Celebrating 1 Year Home!

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  James 1:17

One year ago today Nathan and Reni, along with my Dad, made their way to bring Reni home to the States.  It was a loooong day of travel that culminated with a great airport arrival, a portion of which Uncle Jack recorded here:

A little more than four months after learning about this sweet little boy, after a flurry of activity to prepare our home for a second child and a nail-biting wait to renew our home study, fingerprints, and immigration paperwork to qualify for special needs and meet our  insanely optimistic travel dates, a month-plus of hot Albanian summer memories & experiences in a city called Elbasan, and a mere few hours before the start of another academic year at Asbury, Reni was home and we were a real family of four.  It was a wild ride!

Today we meet with our social worker to put together our 12-month post placement report for Albania.  It  feels like we have reached the end of that "newlywed"  phase.  Not that the honeymoon is over -- if anything, it's so much better and gets better every day!  But now that we enter Year Two, the grafting wound has healed, the bond stronger and more secure. Reni has changed for having a family and we have changed for having a son and brother. The introductions of our new son to our family and friends from far and wide is mostly complete. And we have many new people in our life as a result.

Today we remember the past year and give thanks. God is good!