Nashville Airport

I do not have any pictures to post this morning but I thought I would give an update of Chloe's first night home. It actually went pretty good. The first night home is usually a night filled with LOTS of screaming and very little sleeping. I decided to lay down with Chloe at about 8 PM. Emma did not want to sleep in our bed she wanted to sleep in her bed, so she was in the bed watching Dora. I got in the bed with Chloe in my arms and as soon as I started to lay down Chloe started screaming. She screamed about 10 minutes. I sat up in the bed and rocked her until she went to sleep. I was then able to lay down and I was actually able to let go of her. She woke up at 12:20 but she just sat up and looked around. She found my face and put her hand on my cheek and then laid back down and fell asleep. She did toss around quite a bit but it says in her paperwork that she moves around a lot when she is sleeping. She sat up a few more times but went right back to sleep. I did get some sleep but Emma cried out several times. I think she may be getting a little cold. She was coughing and she kept wanting a drink, so her throat may be sore. Samuel came and got in the bed with us at about 3:45 but of course there was no room. He laid at the bottom of the bed but then got up and went back to bed with Jeremy. Emma started crying again at 5 AM and Sam was already up. Chloe woke up and was just looking around. I got up and Chloe and I ate some Cheerios and a banana. You would just not believe how incredibly sweet she is. She has been very quiet and you can see in her eyes she is just taking everything in. She is still not sure what to think of Maggie (our dog). She is not afraid of her she just seems cautious around her. I do not think Maggie even realizes that there is another person in the house. Chloe is not afraid to walk around the house and explore. She is playing with the toys and seems very comfortable with us. She also is letting Jeremy hold her. This morning she went to Jeremy and he held her for a few minutes and then she wanted me back, but at least she does not cry when he holds her. Well I will post some more pictures later today.

Well what is there to say about the events of today. We left the house at 5:45 this morning. Our flight left Nashville at 8:30. We arrived in Detroit at 11:30. We got to the International Terminal to meet Chloe. Her plane landed at 12:00 but we had to wait for her to go through customs. We waited over two hours and we started to get really nervous because our flight back to Nashville was leaving at 3:30. My parents, my aunt and uncle, and my cousin met us in Detroit so we did not have to wait alone. The escort finally came out of the sliding doors and on her back she was carrying our Chloe. Chloe was asleep and when she took her out of the carrier Chloe started to cry. She looked at me and started to settle down and then she looked at Sam and Emma and just smiled ear to ear. We were only able to spend a few minutes with my family because we had to catch our flight. Well Chloe is a little shorter than Emma but Chloe definitely weighs more. She is a little chunk. She did not cry at all after I took her from the escort. As we walked to our gate she just put her face against mine and patted my back. She is sooo sweet and she looks like Sam. It is really amazing how much she looks like Sam. I am sorry that we do not have pictures from the airport yet. We had other people taking them for us. Chloe also seems to have the same temperament as Sam did when he was a baby. She slept on the entire plane ride home. We had a group of wonderful family and friends waiting for us once again when we arrived in Nashville. Chloe hammed it up. She was smiling like crazy. We got home a few minutes ago so I took a few pictures of Chloe. Well Sam is already asleep on the couch so I am going to go ahead and try to get the girls down and maybe get some sleep. The girls are actually playing, I mean fighting, already. I will post the airport pictures as soon as I get them. Thanks so much for all the prayers!

Chloe at Home

Waiting and waiting in Detroit

" Sing, barren woman, who has never had a baby. Fill the air with song, you who've never experienced childbirth! You are ending up with far more children than all those childbearing woman." God says so!

"Clear lots of ground for your tents!

Make your tents large. Spread out! Think Big!

Use plenty of rope, drive the pegs deep. Your going to need lots of elbow room for your growing family.

Isaiah 54: 1-3 (The Message)

I found this verse when we were in the adoption process with Samuel. It seemed like everyone around me was announcing that they were expecting a baby. I was really struggling with jealousy, envy, anger, and all those other words that you do not want to be. All of my life I knew that I was meant to be a mother. I always wanted a house full of kids. So, when I had to have the surgery I was very confused about God's plan for my life. I came across this verse and it was a reminder to me that God did have a plan for my life and that it would include children. Back in December when we were waiting for Emma to come home and we got the phone call about Chloe I thought of this verse again. Who would have thought that in three and half years I would have three kids! I have been very emotional today. I guess I feel like I can finally breathe again. The last 20 months has been like a wild roller coaster ride and I feel like the ride is finally over. I know that having three little kids is not going to be easy but the stress of the adoption process is very overwhelming. 

Well Emma has been doing really good at using the potty. She went 3 times at Gran's house yesterday and then she went twice last night. She woke up this morning crying that she needed to go potty and she did. I am still not pushing her and she may totally forget about going potty when Chloe gets here. Well Sam is climbing all over me so I better go. The kids took a nap at about 6:00 so they will probably be up all night. We have a busy day tomorrow. After church we are going to our friends house for lunch. Tomorrow night the youth group is going to Ronald McDonald house to make supper. The kids are going to spend time with Uncle Jacob and Aunt Lynsey tomorrow night. Then we are all going to TRY to get some sleep. I still cannot believe that Chloe will be home in 43 hours.