first day home

The drive home from Mexico was interesting to say the least. We were stuck at the border near El Paso, Texas for about six hours waiting for papers to be processed. The people behind the counter would work intermittently, which was extremely annoying when all you want to do is head for home. Finally, we got the kids' Visas stamped, and we crossed the border at about 1:00 in the morning. Getting into the United States was a little anti-climactic after the excitement (uh..no) of waiting the previous six hours. We drove for a little bit because we felt the need to get away from the border....just because we needed to feel a small victory.

The rest of the ride home is a bit of a blur. Much to Linda and Wendy's dismay, we limited their intake of water because we didn't want to stop for bathroom breaks every ten minutes. Linda, Wendy, and Emmy all had a severe case of head lice, which we tackled all the way home. When we stopped at a hotel for the night, we set up shop and picked through hair for HOURS...and I mean HOURS. Howard and I figure we ended up spending about 26 or so hours going though hair with a fine toothed comb (literally). We really didn't want to bring the lice home, so we were pretty motivated to get rid of it before we drove into our driveway. The girls didn't quite understand what the big deal was and did not enjoy our lice/nit removal sessions (that's an understatement).

So, we drove....and drove...and drove...Finally, we made it HOME!

Tio (Uncle) Dave was ready with the camera when we drove into the driveway. Overall, I think the kids didn't know what to think. We were all exhausted from the drive. The kids had seen pictures of our house, but I think they were still in a bit of awe. They explored the house with mostly smiles and laughs. Julia enjoyed showing Wendy their room. There were some great moments.

All the kids enjoyed seeing their rooms. This is the first time in a long time they have had their own space and don't have to worry about things getting stolen or messed with (okay...except maybe by Elijah, but we're working on that.)

We are fortunate to have great family and friends who support us. Several people were responsible for doing things to the house while we were gone, like putting beds together, washing and organizing clothes/closets, and getting more dishes/silverware for EIGHT. We are very appreciative to everyone who pitched in!


They all explored and explored. After twelve days, Julia and Elijah were very excited to see us. I wasn't sure how they would handle the shock of having four more people in the house, but their initial reaction was good. Julia's biggest concern was the language barrier. She was excited to tell them she knew the word "agua." It was funny.

It got to the point, we really didn't know what to do. So, we decided to....EAT! For the first time, all eight of us sat down for a meal of pizza. It was surreal.

And now....life as a family of eight begins.