since we've been home...

Well, we're back home from China, and everyone is doing great! It's much colder here than it was in Guangzhou.

I want to say "thank you" for all the support and encouragement that so many of you have given to us while we traveled to bring home our daughter.

Mostly because our last moments in China and flights back to the States were relatively uneventful (with some exceptions), I won't rehash any of that. You can check out Amy's blog for some of those updates.

But since we have been back, we have been very busy. We got in on Thursday, grabbed some dinner and pretty much went straight to bed. So last Friday, with a full night's rest, I got up and went to work that morning to get some things done... and took Kate with me. As you have probably read, she's a bit of a daddy's girl so I thought I'd try to ease her into my absence by taking her with me that morning and letting everyone else get some more sleep. It was fine because I always love showing her off, and Kate amazes me with how she handles new things so well. So that afternoon I had a meeting, so I left her at the house with Amy and kids and again she handled that very well, too. Kate has the boys-- who she absolutely adores!-- around most of the time (Ben has school only until 11:00am and Will only goes twice a week). So I think my going back to work has actually helped her and Amy's bonding experience. We finished up the day with some visits from friends and a good homecooked meal (Amy's meatloaf, mashed potatoes and peas = yum!), and judging from the amount Kate ate, she must have really liked it :)

(she loves those gloves)

Each night we've been trying to adjust our sleep to the new time zones and slowly it's getting better and better. So Saturday morning we laid around the house (the boys watched Qubo). And that afternoon I was leading a church event most of the day, so Amy carted the kids off to lunch with the girls in Lexington. I ended the night by finishing some prep for church and catching up on a little college football.

Sunday we went to church. That was fun. Kate went to big church with us and had a great time. She didn't seem to be at all overwhelmed... maybe a little nervous at times when strangers got too close. But she did great. She loved the music--she wouldn't sit still, clapping and wiggling around to the music! And I loved showing off my beautiful daughter. Later, Grammy and Boopa stopped by to meet their newest grandchild, went out to eat and came back for a little belated birthday cake and ice cream. Though Will sang "Happy Birthday" to her over and over on her actual birthday on Thursday and with the "party" on Sunday, I'm not sure she understands this whole birthday thing yet.

Monday Ben started back to school, and we're working hard to get back to "normal." It was my day off, so we just hung around the house. Amy did some grocery and clothes shopping. The boys watched some movies they got in China (Bugs Bunny and VeggieTales "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything"). Later, "we" carved the pumpkin... "we" means that I gutted it myself, carved it myself, and got to clean it up myself... they told me what shapes to make the eyes, nose and mouth :) Later, when Amy bathed the kids, I cleaned up the kitchen and baked pumpkin seeds. This was the first time I had ever tried baking pumpkin seeds myself, but I remember when I was a kid my mom doing this all the time. So I called my mom to ask what to do. Funny thing is that she said my brother, Brian, tried the same thing this year, too. It turns out Kate likes the pumpkin seeds, too.

Tuesday was pretty uneventful, I guess. I took the kids to school and went to work. We had spaghetti for dinner, and Kate loved it. We're glad she likes so many things, though she still doesn't seem to care for peanut butter, pizza, oranges or milk. I gave the kids their baths, but I had a hard time putting Kate to bed. I guess I forgot how tricky bedtime can sometimes be with two-year olds. Amy was great and was eventually able to get her in bed.

Wednesday was a big day. The church had their "Trunk-or-Treat" event where the adults decorate the trunks of their vehicles and pass out candy to the kids dressed in their Halloween costumes. It's a lot of fun. The boys dressed as Transformers--Ben as Bumblebee and Will as Optimus Prime. Kate became the third of our kids to wear the hand-me-down puppy dog costume, but she was very cute. It turned out to be an appropriate costume, too. I had told the youth on Sunday morning about my daughter and her middle name, Xuna, which was part of the name she was given at the orphanage. The "Xu" part of the name represents the year in which she was born, according to the Chinese zodiac. She was born in the year of the dog, and when each dog year roles around on the calendar it is paired with an elemental attribute. 2006 is fire dog. So many of the youth of my church are going around calling my daughter "Fire Dog." So anyway, it was a great time... lots of candy, tired kids and frozen toes :)

This morning our son Will got to show his preschool class pictures from his trip to China. We helped him show pictures of him with his sister, pictures from on the Great Wall, Tian An Men Square, the stone animal road at the Ming Mausoleum, and on trains, boats and playgrounds in China. I think he was proud to show off a little.

We have been unbelievably blessed with Kate's progress so far. She is such a joy to our family, and praise to God for bringing her so far so quickly! It is so amazing how in love I am with this little girl. And if you've not met her yet, I can't wait for you to see her.


* I apologize for not having more pictures here, but the battery on our home computer completely died so we can't access almost all of the pictures we've taken since we've been home. Hopefully soon.