New Year, New Life

Hey Everybody! Happy New Year! I hope everyone is having a blessed end of the holiday season for 2010. The three musketeers are safely back home, and all went quite smoothly. Most of the time Julia simply sat on Dad's lap or played nicely, and she also slept for about 4 hours on our longest flight (which was 8 hours). Mom, the four kids, and my Grandma met us with smiles and lots of tears at the airport, and Julia slept the whole drive home (about 90 minutes).

This morning Julia was up bright and early, and so were we. Playing, loving, cuddling and adjusting occupied most of our morning. Julia adjusted to her new schedule very well, and we even got in a two hour nap!

(In case you're still wanting more, just click here for several related albums, from first departure to arrival home)

We are very happy to all be home with each other for New Year's together. We are so happy to have Julia here with us. Our hearts will never forget those other little orphans we had the privilege of getting to meet and interact with.

While I was over in Julia's country, I watched all three Lord of the Rings movies (yes, literally, all three, from start to finish). I could watch those endlessly forever, they are just so good. While all three obviously made big $$$ and got great critical buzz, none quite beat Return of the King. It won 11 Oscars, and rightfully so. It ended the trilogy so darn well. No matter what emotional state I'm in, the end always makes me cry. But there's one scene before the tear fest  I always admire. We have come to the end of the road. Our four main hobbits (Frodo Sam, Merry, and Pippin) have endured the many trials to arrive back at their little town of the Shire, with the peace of knowing the outside world has been restored to peace as well. As they sit in their little Pub sipping cups of ale, they sit in silent admiration of each other and what they accomplished in the year the journey took. The mood has been very much the same here. We are all in amazement over what occurred in a mere six months of our lives that will so drastically change everything. But we couldn't be happier.

It has been a pleasure blogging here. while this is certainly not my last post here, I will be posting a lot back at my own blog ( www.hisworld-caleb.blogspot.com, AKA Swimming AGAINST the Tide ), so feel free to stop by for plenty more orphan advocacy posts,  more pictures of Princess Julia, and lots of other stuff.

Have a Happy, loving and blessed 2011. Always remember, there is Hope for Every Child.