We have now been home for 5 days! Lots of pix!

Things are getting better everyday!  It was such a blessing to get home!  AHHHHHH!  We can settle in~finally!  What a blessing to get to see our lovely girls after being away for so long.  I didn't realize how much I missed them until we got to see them in person again.  I love our girls soooo much!  The boys were out on their feet when we finally made it home on Tuesday, so the greeting wasn't exactly what you would like to dream about.  We had travelled for roughly 22 hours, and they each slept a total of maybe 3 hours the whole way, so yeah, we had some really tired little fellows.  They slept the whole time we were being greeted at the airport.  Then finally, when we were loading up the van, and getting them in their car seats, they started to perk up a bit.  We drove home, and got stopped by a train, which they loved seeing~~so many new experiences for them every time we turn around.  (And, now dad was behind the wheel.  It was wonderful after being in car rides going 80-90 mph endlessly on 2 lanes road.)  We got home, and Mallory had gone grocery shopping, and made dinner for us, so we ate dinner and time for bed. 

A couple of notes here.  Poor little Roman, so tired, and not in his elements, got sick all over himself as we were landing in JFK.  Seriously, the plane is descending onto the runway, and I hear Diester behind me say, "It's okay, I'll get those clothes off of you."  I just knew what had happened.  So, Diester first goes to pick him up, and gets the mess on himself before he realizes -not a good idea!-and sets Roman back down.  Poor guys~~He takes the clothes off of Roman, and since we had another whole 7 hours before we were actually home, Diester decides to rinse out the clothes in the airplane bathroom.  Well, you get about 1/4 cup of water with each press of the faucet handle.  So, he was in there a while with this tedious chore.  In the meantime, I am trying to get Isaac together to get off of the plane, console Roman as he is laying there totally wiped from no sleep and now no food in his belly.  I had told myself that we were going to be prepared this time when we landed, so everyone did not have to wait on us, however, Isaac had fallen asleep finally 15 minutes before we landed, so then I had the whole ear issue going on with him as we were landing.  It was taking us a while, and finally, the Russian flight attendant asks me if I can hurry Diester up.  Okay, thankfully, he was just coming out of the restroom.  So, he dresses Roman with clean clothes~Thank goodness I had thought to bring them.  And we are loaded down getting off of the plane.  So it is with kids. 

We spent about 3 - 4 hours waiting for our next flight.  It wasn't too bad, however, Isaac was not exactly living up to his name when we had to wait towards the tail end.  He was crying and screaming, and just as tired as they come.  So, I am holding him in the sling, and swaying back and forth, and continue this as we get on our next flight.  We were some of the first ones on so that we could get settled with the boys.  As people are walking past us, (we were in the first row of the economy class -yeah, right behind the first class passengers) I wasn't stressing myself, but I was really more concerned about what everyone else was going to be thinking as Isaac continued to cry and scream.  The Lord really blessed me.  Several moms commented,  "I travelled with 3 of them under 4 yo.  I know what you are going through."  or "I've been where you are.  I know how hard it is." or "I understand-I've been through that before."   One young fellow stated so sweetly, kind of to Isaac, but really for my ears.  "I know how you feel buddy, I've been on planes all day too." So, people were very understanding.  Thank you Lord for blessing us with the comments.

A story that I will share with you is that when we were taking the boys on their second wagon ride, we took them to the park, and they enjoyed swinging for quite a bit.  I think they enjoyed just the easy down time.  In the meantime, there are houses that all look very similar to ours, so on the way home, I stopped the wagon in front of our home (from across the street), and I squatted down, and put my arm around Roman.  I wanted him to take a good look at our home so that he could differentiate or pick it out in the crowd of our subdivision.  At that moment, I pointed to our home, and said, "Papa's dohm (spelled only the way it sounds, which means home), Mama's dohm, Hannah's dohm, Mallory's dohm, Roman's dohm, Isaac's dohm." When I looked down at him, he had gotten the sweetest smile on his face.  It was like he understood somewhere in his little mind that this is his home, and he belongs in our family.  It was a precious moment for sure! 

Here I go with the mundane.  You know, life has started with our little guys.  The girls were totally surprised too, as we were also the first couple of days, reeling in the fact that life is non-stop with little ones.  It was a bit stressful for the girls, but things are calming down.  The boys are very good at cleaning up their toys, they are starting to understand their routine.  They are learning basically learning their boundaries.  They are loving just playing in the bathtub, or jumping all over Daddy, or taking a piggyback ride on mommy's back, or when Isaac is letting me stretch him out when he gets up from his nap, or play with his toes, or Pat-a-cake.  Roman loves the pool and the water.  Isaac is still getting used to it.  The boys are getting used to us, the kinds of foods we eat, the things we do, and we are learning daily which battles to pick.  :-)  Life is life.  But in this life, we hope to raise these little guys to have a relationship with our Heavenly father, and be blessed by it, and to bless Him with their lives.  We know that God knew what he was doing when he put them in our family, so we are trusting that he will follow through on the work he has started.   

In closing today, I will try to add some pictures.  Pictures can sometimes tell a bit more of a story.  And, we are much busier even now that we have gotten home.  There are gardens to maintain, um, floors to mop, girls to spend time with, lawns to mow, etc.  (I haven't known my girls to be 'shoppers', but that was something they requested the other day, and so we went clothes shopping.  I think it was more about just getting away for a time.  Bless them.  They are such a help, but these changes have been huge for all of us.)  I now also have a ton of post adoption stuff to make sure I get taken care of, and we have school starting just around the corner.   Blessed by, and looking forward to that. 

Thank you to all for blessing us with your prayers and love on our journey!  Sincerely, Michelle

view from Moscow apt~shows part of the size of the city

Mallory introducing her guitar to Isaac

Roman taking a ride on the quilt G'ma made for him.  No disrespect meant~makes it more fun for him!

Ditto above caption~fill in Isaac!

I think this says it all!

First wagon ride~the weight together is a bit hefty when your not used to it!  Good exercise for Mama and Papa!

Roman experiencing the pool for the first time~can you say 'NO FEAR!?!'

Now Isaac isn't too sure of all of this!  but willing to try!

Isaac is trying to put the blocks back~they like to organize things! 

Roman's past time~flipping the lights/stereo on & off, on & off, on & off~~you get the picture.  He will get tired of it soon enough!

ps If you would like updates, let me know, and I will only send them to the ones that ask.