Tuesday, March 31, 2015

NORAH is HOME!!!!

We have been waiting and waiting and waiting on this day to come.  My sister-in-law and brother-in-law have been in the process of adopting a precious little girl from China.  They found out last November that they were matched with Norah.  And one of the best things about Norah is that she is 5 days younger than Lucy.  All of our boys are close in age so it was just crazy that our girls are now days apart!  So it's been a LONG wait and finally the time came that they were able to travel overseas and get her.  They were there for 2 weeks so we were able to see lots of pictures and video of Norah before they got home.  The boys and Lucy loved seeing and hearing all about her.

This is the first picture we got when they got her.  I just love this.....the look on Mal and Norah's face.  

They were set to come home last Thursday night so we loaded up, painted sign, and got all ready to head up to Kansas to be there when they got off the plane.

Lucy even tried calling Norah on her phone to see what time she'd be there :)

And what a fun ride that was.....well actually not really.  We were pulling a trailer with a bunch of furniture that was going back to Logan's parents house and there was an awesome 30mph headwind that we were driving into.  To top it off the boys were playing on the trailer hitch before we left and pulled out the wire on the trailer lights.  So before we even got out of the neighborhood we had to turn around and fix that :).  Then when we got about 45 minutes down the road our oldest needed to pee :).  So we stopped and went and ahead and got gas.  While I was filling up we noticed a cable was dragging the ground by the trailer.  Well actually that was the trailer lights :).  They had come unplugged and had been dragging down I-35.  Not good.  So we then went to Walmart to get a new plug and fix it once again :).  So needless to say it was a LONG trip there but we made it!!!

Don't let this cuteness fool you....she is TERRIBLE in the car.  Yes terrible.  She screamed basically the whole time unless I was either feeding her or she was taking this 10 minute nap :).
This one did great....and the 2 in the back.  Put a movie on and they don't even realize we're driving!
Oh but she is so cute....and those cheeks and lips just get me :)
This is how we made it through the last 20 minutes.....she thought it was fun :)

We found out their plane was delayed so sadly they didn't get in until Friday morning.  But we got some time to hang out with the rest of the family.  These two boys were SUPER excited to see each other!!!!
 
and these 2 have fun too.....
you just never know at Mimi's house....
So Friday morning we all gathered at the airport and made a scene.....it was much more emotional than I thought.  It is just all the prayers and time that has gone into the moment they finally got to be home with their little girl.   Adoption is an amazing thing.  I got to walk through it with Brittany and now within our own family.  It's hard to put into words exactly how amazing it is to see a child rescued and brought into a family to be loved and cherished.  It's a picture of how loved we are with Christ.


And she of course is just precious.  She is super tiny....only 15lbs compared to Lucy's 21lbs :)
And it's the Kriegers.....family of 6!
Of course they were completely exhausted but we were able to be with them some.  

Poor Kai....he went on the trip too and he was so tired.  He fell asleep Friday afternoon at like 3:00 and just couldn't wake up.  
We all celebrated Mimi's birthday Friday night.  



She just loves me right ?!?!?!  Actually no....not really.  She is already very attached to Mallory which is awesome.  She is fearful and unsure of most anyone else.  She hadn't really ever been around men and no one has facial hair in China so she wasn't too fond of Logan either.  It will take awhile for her to bond but I was amazed at how well she is doing.

sweet little buddies :) and yes, there is like a million pictures because they were so cute together and actually letting us take their picture!









Another really fun part of our trip was Ashleigh.  She is Jason's sister and was there the whole time.  She came up early to help Judy with the younger 2 boys and then stayed to meet Norah.  She lives in Boerne which is just so ironic.  And so she just has to be cool.....I mean she's from Boerne!?!?!?!  I haven't ever gotten much time with her and I did this time.  She is really neat and I loved getting time to know her.  Lucy had a new buddy too....she was pretty cute with her!
I just love this little face :)

And of course saying goodbye is always the hardest.....it flew by but it was time for us to go and them to get to just be a family.  



The way home was better but we were definitely glad to be out of the car :).

Mallory got the girls matching dresses from China.  It is so cute on her.  We just need them together in their dresses now ;)