As I write this I am sitting at my dining room table, in my chair, drinking my tea, listening to my bird chirp and feeling the warm California sunshine all around me!!!

That’s right, we are HOME!!!

I cannot express the joy it brought us to drive up to our house, sleep in our bed, take a shower in our bathroom... all the normal every day things that we take for granted in normal circumstances. ON TOP OF ALL THAT we get to introduce a little girl, OUR little girl to all these things. We get to witness the wonder of her taking in a new world, HER new world. As I mentioned before, we have been working on showing her photos of our house, of her new things, and especially our bird and dog. After showing her the real version of her house, we were in her room getting her ready for bed and she pointed at the crib and said “mine”. Normally those words from a toddler are not pleasant, especially as it usually indicates their desire not to share. In this particular instance however, they were the most beautiful words we could have hoped for. They showed us that it worked; she understood that all this indeed is hers (and occasionally ours when she sleeps).

As we work through this new phase in our adoption journey, we expect many challenges but by God’s grace all we are receiving in this moment is JOY! This sweet girl has been amazingly resilient and HAPPY. Surprisingly happy. Going to the airport we expected tears but she was eager to ride the shuttle and board the plane. On the plane we expected a tantrum but she played happily with us and waved and smiled at all the passengers she possibly could. After waking up and being jostled out the plane and into the baggage area we expected an angry grump but she was intrigued by the carousel and clung to mama with a fierce grip. On the car ride home we expected her to be sleeping, but she was chattering away at the new car seat mirror like it was her best friend. (Our next lesson really needs to be to stop expecting a specific outcome with this one and just enjoy the journey.)

So yes, we are filled with joy. Joy at the beautiful girl whose life is now entwined with ours and joy that we are in the place we belong with her. Home.