We are HOME!!

Everything went right on schedule on Wednesday and I could not have been more pleased! Scott and I flew out to Ohio without issue, relaxed a few minutes, and then in came our adoption contact from the agency followed by the other two families picking up their children. We all anxiously hung out for about an hour, and then we saw the small entourage heading down the hallway! Hard to miss our 6.5 feet attorney carrying our little Zuri and holding Mikaiah's hand, along with her taller brother and the other escort carrying 2 more cuties...

We got in their eye sight and Marie, the attorney, said "go get your mama" and he RAN into my arms and hugged my neck hard. I had debated in my mind who I should grab first, so his cute little running face made it a no-brainer! Scott grabbed Zuri who was apprehensive but quiet, and we just sort of stood there for a minute having a really surreal moment! I looked down and they kiddos were holding hands... it was TOO precious. We pointed at ourselves and said "Mama" "Papa" and he pointed and repeated in this sweet voice that music to my ears!! I then pointed at Zuri and asked who it was and he said "Daniela". We soon learned that the mother at the foster home calls children by their family names, so Mikaiah went by Daniel, and Zuri by Daniela! Here I was thinking they may be confused by the new name we chose over their other name on the birth certificates, but no, they don't seem to even know those names? So we call them Mikaiah Daniel and Zuri Daniela for now until their new names stick.
Zuri remained calm and silent sitting in my lap, and M started getting very playful with Scott. We got all the paperwork that was needed, and chatted with the attorney a bit. I had a mental list of questions I wanted to ask and sure I forgot some of them, but she said "That one (M) is a good guy. Very good boy. He's a lot of fun, always happy. But not this one (Z) oh no, she want to be held ALL the time and she cry. You going to have your hands full with that one"... sort of encouraging I guess?

M quickly had taken off his shoes and socks and Scott noticed he is missing a pinky toe. Not a bad thing to be missing if you have to have a missing body part, and as soon as Scott touched it M started chatting away and obviously telling us the story of his toe. Thankfully Marie was still there to translate, and what M said was along the lines "Back in the village, they cut off my toe because of witch craft to cut out the devil". Very interesting... he does come from a place where they believe certain things about witch craft, and this could certainly be a true story, or it could be like one of Everett's tales about the mark on his arm being from where the big bad wolf bit him. And we will probably never know. I do hope that one day he can tell me in English, but even his story tells me something: He remembers "the village" which in turn leads me to believe he remembers his birth mother. I hope we can talk about that some day, too...

Everyone shortly left us, and we were alone. With our new children. What a bizarre experience?! We had a few hours to kill and were in a nice lounge area, so we stayed and played. I blew up a balloon and he had a BALL with it, and I even got him to say BALLOON. He was extremely energetic, running around, pushing a cart around, jumping off of things, in general being loud and energetic, but happy and good, while Zuri did un-attach and crawl around a bit. I got her to smile by running a car up her leg and making noises, but that was all I got from her. M got her to laugh out loud once by basically attack tickling her, but she was beat...

We found our way upstairs, made it back through security and found some food. M had come with a bag of Lays (in French) that he had been picking at, so didn't think he was too hungry, so Scott got a meal and I got a salad and we shared with the kids. Z wanted nothing but some snapea crisps that I had brought, and a few small squeezes of fruit. M wanted everything on my salad! He made his way around my plate touching it all, and as he touched it I put it on his plate. He watches everything we do, and copies it all... very cute. He knew the word "tomahtoe" and he bit a small piece off but did not like it... he nibbled around, but wasn't too hungry. He did really enjoy his fruit squeezer and what made me laugh was he took his straw like his papa, opened it, and put it in the squeezer. It worked! During dinner Z conked out, and didn't really wake up until we were at Dulles airport. M was still running high, and had a lot of fun with escalators and people movers. No fear... He also did excellent telling us when he needed to go potty, and went multiple times! A man gave him some crayons and paper, and he can properly draw, too. He is a bright boy and I have no concerns about either of the kids having any delay or issues with intelligence. There are plenty of attachment things I can potentially worry about, but so far so good. When I ask M if he likes something I ask in English and he will either shake his head no or give me a thumbs up. Guess this is a universal sign:)
Another funny moment was when he started stroking Scott's goatee, then his sideburns, his eyebrows, and then grabbed the collar of his shirt and looked down his shirt for chest hair! Very inquisitive boy!
The plane ride home was quick and painless. Kids both slept the entire time, and M slept through his homecoming party. Z woke up to show her eyeballs a bit... A handful of friends came to the airport to greet us, which was a welcome sight. We really appreciated all the smiling faces and hugs! Bummed they didn't get to see M in action, but they all will soon enough. Z just cuddled to me in her Ergo, and finally my mom found her way there with the siblings in tow... I had kept my emotions at bay all day, except for a few happy tears upon initially meeting them, and a few happy tears when I saw the other 3 come running. It was sort of a combo of happy tears and "OMG I have 5 kids and I have no idea what I have gotten myself into!" as Everett clung to me, kissing Zuri and squeezing her cheeks "just a tiny bit" and Avery is wanting to poke and love on her and Bennett is being Bennett and Scott and I have our hands already full... but we made it out to the car in one piece, and home. We got the 3 boys tucked in (M was still asleep, Scott just did a clothes swap and added a diaper), and since Z was awake I decided to give her a bath. This was the first time she had cried, but even at volume it is not a super loud cry. It was a quick bath, and we will see if she likes the next one better when she is not so exhausted! I lotioned her up with the help of Avery, got on her Pj's, and Avery and I gave her a bottle and tucked her into bed. Then we went to bed! I tossed and prayed and worried awhile. M was so active that day that I was concerned what the morning would bring... I was praying his wild man was Mikaiah running on fumes (I know A and E get CRAZY when they are overtired) but God answered and let me sleep. A bit.
2:10 was the first wake up call. They both came a bit stuffy. Z has a cough, Nothing to run to the doctor for, but just some congestion. Their skin and everything looks healthy, and I am not concerned. They were obviously well fed and cared for, and I blame the air conditioning and world germs they are unaccustomed to. I gave Z another bottle at 2:10, as she had eaten very little since landing at the airport 12 hours prior to that. She gulped it down, coughed, and puked. Icky... So I changed her, changed me, grabbed her blanket she brought from home, and brought her in our bed where she slept an hour and I slept none;) 3:15 she started fussing so I brought her downstairs to not disrupt anyone, and we snuggled and snoozed for 2 hours. I did more snuggling than snoozing, but she mostly slept. 5:20 she popped up and was awake for the day. Lots of whines, but not really crying. We thumbed through books, played with toys, I rocked and sang and patted, gave her Cheerios, and then the house woke up a little before 7 and she was happy!

I now conclude day1.. more later!