Home at Last!

The last 30 hours have been such a whirlwind! I got that call yesterday afternoon, booked a flight and a ride to the airport, arrived at my home airport around midnight last night, and found my family waiting for us. Oh, were they a sight!

S decided to surprise the kids with my arrival, so he pulled them out of bed around 11:15, bundled them for a bit of cool weather, and left for the airport. When I met them, S and A were the only 2 that were truly awake with big smiles on their faces. S was wearing A on his back, and A was dressed in his PJ's, his sister's socks, and a goofy looking hat for warmth. M was wearing her little footed-sleeper PJ's, her purple bathrobe, and cuddled into one of daddy's arms, while JR was wearing his PJ's, his green robe, and his house slippers, and he was cuddled into daddy's other arm. When they saw me, S smiled, but A looked at me like he couldn't figure out what was going on, M ran over and scrambled into my arms without saying a word, and JR slowly walked over, actually fighting back tears. I am not sure if it was because he was so tired, so excited, or a combination of both. Notice the lady in the background of this photo. The "double-take" looking over her shoulder at our gang is something I started noticing when I had 3 youngsters, so I can only imagine how frequent it will be with 4!

Daddy cuddling N for the first time, shortly after we arrived home and got the other 3 tucked back into bed.

Today, we had to get up early and get over to the base to get N officially registered with the military and our insurance, then I had to scramble to get an appointment with the pediatric orthopaedist out here. I then dropped S off at work, and returned home. That's when I "lost" little N to JR and M. They wanted to hold, feed, stroke, "pet," cover, ANYTHING I would allow them to do. If one wasn't holding him, the other was. I timed JR--he held N for a solid 50 minutes. I kept asking if he wanted me to put him in his bassinette, but JR kept responding with, "No, he's sleeping, so I'm just stuck here holding him for a while!"

Unfortunately, I couldn't get any photos of N and A. When I introduced the two of them, A was absolutely fascinated, but quickly developed an intense interest in grabbing N's face. I couldn't leave him long enough to take a photo. I have to be sure N is out of A's reach unless I am right there to supervise. I guess now is as good a time as any to teach gentleness!

Oh, it is so good to be back home! For those of you who thought of us, offered words of support and comfort, and prayer on our behalf, we thank you from the bottoms of our hearts. For those of you who were directly involved in providing childcare, helping with arrangements, offering your home, calling me in the hotel just to see how we were doing, bringing S and the kids dinner, and even giving up your lives for several days to help us out during the wait, we will never be able to show our gratitude. It seems like such a trivial phrase, but Thank you. God has truly blessed us with our family, our new addition, and wonderful friends!