Sunday was our first day home all together, and it was also our “get everything back on track” day… I washed and rebraided my girls’ hair, went through the mail and bills, looked at all the kids’ school work, helped sort the laundry which was all washed but needed to be put away, etc.

But first and foremost, I had THE MOST glorious and much needed shower of my entire life.

I had been worried that Belane would be very clingy with me and it would be hard to get things done, but she was happy to have Josh carry her around, and she played really well with the other kids, too. She took right to Mercy (our oldest) and to Marcus (the youngest). She did a lot better all the way around than I expected.

She enjoyed the new “stuff”, but was happy to play with one or two things quietly. She wasn’t wild or crazy with buttons and light switches, etc… in a way, she sort of walked around like it was all familiar to her. I watched her carefully to look for signs that she was getting overwhelmed, but she was just great.

She did struggle a bit at meals…sitting at the big table with all of the kids looking at her was just too overwhelming. So Josh let her sit in his lap and eat at the breakfast counter. As soon as she was away from everybody, she was fine. She ate well…LOVES cereal and milk and everything else we put in front of her.

We enjoyed the day just hanging out and spending time together…getting back into the “swing” of family life.

I kept thinking back to when our Amanda first came home from Korea (she was two years old) and everything felt so “out of whack”, and it almost felt like we a had a guest in the house for the first few weeks. It hasn’t been like that with Belane…I don’t know if it is because of all the time I had with her in Addis or just because of her easy going personality, but our days have flowed along really well and she just fits right in.

*The picture above is from our first meal together...sitting on the bed in our room at the Hilton, just two hours after we got her. We had given her a bath and then ordered some room service for lunch. We had ordered her injera and wat for her, which she liked ok, but she decided she wanted Josh's cheeseburger instead.