Ryan and Kala's Adoption Journey: Home

Its been 5 weeks since we arrived home, and wow the time has flown by! I often think of our neglected blog, but the pitter patter of little feet remind me there is no time to sit down and write, there is a little girl climbing on something, or putting something in her mouth that doesn't belong there.

That sweet little girl is occupied beside me with her breakfast, so I am going to attempt to write a quick update on our life as a family of 3!

The last month at home has been a whirlwind. We have been blessed to have seen so many of our family the last month. Grace has been able to meet many of her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We were blessed with 3 baby showers that filled Grace's closet with enough clothes till she goes to Kindergarten! We have taken a couple of quick trips out of town for a multitude of reasons, all of which include great memories! This past weekend we finally had the opportunity to celebrate a new milestone in Mom's life. We were blessed to be surrounded by family and friends for the weekend, and what sweet memories we have from our time with everyone!

Along with all of our fun, we have the day to day adjustments. This has not been as smooth of a process. We survived jet lag, got over our colds from the airplane, the change in climate ( our poor little girl.... even our summers are nothing compared Taiwan). We are learning to survive with a lot less sleep, teething ( OUCH) eating, getting dressed everyday (boy oh boy that can be hard somedays)... I am sure you get the picture.

I had a few expectations buried in the back of my mind about how life would be like when we got home. I was going to be super mom, have a meal on the table, laundry folded and put away and floors scrubbed each day. Not to mention my daughter would sleep through the night, I would be up before her have exercised and done my devotions before she even started to stir for the day....

I had no idea I had so many expectations until I was home and realized I was not meeting a single one of them. It occurred to me after a couple of sleepless nights that my life was not going to be picture perfect. I was going to be the mom with huge bags under her eyes, who was lucky to get a shower in that week ( am I wearing deodorant????? ) Supper???? are you kidding!?!?!

Thankfully I have been able to slowly work through the expectations I have placed on myself and have been enjoying each crazy moment with our little energizer bunny! Our house may not be clean, but Grace has been fed, played with, sung to, read to, redirected from the toilet paper, gone for a walk or wagon ride and begged to just close her eyes for a couple of minutes of sleep. I am currently trying for the world record of quickest shower, and I do believe that I will get there someday soon!

I feel like we are finally settling into life at home, I can not remember what the house sounded like without Grace in it. Our little girl is 10 months old! She takes a couple more steps everyday, but still prefers to have something to hang onto when she walks. She has 5 teeth and 2 more that keep playing peekaboo (ARGGGGG) she needs the least amount of sleep of anyone I have ever met. She is very happy, and very chatty. She likes to smile and her laugh is music to the soul. She loves to make noise, and you can often find her at the piano on her tip toes to stretch and play the keys. She is tough and rough, Grace's first big word just might be "gentle".

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us, and encouraging us! We have been blessed with so much support and help from our family! We are so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people!