Saturday, December 29, 2012

1 Month update!

It has been 1 month since we first met Caelyn and 2 1/2 weeks since we have arrived home.  It has been crazy and amazing all at the same time.  At first, jet lag was not our friend at all.  Caelyn was either sleeping all day or not sleeping at all.  We are finally over that hurdle thank goodness.  Caelyn has been doing well adjusting to life in the US.  She likes adventuring out of the house and we hear a lot of questions everywhere we go!  Her English is growing and she is good about asking what a word means if she doesn't understand it.  I think she likes having so many brothers and sisters; most of the time!  Her and Claire tend to butt heads.  They both have strong personalities and like to have things their way and like to win.  Some days I feel like I spend most of my days refereeing between the 2 of them.  Today, they played board games together without a parent and did very well.  Gary and I kept complimenting them on how well they were playing together!  Caelyn has been grieving at times.  It seems to happen at night at bedtime.  Bedtime has been an issue and you can almost see her anxiety build the closer it comes to bedtime.  Right now, we are having her sleep on the floor in our room.  She sleeps well there and we figure right now she just needs to be close to us to feel safe.  We have a bunch of doctor appointments lined up for January to get her checked out.  She will be starting 2nd grade in January as well.

We are so happy to be back home.  16 sleeps was just too long to be away from the other kids.  Since being home we have dealt with:  Caelyn with shingles (her outbreak started before we left China), Claire had a foot injury and ended up in a boot, Claire ran a fever and got the respiratory crud, and Caleb got the chicken pox.  Plus throw in 2 Christmas band concerts for Brianna and Hunter!  Gary's dad, Myron, has been in and out of the hospital as well.  He battled esophogeal cancer and had surgery this summer.  Well, his new esophogus has strictures and swallowing is very difficult.  He has lost 20 pounds which he didn't have to lose.  He is currently in the hospital waiting to get a g tube so he can get nutrition.  Please pray for Myron and the family as we care for him especially Wayne and Teresa.  Whew, this momma is tired!  Praying for a healthy 2013!

Here are a few pictures to catch you up!
Our travel group!
 Red Couch photo!
 Family of 8!!
 My favorite...with 6 kids there most likely will always be someone who doesn't want to participate and on this day at this time it was Claire!
 The girls!
 My 6 kids!
The boys!
 
Happy 1 month Gotcha Day, Caelyn!

1 comment:

Sarah said...

Oh, wonderful to read an update! It sounds like Caelyn is fitting in with some minor bumps in the road.

You definitely need to have a healthier 2013!!! So sorry for all of the illness.

Your family is beautiful@