Almost Home

All right kiddos...

Our trip is coming to it's end and I have very mixed feelings. Germany has been splendid to us, we have added to our family, we have met an angel who delivered our son, and yet we can not wait to go home to our families and relish in their company.

I am not feeling too hot today so I probably won't be here for long. I think a lot of it is nerves of traveling this weekend with Erik, lack of sleep thus exhaustion, a super headache, and did I mention lack of sleep? Our little moon man is such a great baby and we could have not asked for better, but he is still a baby. I knew the sleep would be one of my big issues as I usually like a full 10 hours of sleep each night (and yes up until this trip, I had that luxery) and so I am struggling a bit. But it is so worth it. And I could not have asked for a better husband than Lindsay! He has become a super hero dad, taking night shifts, changing most diapers, and lovin' on his little man! It has been such a joy to watch him light up as he interacts with Erik and see this other part of the man I fell in love with.

The past few days seem like they have been a whirlwind. Some points are still pretty emoptionally raw for me so I think I will wait until we are back to the states to express some of those thoughts and feelings. But let me give you a quick run down of how the past few days have gone....
tuesday- Erik was moved to a less secure floor once they realized that Lindsay and I weren't going to take him and run. And that floor happened to be a mother/baby floor where they let us stay with him for the night so that we could bond. He was doing well and just needed to stay at the hospital until legal stuff was taken care of. That night I got 1.5 hours of sleep but I got to stare into my little moon man's eyes almost the entire night and talk to him about the miracle adventure he has been on, his amazing birth parents, and what is to come in store. It was quite spiritual to say the least.
wed.-we woke up early and met with S and a few others to discharge Erik from the hospital. At that point S took Erik to go to the passport office and get that process moving. We went back to our room for some sleep and relaxing. Once we got the call we went to JAG and signed our part of the paperwork and picked Erik up. THat was when things started hitting me. Here I was so elated and ecstatic and yet I knew S was having one of her hardest days, my heart couldn't help but hurt a bit for her and her family. Erik is so lucky that he has such a large group of people loving him. He will be reminded daily! After the paperwork we went home to undwind and spend our first night together as a family in our hotel. It was bliss!
thurs.-we picked up the passport and birth certificate for little moon man and went into a town called Kaiserslautern, we found the church my dad attended on his mission and took pictures. It was amazing to know that we were walking the same grounds and streets that he did 30 some years ago. Also spiritual!
Today- we took Erik to a follow med. apt. and he was given the all clear to fly home to the states with us! All we can think about is introducing him to our extended family. We just tried to get on a flight tonight, but the jet was only taking cargo. So we will try again in the morning.

We also found out that B will be in the states near us this summer and may come visit the little man and introduce himself-----I was stoked to hear that! I think that will be wonderful and fun to meet him in person as well. Thus far we don't know him as well and been able to talk to him on the phone once, but I think that it would be nice to share with Erik as much as we know about his birth parents.

Erik looks a lot alike about both S and B, their feature are showing proudly on his cute face. I used to think that it would be so hard to have children that didn't look like Lindsay and I. Not know what our features together would create. But seeing Erik only brought me joy. I am so glad that he looks like his birth parents, serving as a daily reminder of how he came into our family and his origins. As we all know this is a miracle and every reminder is so special.

And lastly before I bend down to smooch on little mister again I will never be able to express or say enough how grateful we are for this experience and most importantly S and B and the loving people they are, the most selfless individuals. ..I can't really say anything more than that.

Pics to come in a few days!
Loves