One Week Home!

We have had a wonderful first week home! The girls are loving spending time together and we just love watching them. We have been staying home a bunch but also getting out just a little here and there.

We love these three girls in their towels!

 Calli fell asleep on Randy's lap one night right after bath. Look at her hand on Molly! She is sleeping so great - in her own bed, 10-11 hours each night, with a 2 hour nap. We couldn't ask for more than that!

 Calli loves to eat. She definitely has some issues with food, but we're working on those as much as possible. She gets so excited when we walk into the kitchen that she squeals and laughs. She eats all the food we give her and then all the rest of the girls' food. We have to put the food away, clean up, turn out the lights and all leave the kitchen or she just wants to keep eating and eating. If we walk into the kitchen for something and don't get food, she throws a fit. We can't wait to see how much weight she gains in the next few months!

 She loves bathtime!

 And swinging!

 We went to Dr. B for her first appointment on Tuesday. She did great for him and we loved getting to introduce him to her. He helped us so much throughout the whole referral process and we are so thankful for him! Calli weighed 22 lbs 5 oz and was 33 inches long. That's the 30th percentile for weight and the 75th for height. We're curious about the percentile she's in for her head - it measured 46 and a quarter cm: her head is so big! Maybe just compared to her skinny body. Dr. B said she's tall and skinny like her mama. :) Loved that. He ordered a bunch of labwork that we have started working on this week and also spoke with the cleft team that we'll be working with! He went ahead and made us an appointment with the cleft team in Houston for the week after next! Things are moving along!

 Cutie bug!

 We've given her lots of kisses, but these are the first ones she gave us! One of the sweetest moments yet! Love this so much.

 Kendall and Cooper's strawberries are growing from her Strawberry Shortcake party in February!They were excited to try the first ones!

 Kendall started back to school this week on Tuesday and Thursday. They have been learning about insects, and brought home worms to put in a garden. Kendall was excited to put them in her flower bed in front of the playhouse - look at how well their flowers are doing!

 We made our first trip to Chick fil A with Calli! She ate a whole nugget meal by herself - crazy!

We always see our friend Kristin Walker and her boys when we go to Chick fil A. She even said on facebook when we were in China that she couldn't wait until we came home and she saw us walking in Chick fil A. Well, guess who was there when we walked in this week - Kristin! So funny. I had to take a picture with her. :)

And, last but not least, her very first DQ blizzard. Guess what...she loved it!

We've had a great week and are loving learning more about Calli and watching her learn about her new family. We're so thankful for all the support we've had coming home - especially having meals brought for dinner every other night! Seriously - such a wonderful gift. It makes it so nice that we are just able to stay home and work on becoming a family!

While we were gone...

...the girls couldn't have had more fun! We honestly think they hardly thought about us being gone and were so distracted having a blast with their grandparents - which is what we wanted! We were so, so very thankful for our parents who each had the girls about 5 days! That's a long time! They had sleepovers, stayed home from work, juggled schedules, lost sleep and were kept on their toes for five whole days. And we're pretty sure they really loved it as much as the girls did. :) All 6 of them are awesome and we are so blessed. We couldn't have made the trip to Calli without them!

The girls started off at my Dad and Lisa's, Kiki and Pops. Wait - I did that backwards - Dad and Lisa, Pops and Kiki. My Dad's name is not "Kiki."

They planned a bunch of fun things for the girls to do. It was a little cold but one day they went to the zoo and rode the Forest Park train. So fun!

They also went to the Keller Library, where Lisa was the director for so many years. These girls love going to the library! 

Dad took them to Jump Street one day. I wasn't too sure how the girls would like it, but they were brave and tried it and loved it! We loved hearing stories of how they stuck together and took care of each other when they were around other kids. Such good sisters!

 Back at the zoo - when Kendall saw the longhorn, she said, "Saw 'em off!" Makes us feel like we're doing something right. Whoop!

They even got to go visit Great Granny Sunday after church. They love playing with all the treasures at her house.

The girls "met" Calli for the first time at Kiki and Pops house. We skyped with them a lot and they always wanted to see Calli. It was fun letting them get to know her a little!

