Ah, to be home

We made it home late Thursday - and for those who don't know, we happened to travel home and introduce the girls to their new home on my 40th birthday. We really couldn't have planned it that way if we'd tried! We'd decided the day we came home would be the one we'd recognize as a sort of family day and celebrate each year and I'm more than happy to transition my birthday to the back burner.

The day started with Brian and me catching vomit in our hands as a child in the backseat of a hot car got carsick on the way to the airport. The international flight was hellish, but it is behind us. We received some much-needed support from a few other adoptive parents on the flight, whom we'd met the day before at the Embassy. We were greeted at the airport by my parents and they followed us home, where we found banners, balloons, a newly mown lawn, decorations, signs, food and more from friends and family.

We continue to try to transition the girls from Russia to US time and it's proving very tricky so not much sleep is being had around here. My parents have been coming over each day to spend some time with the girls and it's great as it gives Bri and me a chance to do some things around the house without worrying about kiddos new to home getting into anything they shouldn't.

I've not written about it because I'm beyond grief-stricken that we lost our lovely, wonderful, sweet and beloved Guinness Stout while we were gone. I can't write much because the tears don't want to stop once they start. We've begun to introduce the girls to our special, spunky, quirky and beloved Killians Irish Red and cannot wait until we can have her come home for good; for now she continues to stay at my parents house and they bring her over to spend time with the girls and us as we work through introductions and make every effort to not stress human girls or our wonderful canine girl out. There will come a post soon about Guinness, because the boy simply deserves it, but I just can't do it right now.

I've got more pics I'll post soon but things might be a bit quiet as we try to settle into a routine, get caught up on laundry, figure out how to teach the girls English so we can all communicate a bit better, try to keep the house in some order, prepare meals we'll all eat, etc. Have no fear, we're going to continue the blog for anyone who wants to follow along.