Christine's stocking arrived just hours before we picked her up at the airport. So cool.
Here we are -- what a motley crew! -- waiting for her to arrive.
More times than I can count, these two asked me when Christine was going to arrive.
We snagged her an RVA sweatshirt at the airport. :)
Day One (Tuesday): we had to introduce her to Sweet Frog, of course. Largely due to the fact that a sweet friend gave us a gift card to use when Christine was here. We have the best friends. :)
Christine turned 14 today (I was off by a year)! What a treat it is to celebrate her birthday with her. Especially because her children's home director called last night and told me that Christine wasn't too thrilled at the idea of being away for her birthday and Christmas. She was unsure about celebrating with people she doesn't even know. I can't say I blame her.
We made a cool tie dye cake that required six different colors of cake batter.
Good thing I had lots of help!
Batter in the pans...
...to a very cool cake!
The kids and I weren't sure how this was going to turn out, but we were very impressed.
Then off to the Wednesday night service at St. Stephen's when Payton sings and we have dinner.
The boys were having fun with Christine. Brooks, Jackson and Avery fight over who gets to sit next to her at the table and in the car. Every time we sit down or head out. Oye.
But this was sweet. All were laughing, and carrying on.
She's soo good with them. Very patient and not put out by them at all.
Making a 'star' with their hands.
This Christmas is proving to be a very special one with Christine here. Somehow having her here has added a little sparkle to our days. Amazing what opening your heart and home does for your spirit. The kids are floating (er, at least they were for the first 36 hours)...now they're slowly returning to their normal fussing, tattling, whining, arguing ways.
Welcome, Christine.
This is family.
I'm amazed at how well things are going. I expected nothing less, but all the 'manuals' and 'trainings' for hosting warn you that it won't be a cake walk and that most kids aren't going to be without attitude problems, gratitude issues, sulking, etc. I've seen nothing of the sort so far.
Yes, I know it's early, but so far so good.
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