Family and Easter

Holidays are special especially when spent with the fam. "Aw cute" you might say, but it is really true! I seriously remember what happened on what holiday when we are home with the family. I'm not saying Ken and Luke are not my family cause they are. But things are always so fun around both of our families. I LOVE how both of our families get together when we are home. My parents will have Ken's parents over and Ken's parents will have my parents over. Y'all it is the best thing and such a blessing how much they love each other outside of Ken and I. My momma and momma-in-law  are the sweetest and most godliest women ever!! I love them dearly. The same goes with my daddy and father-in law. The Lord is so good and I am so thankful!! I wish we lived closer to everyone so we could see them more often but we are so thankful for such a great place to live in our home away from home. :) Anyways, now that I have been all sappy sweet, here are some pictures from Luke's first few days and Easter. Enjoy! :)

My awesome father-in-law showing Luke some things on the computer (I can't remember what though).

So sweet! 

Must have been good cause we all had to see. My mom even had to bring the camera. :) 

My sweet mother-in-law turned into a construction worker over the weekend. I love her!!

Luke with Grandma and Grandpa. Frame worthy!!

Ken is such a great daddy!

Luke and sweet Aunt Emily :) 

Uncle Matthew is so silly!!

My AMAZING sister hand crochet all of these animals for Luke!! I was impressed!! :) He loves them!! 

My mom (aka the world traveler) is relaxing her broken toe...I think.  Just thought you should know that she walked FOUR miles a day on that broken toe in Ukraine. Not sure if that inspires you or grosses you out. I was inspired for sure!! The love a grandmother has!! 

Luke's first burger place! Except for McDonald's and everyone knows what happened after that (if you have been reading)! I will not get into it to spare you ;) 

Luke LOVES uncle Matthew's old phone!

Sweet Aunt Mary!! :) 

This Easter we went to the seminary to take some pictures. I think they are frame worthy for sure! My mom, the picture taker queen, took some pretty good ones!! Thanks mom!!

Our first family picture out of the orphanage...get excited!!

The whole family on my side. 

So sweet!! I love them!!

Matthew and Emily's first Easter as a married couple!!! Yay!! 

Matthew (my brother), Emily (SIL) and Mary (my sister) all came up for two short days. They drove hours and hours to get here!! We are so thankful that they came and were able to meet Luke! We love them so much (not just because they came up here)!! :) 

I love my daddy!!

The girls. 

Two proud grandparents. 

Such a sweet picture!!! I love them!! 

My two favorite men. 

Luke's first encounter with a four-wheeler on campus. Don't tell the security!

Our Easter lunch. I think this Easter was a first in many ways and definitely my first time eating out for a major holiday. :) It was so good though!

I think Luke has food shooting out of his mouth in this picture. 

I cannot wait for all of the holidays I get to spend with my sweet Luke!! I love being a mommy!! :)

Coming Home

To all of you followers out there, I am now back in the blogging world!  We have been back a little over three weeks now and I have been trying to get the whole staying at home and daily routine thing. It has been an adjustment but so wonderful!

Our flight home was great! Luke did not get lost, we got through immigration and he did not go crazy being on an airplane for the first time. Seriously, Luke was a champ! He sat pretty quiet the whole time. Well except for our last long flight back to the states. His little ears were bothering him. Let me tell you! Did you know that one stick of gum if pulled apart in tiny tiny pieces can last for over twenty minutes? I felt so bad for him because of the pressure and he wouldn't eat anything so the chewing would help his ears. So I decided to give him gum. I thought he was just going to swallow it but turned out he knew how to just chew and not swallow it.  Whew! Now everyone stopped staring at us. I mean I didn't care about the  staring I just felt bad for him.

I was showing him how the plane was taking off and mom is stuffing him with Cheerios for his ears. :) 

When we got to the states, Ken met us in Detroit where our plane landed so he could see Luke again before we met up with everyone back home. I wish I could say when they met after being apart for three weeks it was this glorious meeting. Well, Luke had been cranky and screaming for the past little while, and I had a crazy time in immigration. I mean not too crazy. I just had to go through the American immigration line with Luke and my mom which took forever then I had to go do Luke's foreign immigration adoption thing by myself which took a little while. Sweet little Luke also  had to go to the bathroom in the middle of everything. Kids have to go potty at the best times don't they? :) So I was wiped and Luke was so tired. Don't get me wrong,  Luke was glad to see him! :)  

Our flight from Detroit to home was great and Luke loved talking to the stewardess showing her all of his trains. I was hoping to take a little nap on this flight but that didn't really work out and but it was totally ok. You know, I had only been up for a whole day. :) Welcome to parenthood. That flight was so short. When we were descending, I had this realization of, "This is for real!" I'm sure all of you parents felt that when you were pulling up to your driveway for the first time with your new baby. I mean it was a good, "this is for real" feeling not a "what are we doing?" kind of thing. Anyways. 

When we got off the plane, a lot of our friends were waiting for us with sweet signs, flowers and gifts! I am so blessed by all of our wonderful friends here. The Lord is so good! We stayed at the airport for over an hour talking to people. It was a lot of fun!

Our plane was early so this was the early few before the others got there. :) 

This is one of my favorite pictures ever!!

Sweet kiddos! I love their signs! 

The Fam :) 

Thats right folks we broke out the Legos in the middle of the airport! It was great! :) 

The whole group. 

We are so thankful for everyone who came out to welcome sweet Luke home! :) 

When we got home, My amazing mom and parents-in-law decorated with signs, pictures, balloons and cake! They are awesome!! By the end of the day I was wiped! The Lord is so good and I am so thankful that we were able to go on such an amazing journey to get one of the best gifts anyone could ask for.

Flowers from my sweet friends Katy and Beth

Welcome home Luke! We love you!