We're ALL Home!

We all made it home safely on Saturday afternoon. Chris and I adjusted to the time difference pretty easily, but apparently Nikolai is still on Kazakh time. He wants to sleep all day and play all night (we are very tired). Today is our second day home and it has been a little better, so I do not think it will take too much longer to get him on a more normal schedule. He has a bad cough, but otherwise is a very happy easy-going baby. We are so in love.

Chris’s mom came into town to meet Nikolai and stayed with my parents. They spent the morning on Saturday making baby food! We are so lucky to have such supportive families. So far Nikolai pretty much likes everything. His favorites are snow peas and pears, and of course formula and rice cereal. He was a little perplexed by the sweet potatoes and could not yet handle the skins in the blueberries.

As someone who has gotten stuck in the China slowdown, I always get annoyed with people who respond to the despair of waiting China adoptive parents with statements like “it is all part of God’s plan” or “it will all be forgotten when you meet your daughter.” These statements dismiss the feelings of people who are facing not only an unexpected 4+ YEAR wait but also much uncertainty about whether or not the adoption will ever really happen. However, since the cutest, most wonderful little boy ever has come into our lives, I cannot help but think that God did have a different plan for us than we originally thought. If it were not for the China slowdown, we would not have pursued a Kazakhstan adoption and we would not have our son – a frightening thought indeed. I will never say it in reference to anyone else’s situation, but for us, it was all part of God’s plan.


We did not have internet access while in Almaty, but I did continue to write posts, so I am going to post them all at once soon.