FIRST FAMILY DAY AT HOME!

What a GREAT first family day back HOME!

We arrived at the airport at midnight, greeted by a sweet group of friends who wanted to Welcome Sami Home!!!!  We got the boys to bed about 3pm, after familiarizing Sami with the house, dogs, etc.  Kaleab enjoyed WALKING around the house too!  He was so excited to be HOME!

Oh, how it touched my heart beyond words to be able to tuck BOTH of our sweet boys in bed, and to say prayers with Sami!  It was so surreal!!!  Then when it was time for Jeff and I to hit the hay, I was overwhelmed (in a good way) with the realization that when I was praying for our boys, I no longer had the empty angst of having either one of them halfway around the world!  They.were.HOME.and.just.down.the.hall.from.me!!!!

Praise God!!!  Dreams really DO come true!!!!!!!!!!!

I just couldn't calm down from my excitement of having Sami home, and didn't fall asleep until about 4:30pm.  Sami woke up early and came into our room about 7:30am.  Jeff offered to let me sleep some more and he got up.

ARE.YOU.KIDING.ME!?!?!?!?!?!?!?  I tried to go back to sleep, after having only slept 3 hours and having just traveled 34 hours, but...........SAMI WAS HOME!!!!  And both boys were awake!  I couldn't go back to sleep!  I got up and enjoyed the reality that OUR children's laughter was infiltrating our home!

SAMI and KALEAB WERE BOTH HOME!!!!!  

I've never had so much fun making breakfast for "my three boys!"  {including Jeff}  We all played around the house and skyped and spoke with family, then went to the park.  Sami quickly learned how to use the "chuck it," as well as the commands for the dogs to play fetch {come, leave it, etc}.  I don't know who had more fun ~ me and Jeff watching him and the dogs, or Sami......or the dogs!  {big smile inserted here}

We all then played on the playground equipment with Kaleab, who was tuckered, not only from the travel, but from WALKING on the uneven grassy ground.  Poor boy just so badly wanted to join the soccer fun with Dad and Sami.  One day, Kaleab.  One day.

We topped off the late morning/early afternoon with ice cream cones from one of our favorite local ice cream drive thrus, and returned home.

For dinner, we got to have authentic Ethiopian cuisine!  An Ethiopian family fundraiser was tonight, to help a sweet Ethiopian family return to Addis Ababa, after they departed from there 22 years ago!  Sami was in HEAVEN with the food!  Especially the Dorowat!  MUCH better than any airport food he had tried on the way home!  :)  We had our laughter moments eating, as Sami taught us that we were eating with the injera wrong.......we weren't using all five of our fingers when picking up the food!  It was hilarious and fun.

Topping off this fundraiser event was watching Sami play with my dear, sweet friend, Allison's five children!  Two of whom came home from Ethiopia two years ago this summer!  They all had so much fun together playing soccer and throwing the football!  And the girls just loved playing with Kaleab.

The scene continually melted my and Allison's hearts!  SO looking forward to more of those fun heart-melting moments!  I think it was awesome for Sami to be able to engage with other kiddos his first day home.  Just to assure him that he will have friends here, too, like he did back in Addis.  And these Shurburne kiddos are such special kiddos to call friends!  Sami was on cloud nine!  Where he got the energy to play as he did, is beyond me.  But he CRASHED immediately upon returning home.  Sweet boy.

And now, as all three of my boys and both our tuckered out dogs sleep, I write this post of our first day as a family at HOME.  And my bed beckons me.

Good night sweet boys.  Thank you for filling my heart to overflowing.  And Thank You, Lord, for bringing us these two amazing and incredible sons!  We feel SO BLESSED!

And just in time for my first Mother's Day!  Last year at this time, we had not even seen the faces of either son.  We celebrated being paper pregnant with children we had not yet seen.  This year......not only do we know the faces of our boys, they are both HOME to share the day with me!  Can't believe ANY Mother's Day will top tomorrow's...........our first Mother's Day TOGETHER!!!!!

Good night dear readers and friends.  I thank you for walking this journey with us to our boys, and for helping to pray them both home!  My prayers will continue for you and your stories to your children as well.

And now, an amazing new chapter begins for our family.  I look forward to it, knowing that God is the center of it all!!!!!!!  And I look forward to sharing with you along the way!

Blessings and sweet dreams!