of us walked off together, smiling and hugging, finally a family.

Ashley and Josh fell asleep on the car ride home, and I tried to pry as much information out of my very tired husband as I could. I want all of the details! When we pulled in the driveway, they both woke up. Josh ran inside and straight down to his room. So we all followed him downstairs. He checked out every inch of his room and proclaimed it good. We then showed Ashley the rest of the downstairs. Then we went up to her room. I opened the door and turned on the light. She walked in with a big smile and said, "Wow!" Then we showed her the rest of the house while Josh just ran around exploring on his own, and Austin and him played some air hockey. Tatum decided to head off to Bible Bowl. Ashley watched as I arranged the flowers her Aunt Patty and Cousin Hannah had given her. Then we sat down and ate some chili. Josh and Ashley weren't sure about it, but they tried it and had some fruit. Then I asked Ashley if she wanted to shower, and she said yes. We told her she could call Natasha after that because it was only 4 a.m. in Ukraine then. We went into her room and got sidetracked looking for something clean for her to wear to bed. We have to go shopping tomorrow for clothes. She slowly unpacked her duffle bag with all of her possessions and showed me each one. She has a lot of High School Musical things, the DVD, a book showing the dance moves, CD and notebook. She had three calendar wall posters of Ukrainian teen pop bands, two diaries and a handful of pictures of her friends. I was glad I had bought one of those french memo boards and hung it on her wall before she came home. After she showed me the pictures, I arranged them all for her on the memo board. She gave me a letter that her friend Natasha wrote to me. I will have to have someone translate it for me. Jim kept unpacking, and I told him he didn't have to do that yet. He was kind of in a daze and very tired. Then I went down to spend some time with Josh. He was sticking stickers all over his walls that the Stoesz clan gave him. I pulled out his notebooks for school so he could redirect the stickers onto them. We looked at his toys, and then I read him a book. Jim told me Ashley called Natasha and was ready for bed, so I went to tuck her in. She was writing in her diary. She told me Natasha said to tell me hi. I really hope we can find a family to adopt Natasha. She is a very sweet girl and Ashley's best friend. Soon Josh was ready for bed also, and I enjoyed tucking him in. He has been very happy since arriving at the airport. I guess it was a different story getting him to the airport. He didn't want to get out of bed and put up quite a struggle this morning for Jim. Overall, it was a normal, relaxed evening. A good beginning. Austin just went to bed and asked me one more time, "Are you excited?" "Yes! Are you?" "Yes!"