We arrived home after a safe and smooth day of travel Friday! Our translator was at the Embassy presenting papers for another family and asked if Katie’s visa was ready a little early on Friday morning, so we were able to fly out on Friday instead of Saturday! Katie was a great traveler. God was gracious: we arrived in Atlanta on time, got out luggage (well, most of it, we left one bag!) and headed to immigration. We were told it would take 10-20 min. Instead the man said, “I’ll just take care of this for you” and in 2 minutes we were on our way through customs and security. We thought our flight left in just 20 minutes, so we raced to the train, then ran down the concourse. Our gate was second from the end, of course! We got there to find out that our flight wasn’t boarding for about 20 minutes, so we sat and caught our breath! Then for the first time all week, Katie decided that she wanted to “walk” holding onto our fingers, so we walked her up and down the tile floor in her socks, since the shoes I took her turned out to be way to big! It was a great time! We grabbed a sandwich and water, and then we were on the plane home!

Thanks to everyone who came out to meet us! Sorry to the others who didn’t know we’d changed plans! Please feel free to give us a call and stop by! Her homecoming was so sweet! We all thought she’d be overwhelmed by all the new faces, but she was delightful! She smiled and checked out all the people, especially the brothers and cousins that were in her face! She posed for pictures and played with balloons and after about an hour of celebration, we piled into the big white van and drove home! Matt carried her in and everyone gathered around as we showed her her room. We got her jammies on and she cuddled with Daddy until she fell asleep. He put her in her crib and she slept all night! (Thank you, God! Shawn and Deb really needed a good night’s sleep in their own bed!)

It has been a week of transition for her as she’s left everything and everyone she’s known and lived in a totally different environment with new people. I think it is getting easier for her each day, realizing that we aren’t going to leave her! She is already a Daddy’s girl, but finds that Mommy is ok if Daddy’s not around! (Lucky for Mommy, Daddy has to go to work on Monday!)

She is enjoying playing with Josh, Jake and Zack right now. I really think she’s going to make the most of being the little sister to these 5 awesome big brothers! :)

I’ll post some more later! Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Deb for all the Everlys!


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