After being there from Wednesday to Monday, after school Monday my mom went and picked up the girls. They were so excited to go to Granny and Papas' and see the big dogs. One night when they were with them, Mom took the girls to a fundraiser for her school at Barnes and Noble and they got to sit with her while she read to the kids! They even picked out some books and Cooper made sure to choose one for Calli - so sweet!

 "Pa-getti!!" We think Cooper ate a LOT of spaghetti - she gained some weight in Ft. Worth!

 Skyping one night when Alden, Scott, Matt and Angie were there!

 They got to pick out new pajamas one day - Kendall loved these frog pajamas. She has been asking us for a robe. A lot. I'm not sure where she got it, but she has it in her head that she NEEDS a robe. Mom looked for one, but no luck. I think she's pretty happy with these.

 Mom showed them the blog each morning when they woke up so they could see pictures of us in China!

On a ride with Papas!

 New bathing suits and lots of swims in the hot tub. And terrorizing the dogs. :)

After a great week with Granny and Papas, on Saturday they moved to Gigi and Peeps' house. They were looking forward to lots of cousin time while they were there! I know at least 2 of the 4 nights they were there that they had sleep-overs with their cousins. One night Kendall and Gracie slept at Val and Jeff's and Cooper and Evy slept at Gigi and Peeps. Then, another night they flipped! They love being with their cousins!!

 One day when Peeps and Kendall were resting and Gigi was working on setting up Skype, Cooper was busy feeding the fish! She came in to Anita and said, "I fed the fish!" so proud of herself. She had dumped the whole container of fish food in the aquarium! Just pulled a chair up and was so proud. I think Peeps may have lost a couple of fish in that one...

 Goofy cousins! Not sure what planet they're all on, but it must be fun there!

 All 5 - just missing one! Look at that belly on Cooper! She totally gained Ft. Worth weight!

 

We just can't say enough how thankful we are for all of you guys! Thanks for loving our girls and taking such good care of them while we were gone. We weren't worried for a minute, and were so glad they were so happy and excited to be there. Thanks for making skyping with us a priority each day and for being patient with the girls when they were a little home-sick. We love all of you so much!!!

Loving Generously

Kendall and Cooper met Calli at the airport for the first time a week ago today.  That first meeting will forever be etched in my mind.  So much anticipation, so much excitement, so very sweet.  It was truly love at first sight.  They loved her when all we had was a picture and a plan.  It was amazing from the start how much they understood about a new sister coming into our family.  For months they have gone back and forth between playing "I have a baby in my tummy" and "I'm dopping' a baby!"  They got it.  They get it.  Calli is their sister!

The feeling is mutual.  They are equally smitten.  Calli is more comfortable because of them.  They make her smile, laugh...they make her happy.  I think "Kendall" and "Cooper" will be some of her first English words (maybe after eat and food).

Every once in a while there has already been a minor turf war over toys or clothes, but for the most part it is 100% love.  We think Cooper has been waking up early each day because she is so excited about seeing Calli.

Our mission as a family is to impact God's kingdom by living and loving generously.  It has been so rewarding to see our girls loving so generously.  I have no doubt that God's kingdom is going to be impacted.

Home

Our trip home took a full 24 hours to get to Ft. Worth and then one more day to get to Lake Jackson. It was a long hard trip but it was oh so good to finally be in our home on Thursday night. This is a long post - because I'm bad at choosing just a few pictures and I want to remember everything about those few days. It was all very overwhelming and a lot to take in, but the biggest emotion we felt was just simple gratitude. For so much. We have much to be thankful for.

We left our hotel in China at 5am Wednesday morning there (4pm Tuesday afternoon here). We drove in a van for almost 3 hours to Hong Kong, where our first flight began. It was pretty interesting going through customs at the China/Hong Kong border and neat to see a little of Hong Kong on our way to the airport. Calli stayed in her pjs and was great in the car, even sleeping a little.

Here is our plane to San Francisco! It was two levels - very cool! First class was on top. We wanted to just walk up there and see it but they don't even let you go up. Stink.

Our flight to San Francisco was 12 hours long. Calli did great. She never slept for long but she did take three or four little 30 minute or 1 hour naps. She stayed in Randy's lap the entire time, which was tiring for him. We had a seat for her, so at least we were on a bench of 3 with no one next to us or between us.

