Guess what?...You have a new family!!

So, as I look back at these photos... a big smile comes to my face thinking Esther had no clue what she was in for when she hopped off that plane. She went from a tiny apartment with a foster mom to a big house full of teenage and elementary energy! And the cool part was...that she just ate it all up! When I look at these pictures too...I remember just how excited our kids were to have her home and how they just loved her immeadiately...like she had always been their sister.


Her long awaited sister...lots of love bottled up inside this 5 year old for the sister she had waited 2 years. Lots of expectations that it has taken some time for big sis to work through..."I thought we could play together and she would be talking...how come she cries so much...how come she just wants mommy?" Truly...Big Sissy has been quite the trooper and has matured alot during this process...maybe even taken a little off her "princess syndrome" formerly being the only little girl in the family...I truly am proud of the wonderful Big Sis this young lady has become!



I love this picture because this is a day that Big Sis and Big Bro spent at least 45 minutes getting such a kick out of trying to teach Esther how to climb up the stairs. We had only been home about a week when they decided she needed to learn this and they so patiently taught her how to coordinate her arms and legs to push herself up and then clapped at each step she conquered. Who knew 13 steps would take almost an hour, but they were there cheering her on to the finish!! I'm sure Esther wondered what kind of crazy, fanatical, family she had gotten herself into...needless to say she was exhausted!


OK...so here's a part no adoption preparation manual ever adequately prepares you for...SLEEP DEPREVATION! I'm sure every child responds differently to being ripped out of their normal routine environment, being flown across many miles and time zones, being planted into a new home, with new people, new routines, and new food, and then told to sleep in a new room...and of course not wake up scared or early or often! Enough said? So...yeah...coffee and I, we started a new relationship this year...and the art of covering up bags under my eyes without caking on too much make-up! So, here you see Alpaca Rob on one of the many occasions in our first days, weeks, months home where we were working on the sleep thing. Do we have all together now? Much improved from where we started and there are still times that things rock her world and sleep seems to be one of the things affected. All in all, my world is much more sane almost one year later as most nights I get a decent night's sleep. For that...I am truly grateful!