More than a caption

While pictures are certainly worth at least a thousand words, sometimes it’s just nice to have words.

We’ve been home about 5 days.  We had our first, full, “normal” day yesterday.  This is definitely the honeymoon period.  John and Kayla are quiet, polite, and helpful.  While I don’t think these qualities will necessarily go away, I know there’s a lot of culture shock and grief bubbling beneath the surface.  Judging by their experience so far, I expect it to mostly leak out instead of errupt but time will tell.  Another plus is that jet lag has been merciful.  Patrick had it the worst but he might be back on schedule after today.

PJ and Mia have been great helpers and super-hospitable as always.  For now, they love having extra companions in the house.

Between Patrick and I being gone for almost 10 days, an over-stimulating weekend, and extra people in the house, Ty’s behavior says it all.  I failed hardcore yesterday in the trust-based parenting initiative.  Here’s to praying for a redeeming day today.  My heart tells me that his behavior is fear-based but my brain is so fed-up.

I miss playdates and friends and am feeling a little stir crazy, but we’re still finding our new normal.   Everyone’s sanity still feels a little fragile so we’ll hunker down for a couple more days with limited contact to our social circles and re-evaluate in a day or two.

Thanks for all your prayers, meal, emails, wall posts, messages, and phone calls.