I got really sick on this flight. It is miserable to be that sick on a plane. Randy said it was the first time he's actually seen someone use the barf bag. Yes, I did. Ugh - it really was awful.

When we arrived in San Francisco, our flight was about 30 minutes late, which only gave us about an hour and a half to get through customs, go through immigration so Calli could officially be declared an American citizen, go back through security and recheck our bags and get to our gate. We were very blessed to get a wonderful immigration officer who processed Calli's citizenship quickly and helped us through. We would not have made our flight if it wasn't for him and we were so grateful. We got to our gate just in time to board, so no time for resting or cleaning up at all. Our flight to DFW was another 3 hours and I felt bad on this flight again. Just not a fun way to arrive home at all. We were so glad to be on the ground in Ft. Worth and so ready to see our girls and our family!

Here they are, all waiting for us with signs and everything! So fun! 

Finally! We missed Kendall and Cooper so much and were so happy to finally hug them. They gave us quick hugs but were really most interested in seeing, touching, hugging, and talking to Calli for the first time. She's such a rock star!

All our moms! So glad to finally see them, too! And introduce them to their newest granddaughter!

 Gracie and Evy were there! Oliver was, too.

 Sweet Cooper just could not get enough of "Sweetsie Calli!" She kept putting her hands on her face really gently and talking to her and hugging her. She also needed to be held by Dad, so he had his hands even more full! And he loved it.

 We loved seeing how Calli responded to the girls right away. She smiled at them and didn't seem annoyed by all their attention. In China when we would Skype, she really didn't pay attention to the computer much. She was all about her sisters now that they were in person though!

Finally! All 5 of us together!

From there, all our parents and sisters went to Gigi and Peeps' house for dinner and to just hang out for awhile. It was nice to be able to let everyone spend some time with Calli before we left the next day and share stories from our trip. I got sick again on the way to their house, so part of this is a blur to me. I just felt so bad and couldn't shake it. Not fun at all. Randy was so amazing though, taking care of me and all the girls, and it was wonderful to have our parents' help. The girls had fun playing outside and letting Calli swing for the first time!

That night we gave all three girls a bath and all five of us slept in Gigi and Peeps' king sized bed for the night! We crashed around 8:30. Calli and Randy were up at 4:30, which made for a long day the next day, but was really a pretty good night's sleep, when you start at 8:30!

The next morning we re-packed, got all the girls' things together and left for Love Field about 10:30. I was so thankful for only a one hour flight, and the girls were so excited about getting to fly again!

Because of weather, our flight was delayed taking off, but when we finally arrived in Houston, we had another "Welcome Home" party at the airport! It was so fun to walk out to our friends waiting to meet Calli and see us! We're so thankful for friends who are like family and would drive up to Houston, wait even though we were delayed, and make us feel so special and loved coming home. We are so blessed.

Calli even got to play peek-a-boo with Caleb! Love that! She was all smiles for her friends.

Michelle drove our van up and drove us home. It was so good to be home, but then I was sick again right when we walked in the door. Ugh. She was wonderful though and stayed to help Randy take care of the girls while I rested. Kathy Pickering brought chicken noodle soup for dinner and we just felt so loved and taken care of.

And look what we walked in to! We had groceries in the pantry and fridge from Michelle, Lisa and Mary, our yard had been mown by Tamara, Kent, Debra and Nathan, and we had gift cards and diapers from so, so many friends. It was just so overwhelming and so wonderful to come home to. We are so thankful for our friends and don't feel like we deserve all this. Calli is so loved already and it just made me cry to see how many people love her and us.

Our neighbors, Frannie and Bud, even kept Molly for us for a whole two weeks while we were gone. And then told US thank you! Those are some good neighbors and even better friends. We're thankful for them.

We have so much more to write about coming home: all the emotions, how Calli is doing, how the girls are doing, and how life is going adjusting to being a family of 5. I'll save all that for another post though.

I just want to finish this one by saying again how thankful we are. We felt so covered in prayer while we were in China, so supported and encouraged by all your texts, emails, facebook messages and comments on the blog. We read each one of them to each other and would just cry sometimes at how amazed we were. To have the community of family and friends we have is something we don't take for granted and we have prayed God's blessings over each of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottoms of our hearts. We love you and can't wait to introduce Calli Faith to each one of you. We're so glad to finally be home with her.