Quick update on being home

I've been awake for about an hour now while everyone else is blissfully asleep in this house.  Aaah, the nice quiet morning!  I should hopefully be adjusted to the jet lag in a day or two and will probably be woken up by 4 alarm clocks from here on out :-)  Darya seems to be doing very well as she's been asleep for over 9 hours already.

As I already mentioned the travel home was long and tiring. Darya did amazing though!  It was SO GOOD to see Joel and my boys when we arrived!!  I crawled into my own bed about 2:00am, only to be woken by Darya at 3:00am.  I got up with her, gave her something to eat and drink, thinking that she'd be up for the day.  But 45 minutes later she was tired and went back to sleep.  Yay!  Saturday my sister flew back to California.  Having her help me in Ukraine and traveling back was priceless.  I am so thankful for her!  Yesterday Darya and I stayed home while Joel and the boys went to church.  Darya now has the same cold I'm getting over and the goop is just oozing from her eyes.  She's been through so much this past week that to have a cold on top of it breaks my heart. But she's the ever-trooper!  She seems to really feel at home here and loves to play and explore.

Did I mention how great my husband is? He did an amazing job holding down the fort while I was gone.  He kept up on laundry, homeschooling the boys, cleaning, yard work, - all while working hard serving our church as their pastor!  Since I got home it's become more of a disaster zone with my unpacking and sorting through things. Even this morning when I woke up, I found the house clean again and coffee ready.  Aaaah, I love my husband :-)

One of my biggest fears from taking Darya out of the orphanage was getting her to eat, but it hasn't been as hard as I thought.  She likes things somewhat bland.  At the orphanage for breakfast she ate milk porridge; for lunch soup mushed up (with who-knows-what); afternoon snack was baked soft cheese with sugar and sour cream; dinner was the same as lunch.  We've been working on a variety of new foods, but not so different as to overwhelm her little tummy.  For her drink, I have been giving her apple juice until I can get her transitioned into something else. At the orphanage they gave her fruit drink and tea.  No milk.  No water.  We'll work on that :-)

The boys all absolutely adore their new little sister.  They love making her laugh and playing with her. They are all so patient and so helpful, too. Despite the picture below, I really do think she likes them!

Anyway, here area  few pictures over these past few days:

Together at last!

She really does like her brothers!

Sleeping like a baby