We are home!

Sorry everyone for the delay in the post. It was a very exhausting day of travel...over 24 hours of it. The kids were great and did it with very little complaint. The orphanage was worried about Viktorija being afraid of air travel, but the only complaint from her was having to wear her seat belt when we landed. The 10 hour flight from Poland was especially difficult. The food was awful, thank goodness I packed some crackers in my bag. I wanted to have a little temper tantrum so I'm shocked there was little noise from the kids. After traveling across the globe with 4 kids, I feel I can do anything now. LOL!

Once we arrived in Chicago, we had to go through the process of getting Viktorija's stamp of approval that makes her an official US citizen, more waiting and sitting. Once we had that, we got our rental van and stopped for something to eat. Viktorija passed on the food, but was more then happy to eat the ice cream I offered her. I was shocked to see all the lilac bushes in full bloom along the highway. Made me feel like I was gone longer then 3 weeks. Lilacs in April...crazy! The van came with a DVD player so we got HOP at Target and hit the road. Viktorija was asleep shortly after the opening credits. I think the boys made it through most of the movie before falling asleep. B and I tried to keep a conversation going so we could stay awake. Longest day ever!

Once we got home, the boys dragged themselves in and crawled into bed. Viktorija awoke some and was pretty disoriented. Poor thing! I showed her around a bit but then tried to get her in her PJ's. She started to cry. Then she realized that the doll that was in the picture we sent her of her room wasn't on the bed. She started asking for it and luckily that was one of the words I had learned so I knew what she was looking for. I pulled the doll out of the closet and she curled up and went to sleep. My sweet baby girl.

She woke up crying Wednesday morning, but quickly settled once she saw me. It was 6:30 in the morning. Oi! We had some breakfast and explored the house. She is not a fan on the dog. In our family picture, just his head was in it, so I think she thought he was much smaller. But just like the water park, she is trying to over come her fear. It's exhausting though, she wants to see the dog and calls the dog over then decides no still scary and get's upset. This goes on all day. Right now her favorite is to watch the dog from the office through the french doors. She can see, but is protected. The dog has been great. Just sits there and looks at me like, "what did I do?" LOL!

She was very excited to see clothes hanging in her closet. She especially liked the dress with a matching one for her doll. We of course had to try on a few things before we settled on something. It was a beautiful day, so we went outside for a walk. The boys were excited to have a little freedom away from us and see there friends. I think they were outside most of the day. At dinner I noticed their cheeks were all red. I figured it was from running, but by the end of dinner I noticed their necks were red too...they were sun burned! Never did it occur to me to but sun screen on them. Yesterday I was bundling them up because there was snow on the ground. And it is Michigan in early April, just wasn't expecting to have to worry about that yet.

She keeps me very busy. I really can't leave her unsupervised for very long. She's just so curious and if I'm not watching, she will try anything...like a roll of toilet paper down the toilet or a sink full of soap while she washes her hands. She doesn't sit still long and likes to change activities frequently.

Night time rolled around and we got everyone ready for bed. I laid down with Viktorija and we were both out. It was a very full long day for both of us. Unfortunately our clocks are still pretty messed up so we were up and down through out the night. Overall I think she is adjusting pretty well. I'm very proud of her. She's very brave and has a great attitude towards new things.

Thank you everyone for all your prayers and support while we were away. Every comment was greatly appreciated. I will still post here and there, but life is going to be pretty busy. She keeps me on my toes. Plus it going to be a lot of the same day after day while we get used to each other. We are so excited to have her home and just love her to pieces.