HOME is where the HEART is

We have been home for 12 days now and it seems like we have always been together. Diego and Yerly are doing extremely well at home. They are behaving and listening and so much more relaxed than they were in Colombia.
Thrusday, November 19th, 2009
Our first day home was a blast. Nana and Grandpa brought the other kiddos to Chicago to pick us up in 2 vehicles. It was a great first encounter. After many hugs and tears we were united as a family after all this time in the United States!!! We loaded up in the suburban and started to pull out of the parking lot when Diego said "Papi sabes a manejar?!? (Papa knows how to drive?!?) - we all laughed until we realized that for the three weeks in Colombia neither Mike nor Tristin drove anywhere... We all fit snuggly in the suburban and made our first stop at the McDonalds Oasis near Rockford where we had our first all american meal of burgers and french fries. The impact of having a family of 8 set in as the bill was around $50!!! Olivia drove us the rest of the way home and when we pulled up in front of the house D&Y both shouted "Ya llegamos! (we arrived!) They spent the next hour going from discovery to discovery in each room where they had to touch and feel everything. So much excitement. That night they slept in their bads for the first time. There was some anxiety and it took a while to settle down but what a blessing to have our new family members home snug in bed.
Friday, Nov 20th, 2009
The next day they were able to watch their first American football game as our hometown high school team won the Wisconsin State Championship! That night their Aunt and Uncle came to visit them. This was a special visit for they had adopted their son from Ukraine 4 years ago and their journey through adoption process was invaluable to us. Their three children and our were able to spend time together for the first time. They brought them Build.A.Bears with voices recorded - D&Y listen to them every night.
Saturday/Sunday
Spent our first weekend together at home with some of the kids activities kicking in. D&Y were doing much better for the most part. All of us have been adjusting to the new family dynamics. Patience, patience, patience. Communication is a blast - Ella and Dayne are speaking more Spanish this first month than they learned in the previous year. We went to Pizza Hut and had our first movie night. We went to church and we were warmly introduced to all of our church friends. Diego and Yerly were a bit overwhelmed with all the people at first but slowly warmed up. That evening Grandma and Grandpa WIliams came to visit with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Staci and Greenly.
Monday-Wednesday
School
Family supper table is a wild time of different conversations going on in different languages all at the same time. We have found this time to be very special time of sharing our day for everyone to hear and bond.
Wednesday night we had snow - this was a first time Diego and Yerly had ever seen snow. They were amazed saying "Mira tu pelo" (look at you hair with the snow coverine our heads as we caught snowflakes on our tongues. and listened to their laughs and expressions of joy saying funny things like "pica fria" (spicy cold)
Thanksgiving
We were able to see all of our family on Thanksgiving day. The first half of the day was spent at Williams where they had their first Thanksgiving meal with all the fixings. We were talking about Thanksgiving all week leading up to this because Colombia doesn't have a "Thanksgiving" day. They had fun playing with their cousins. Then off to Rothwells to meet everyone for the first time. They were a bit shy at first but then once the cousins started playing they joined in.
T-Giving Weekend
We cut down our Christmas tree. This was quite an adventure - D&Y didn't really know what to think. We found out they knew about Christmas trees but did not every have one personally before. This was neat to walk through all the trees and pick the one for our family. Diego and Dayne were eager helpers with the saw.
Once we returned home we unpacked and had our first Christmas pizza-movie with home made pizzas that were interesting creations from Diego and Yerly followed by a family favorite "Christmas with the Cranks"
SUnday after church we decorated the house for christmas. We decorated the tree with all the kids ornaments. DIego and Yerly had never experienced this and really enjoyed carefully placing all the ornaments carefully on the branches. At the end when we put the angel on top they spent time just looking at the tree.
Upon our return, our hometown newspaperup wrote an amazing article about our family and the adoption process for a Thanksgiving special. It was very well done and we are really thankful for how well the reporter put the story together.