Home one week! Hallelujah!

We have been remiss in posting to the blog since we’ve been home, and hope you will accept our apologies! After a very long, long, long and tearful couple of flights, a tearful trip around the DC and Baltimore beltways, and catching up on some much-needed sleep, we have finally settled into a routine, and are finding energy to write and post! Coming home was the most difficult part of the journey but of course we are home and safe and happy now so those flights are becoming a distant memory.

Our week has been great! We are so incredibly happy to be home, and enjoying our son in our house, with our best cat O.J. and with all of our friends and family nearby to hug and enjoy. Our life here is very different now, but even more rich and fulfilling. Joshua has come to love and trust us, and we are going to work very hard every day to keep it all flowing to him, and each other (and OJ).

We’ve had a number of highlights in the last week, starting with Joshua’s first visit to our fantastic pediatrician, Ashley Block. Ashley and her husband Adam adopted their daughter Aliya from Kaz, She knows first-hand life in a BH, and promptly told us to feed Joshua more and have him sleep less, once he caught up on the time change. He’s now getting two naps a day instead of three, but he’s adjusted well. He loves rice cereal, buckwheat (from Kaz) and mixed grain cereal. Loves applesauce, pears, peas, and carrots. Ashley feels he’s doing great developmentally, and we just need to fatten him up! Plus he had to go get some blood tests, so while he was unhappy and cried, he took it well, and recovered quickly from that little trauma. We go back for a more in-depth visit on Monday, for vaccinations.

Other highlights of the week include a much-appreciated 3 day visit from Aunt Eileen, who helped us adjust the first few days we were home. Hallelujah for Eileen! Mother’s Day was fantastic, as Dave took great care of me, as I recovered from my cold, and showered me with lots of great gifts from Joshua. Babushka Judy and Dyedushka (sp) Dave came for a lovely visit on Mother’s Day too. Aunt Sally and cousin Meg came for a fun morning visit, and Aunt Eileen returned with Oma Marion for more on Monday! Also, cousin Lauren came this week too! We also had nice neighborhood jaunts in our fancy new stroller, getting to see the Cutairs, Yatovitzes, Borsettis, Roberts’ and Jenny Thompson (Derrick – Joshua’s been asking for you!). We also had a nice visit with Dara, who cared for OJ and our home while we were away. She's a wonderful girl, and we are so lucky to know her!

Joshua continues to enjoy meeting family and friends, and shows off his skills and charm whenever he has the chance. He’s very agile, and is starting to pull up whenever he can. He loves the exer-saucers from Linda Altemus and the Sakells! Thank you!!

I had a song in my head for most of our journey and experience to and from Kazakhstan. It’s just called “Hallelujah” – believe it’s been remade a number of times, but this rendition is more modern and very beautiful. I also wore my “Hallelujah” shirt on special days while in Kaz and also on the long flight home. The melody was all I could focus on when our little boy was so tired and cranky. With the song in my head, and knowing that the little boy I was holding and comforting was ours, that we were heading home finally, and that life was just so amazing, I found the strength in myself and in my wonderful husband to know that we would make it home – and be able to live a new life, now enriched with a new life and addition to our family. HALLELUJAH!