Home again home again jiggedy jigg

I am so far behind on this but I will try to get everyone up to speed. We made it home safe! We finally got clearance to come home Thursday February 24, 2011. We waited to come home a bit because we had the opportunity to meet Abigail's birth mother. Because this meeting is so precious and private I will not be posting pictures or say much about her. I will say that she is someone I am proud to have a part of my family and I feel good about Abigail having a relationship with her someday if she chooses. We feel that God was all over this the whole time!
On Saturday February 26, 2011 we started our journey home. We flew from Texas to Washington and had an overnight layover. Then got up the next morning and did it all over again! We felt so nervous taking her on a plane being so young! But she is a trooper and handled it all beautifully. She slept the first leg of 4 hours and then the second of 2 hours. We felt very blessed from on the first flight. One of the flight attendants was so kind and gave us a DVD player to help the flight go by faster! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! This really did help. 

We arrived home to a clean and decorated home. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Hart for taking the time to do all of that for us. They also watched ALL the animals for us.
I am not sure there has ever been a child that was so anticipated or loved. We got home Sunday February 27, 2011 and we had a very warm welcome. The Hart grandparents came to the airport and tears were shared by all. I remember landing and thinking WOW we made it! She is really OURS! I just was so overcome with emotion. We have waited so long to this little one that each leg of our journey has brought us to this point. As we drove home I just was in awe of how amazing God is and how he never for a second forgot about us.

Well since getting home we have had a few surprises. The first was that I found out I had to return to work on Thursday March 3, 2011. This was a HUGE and disappointing shock. We had planned to have me stay home for 12 weeks and then found out that because I have not been at my job long enough that I was not eligible for ANY time off. So I went back to work :( But we have managed to have it all covered. She is with family all the time and that is what is important. I just have a little trouble concentrating at times.

The other surprise we had was the List family :). Some of the List women made it over for the baby shower. Grandma List, Elizabeth, and Natalie made it over to Idaho for the shower.  We also had some of the Hart family with us too. Drew and Maja made it over for the shower as well.

Oh the baby shower. I have to say that this was so wonderful! I am not sure I can put in words how meaningful this event was. When I walked in and saw all the people, decorations, and gift I was overcome with joyful tears. I NEVER thought I would get the chance to have a baby shower. I have been to some over the years and not to others because it was just too hard. But oh my goodness how meaningful and precious this was to me. It was so fun to see some of my family and friends meet Abigail for the first time. Everyone was so pleased and she was so good during the shower. She got a little fussy toward the end but she was just hungry. So we fed her and got on with it. We are so blessed to have such a supportive system of friends and family. I am just in awe of how much this little one has touched the people in our lives. She is really something special. If you have not had the opportunity to meet her please do. Here are some pictures from the party :)

Thank you to Sharron B. for hosting our shower!