"GOTCHA" DAY! - December 15, 2010

Lunch at Amsterdam

"Gotcha!"

Baths

"PASTA!"

Sleep

We got up and got showers. COLD showers. (Apparently the early birds not only get the worms, they also get the hot showers!) Breakfast downstairs at the Guest House was next, and David always makes amazing breakfasts. After breakfast, we came back upstairs so I could get all of our stuff unpacked and organized. I needed to figure out where everything was and get everyone situated before we added two new ones to our family.

Yonas came to pick us up for lunch at Amsterdam restaurant, and afterwards we went to the Transition Home to get TJ & Brielle! It was a sweet couple of hours of playing and laughing, and even sweeter that we got to leave WITH them rather than having to leave without them again. Never again will we have to leave WITHOUT them!

 The Pierce Family - finally together!

The "roomies" 

Back at the Guest House, the kids all played out front in the courtyard. It was fun to watch them all finally playing together and getting to know each other.

We gave TJ and Brielle their showers. They were so independent. We just turned on the water, they held out their hands for shampoo, then conditioner, then soap. They washed their own hair and bathed themselves and then got out, dried themselves off and put on their pajamas. It was very sweet, but sad when I thought about the fact that they were just used to doing it all themselves because they had no one to do it for them.

Then we had our first dinner as a family of 8: cup-o-ramen. But thankfully TJ and Brielle LOVE it. They kept calling it, "Pasta! Pasta!" They ate and ate and ate.

"PASTA!!"  (a.k.a. ramen)

Wyatt, TJ, Brielle and Mattea slept in the 2nd bedroom lined up across the room with Wyatt and TJ sleeping on cots next to the big bed that the girls are sharing. Everyone went right to sleep. Maybe with so many kids sleeping together in one room, it just makes TJ and Brielle feel like they are at the Transition Home!

TJ hid his hot wheels car under his pillow so no one would take it…

Before bedtime, all they kids were lying in the beds and tickling and giggling. It was a beautiful thing… a moment that as a mom you never want to forget.

*******************************************

Facebook posts from today:

"Picked up the kids this afternoon! YAY! We're spending the evening "in" tonight. Took the cutest picture of all of the kids eating Cup-O-Ramen and watching "Cars" on the computer. I just don't know how today could have been better... :) Thank You, Jesus... Thank You."