As you may have guessed, since the last blog post, we travelled to India and brought home our littlest. It happened all pretty fast. We literally booked our tickets a week before we had to leave! It felt like a whirlwind trying to get everything ready- from packing, paying bills to tying loose ends at home and work. I was too busy to feel much excitement but once we got on the plane, I was able to breathe and let it all sink in.
We had a blast in India -loved every minute of it but we’re so glad to be back home. There’s so much to share but I’ll give you just some snippets of our trip.
Here’s the first picture we took of Gabi – the morning after we picked her up. (Btw, we decided to go by Gabi for ‘Gabrielle’ so she’s not confused by multiple nicknames).
The night before this picture was her first few hours with us – away from where she had lived the first year and half of her life, away from those she knew as her family. We had taken her away after just meeting her for about 2 hours. Needless to say, it was a very hard night for her and heart wrenching to watch her mourn. I held her until she fell asleep after crying so much. She kept pointing to the door and had crying bouts a few times a day for the first 3 days. She also stuck to me like glue so anytime I left her sight, she would cry until I came back. She had no smiles, no laughter, and no sound (other than her crying) to share with us until day 4.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling too good so she would just sit on the bed while I laid in bed for the first few days and by day 4, she had enough of sitting on the bed with me. LOL. She finally got off the bed and went to her daddy. You can imagine how excited we were to see the break through!
Since then, she’s had so many ‘firsts’. We introduced her to some of her new loves – noodles, hot dogs and french fries! She loves to be outside and stare out the window when we drive. Her expressions are priceless – especially when she sees something that catches her attention (animals are pretty high on that list). The biggest struggle we had was giving her a bath. It took both her parents and she still screamed bloody murder. We figured it would be easier once we got home and to our surprise, she could care less about rubber duckies – until her sister came up with a brilliant idea. Mikayla suggested the three of them play in bubble bath and after our littlest whined and moaned for a few minutes, she quickly realized how fun it was. Now, bath time is a breeze. Whew!
We came back home just in time to celebrate my little man’s 6th birthday so we ate at Chick-fil-A, played games & had cake.
After celebrating her big brother’s birthday, Christmas rolled around. Spending Christmas as a family with her has been such an answer to prayer. And to top it off, she got to see snow!
She’s transitioning wonderfully. She eats and sleeps well and has learned how to drink with a straw (it’s the little things, right?) 😉 We finally have a routine with her taking naps in the crib. Our latest challenge is sleeping all night in the crib. EEK! She is such a smart, strong and playful little girl. Home is now her territory so she struts around owning the place!
Alan and I are so blessed to be her parents and we can’t wait to see what God has in store for her. As I think about all that happened in 2015, I stand in awe of the way God orchestrates things. Our journey hasn’t been without challenges but like the lyrics to a song “never once did we ever walk alone”. We are thankful to all of you who have walked with us and grateful to God for ALWAYS being faithful and SO very good.
Here’s to a new chapter…..
