Six Months

She is six months old.  She is perfectly healthy.  She smiles and laughs a lot.  She can sit up by herself for about 30 seconds.  She is still figuring out how to use her hands to grab stuff.  She still gets up twice in the night...she misses us.  She only sucks her fingers at bedtime or when she's scared.  She is adored by her siblings, who fight for her attention.  She loves being held and we love holding her.  She knows her mommy and daddy.  She has only been in our family a little over a month.  She seems like she's been here her whole life.

Pictures from Rwanda and Kenya

Our friends the Mahoney's, another family on our trip, made these great slideshows of pictures from Rwanda and Kenya we wanted to share...

Rwanda:

Kenya:

A Week and A Few

It's been a week and a few days since we've all been home together.  Since we've been home, we have been busy.  The Saturday after we returned, my brother, sister-in-law, and nephews came to visit.  So, we took an impromptu trip to DC for the day.  It was great to walk around in the fresh air on such a beautiful day! 

After they visited, the kids came home and my sister, Maggie and niece, Mary Kate, stayed with us for a few days.  These are not pictures of me, but of my sister, who could be my twin :) 

While she was here, Maggie also took these pretty great photos:

I know she's mine and that it's easy for me to say, but this girl is spectacular.

Since we've been together, there has been some of this:

There was a "Welcome Home" party with friends:

 Jon is back to work this week, the boys and I started school this week, and Sarah went back to preschool.  We have ventured out to Tae Kwon Do, will start basketball tonight, and have made it to a couple of doctor's appointments.  We are adjusting as well as can be expected.  

Life is sweet.

Everyone home!

Yesterday, we met Maggie and the kids at the airport.  The kids met Josiane for the first time.  The last couple of days have been loud, but great.  Four kids (+ one extra for a couple of days) are a lot of energy!

Here is the video of the meeting:

And some photos of the first couple of days:

Home!

We made it home today to this:

It was SO great to see familiar faces at the airport after our LONG flight.  Thanks Mary, for making the beautiful banner to welcome Josie home.  Thanks Gwen and Brittanie and Gabe, Courtney, Sawyer, Lincoln, and Levi and Claire for sharing our joy!  (And Courtney, thanks for the YUMMY pumpkin cinnamon rolls.  So good!)  Thanks book club ladies for the food essentials.  We appreciate not having to run out for milk, bananas and bread with a baby.  Thanks, Mary Reilly, for the "Welcome Home" sign and balloons to greet us on our front door.

To everyone we didn't see today who has been following our adoption journey--praying for us, e-mailing us, face booking with us, etc.--your encouragement and love for our family is well felt.  Thank you!

After visiting with friends, we started unpacking and doing laundry.  As the day has progressed, we have seen the affects of jet lag begin.  We were at Target picking up more formula and more laundry detergent. After we'd chosen our laundry detergent and put it in the cart, we realized we'd both been just standing in the aisle, staring for several moments...zombielike, looking for nothing.  That was our only adventure for today, as Jon and Josie both fell asleep at 4pm.  I am trying to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime...thus the blogging :)