We're home!

It's been a very blurry 5 days since we have been home. We arrived in Cincinnati on schedule last Wednesday night, the 2nd of July, but were delayed on the tarmac. Some other plane was at our gate - the nerve of them! We sat on the tarmac for 40 minutes before being cleared to proceed to a gate. It was tears of joy to see Keegan and Oliver. They had both grown while we were gone! In fact, Keegan has grown at least an inch since May! Vince thinks that the boys seem so tall because ZhuZhu is so small (she is about the height of K&O at 2.5 years). We were so happy to be united as a family! And also happy to be off airplanes! We had been in 3 countries (China, Japan and the U.S.) and 3 states (Michigan, Kentucky and Indiana) within a 24hour period. We were overjoyed to arrive at home, but ZhuZhu took one look at the house (we had shown her pictures of our farm in China) and realized that the fairytale of having housekeeping, room service and a personal driver was over. At least I think that is what initiated the crying...

The details of the next three days escape me, but I do remember that there was almost nothing we could do to put a smile on our daughter's face. We were trying to catch up on sleep, find foods that she would eat (watermelon and apple juice were her staples), and comfort her. Trying to impose a few household rules didn't make her very happy either. To top it off, Oliver wasn't feeling well. Keegan held down the fort for a few days by answering the phone, fetching and reading books to ZhuZhu. For those of you who have brought a newborn home from the hospital, I'm sure you recall the overwhelming feeling of fatigue and helplessness. Very similar conditions at our house, only our "baby" was 32 pounds and potty-trained (a definite plus!).

Vince had a very low-key Fourth of July birthday. We did manage to make a cake and find a can of ready-made frosting. The boys decorated it with red, white and blue star sprinkles. ZhuZhu did not like the extinguishing of the candles. We were so tired that we were not able to attend any of the firework displays this year. Perhaps next year we will be able to attend at least one firework celebration for Baba's birthday.

Saturday evening, I made fried rice (I have never made this before) and salmon. ZhuZhu ate great and even had seconds! Guess what?! She slept 8 hours that night! Sunday, we managed to get out to a nearby family reunion for a couple of hours (with ZhuZhu, of course) and did not have any crying until supper. This is progress! Sunday night she slept great and today we did get into town to the library and a couple other places. She did very well, although still very shy, and I know the boys were itching to get out of the house (as was their Mom).

The boys adore their sister and ZhuZhu will follow Keegan around like his shadow. She is still warming up to Oliver, but he is just now recovering from his illness and is starting to play with her more. Vince went back to work today and I spent 2 hours in the garden pulling weeds - they grew while we were gone, also. It's pretty much back to normal here for all of us but ZhuZhu. She is discovering new places in the house and outside.

We continue to see improvement by the hour. Today, she started counting silverware while Keegan was unloading the dishwasher - in English! When we got to the letter "L" with her alphabet cards, I said "Lara starts with L. Who's Lara?". She responded, "ZhuZhu". She is smiling more and finding her place within our family.

We want to express our appreciation for your prayers and acts of congratulations to us. We will continue to update this blog, but on a less frequent basis. This has been the journey of a lifetime and I encourage any of you, if a red thread is tugging at your heart, to open it to the life of a child and encounter joy at every step. God Bless Us, Everyone!