We're ALIVE!!!!!

It has been such a long time since I blogged ... I missed it! Our precious time with James was too quick but so very nice. We focused on time together just the eight of us.

When James got off the plane Cade was not too happy to see him for the first 15 minutes ... after that we could not separate them if we wanted! My arms were grateful and it was a nice change to Claire's response to James in China.

Our first weekend with James home was busy with Claire's birthday and Easter. It was fun to see Cade hunt for eggs. Claire was so helpful to Cade in looking for the eggs! You could tell that he was not quite sure of the whole thing until he saw the candy in one of his eggs! Then he kind of got into it!

The next week we went south. The military has homes on the coast and we were able to rent one for a few days. It was newly remodeled and the perfect place for relaxation! The weather was SO odd though. We had sunshine, rain and even snow! Who would have known that it was almost April! We spent time on the beach, putting puzzles together and playing board games. We took so much stuff with us that we all looked like canned sardines in the suburban! It was a riot. I told James that we are going to have to buy a little trailer to take with us on vacations after all, we left Sassie behind and didn't even think about the trikes :) Oh the joys of having little ones again! Cade took time to run through the house with Claire and began to be MUCH more comfortable with all of us.

Cade has been settling in very well since. It was not as easy of a transition as Claire's. Claire was SO desperate to be loved, Cade was well taken care of and loved so much by his nanny that the transition was very different than we had prepared ourselves for. Cade's attachment to James was good but made it clear that he still holds some bonds to his special nanny at the orphanage. We are sure that is the reason why he has had a harder time adjusting to life with mom versus dad. He probably feels some loyalties to his nanny and I am glad! Loyalty is a very good trait!

Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement and prayers as we have been adjusting to life with Cade at home. There is not an adoption that does not have a time of adjustment. This one has of course been no exception but it feels like some big mountains have been climbed. We are looking forward to James coming back home, finishing our readoption process for both Cade and Claire and enjoying the summer together. If any of you are going to be in our neck of the woods, please come and see us! If you don't have plans of coming this way, call me and we can make some.