Re-entry

My boy is HOME! Yippee. It has been SO sweet to have him back. He's only been back about 36 hours...but he's SO good. Thank you, God!
My prayer for this homecoming was that we would be able to be "us" and welcome him back into Ohio Life with not too much trauma to his psyche. So far it's been easy. Yesterday we picked him up at the airport and the reunion was sweet.

So good to see his face and HEAR his voice!

He hugged EVERYONE (including Pink Thing--which I think is HUGE and a first for both of them...and she said, "I missed you" and HE said, "I missed you, too!", Whoa, I almost fell over right there!)

Back together again, Yippee!

Then after the airport we went to Bob's with the group (25 of us!) because the kids (and their parents) weren't ready to say goodbye just yet. We ate breakfast/lunch/brunch and listened to our tired kiddo's and their brave leader tell us fun stories. They had flown ALL night and Boy #1 said, "Sweet, this will be my 3rd breakfast today!" :) He spent $10 on Cinnabon's at the airport and ate on the plane and then at Bob's.
We got the group together for a final photo and they sang in a whisper a lunch song they'd sang all month, first. So. Sweet. Then they posed for a picture.

One last pic. of the group before they split up

and go back to real life!

We went out to the car and our boy was ALL ours again. I can sort of liken it to taking him home from the hospital as a newborn--that unknown, "where do we go from here feeling" except obviously we KNEW WHERE we were going, just not what would be happening next. We went home to see his treasures and wash his VERY stinky clothing (uggh!) and he handed out treasures that he'd collected for us. He gave the kids Brazil magnets and Shawn this cool Brazil shirt that is embroidered (and we're afraid, too small, too!)

My Prince and his super surprised look! Wow!

and he brought me Havianas flip flops (cause he KNEW I'd love them and his feet are the same size as mine right now!)...they are COOL--bright pink with flowers and GOLD toe straps--Fancy!
We had invited the family to join us for dinner and a little welcome home party. We made hamburger pie (a family favorite "comfort food") and Aunt Eli brought dessert. They came over and we watched a slide show of his nearly 800 pictures (seriously!) in the Wii on our TV (very cool feature we'd never tried before). It just played with some instrumental music in the background and Brennan told us about some of them. He was so fun just to sit and listen to.
He disappeared when a bunch of the kids went down to the basement to play and I went to find him when it was time for dessert. I found him sound asleep on his bed--fully dressed, legs crossed and arm behind his head....snoring. He was O-U-T. His friend Ryan came to see him after he'd fallen asleep and he went up just to "look at him" and came down laughing. He said he opened his eyes and Ryan said, "Hey welcome back from Brazil!" and Brennan gave him a big thumbs up and a huge grin and then rolled over and went back to sleep immediately. When Shawn and I went up to tuck the other two guys in, he was still in the same position. I tried to get him under the covers and he was just out. Then Shawn and I both just stood and stared at him, sleeping...much like we did that first night home with him almost 12 years ago...so thankful that he's here and in awe of what God had done in our lives and wondering what will be next for him!

He was awake this morning at 7:30. The house was quiet and I got up to spend some time with him. It was fun just to snuggle him (shh, don't tell him I told you!) and hear more about his trip. He said, "What did I miss last night?", I smiled to myself and thought--Yep, that's my boy...he HATES to sleep because he just knows he's missing something good; but answered, "Buddy, you didn't miss a thing. We were glad for you to sleep!" I had planned for us to go to a cabin at Hickory Hills this weekend but our plans fell through when the guy rented the cabin to someone else...but I had a total peace about it and decided that it must mean we were supposed to stay home for our re-entry. We went to a few garage sales and he found a magnifying glass...to prematurely end the lives of ants, I fear (and also found Webkinz treasures!) and then to the Goodwill and found a brand new Rowenta steamer for $29 ($159 on amazon right now!) which was "ironic" since I had just mentioned to My Prince this a.m. that it made me sad that our steamer was dying and I hated to buy a new one because they were pricey! (Yippee!) Then to McD's for lunch because of all the food he'd missed fries the most, he said. Then we decided to have a little "big fun" and headed south to Laser Qwest Laser Tag. On the way there the kids serenaded us with their air band and Boy #1 was the lead singer and he had especially large LIPS!

Singing into his microphone

which made his mouth hilarious to watch!

We all played a game of Laser tag and then I bowed out gracefully to allow them to play two more games without me. I went to The Flower Factory for the first time, while they shot each other with lasers and enjoyed the store as I meandered aimlessly. I found some silly bandz for only 88 cents a pack and bought them as a surprise. Went back to pick them up and dispense the bands and the trading commenced for the ride home.

Came back to town and drove through George's (dairy queen) and had dip cones...then his friend Blake called. He invited him to go to their camper for the weekend and Brennan passed the phone to me. I was very torn as I looked at his eyes and knew he wanted to go, but just couldn't oblige him. I explained to his friend's mom that he'd just gotten home and that I wasn't ready to let him go for the weekend just yet and invited his friend over for a few hours until they had to leave--which I hoped was a compromise. I hung up, expecting an "Oh, Mom, Why can't I??" and I looked in the rearview mirror and said, "We just got you back and we'd like to keep you a little longer, I hope it's alright with you...we really like you." He just grinned and said, "Ok" :) Secretly I think he might have been relieved to have been not allowed to go, because I know he's exhausted...but he would never have said no to his friend.

Tonight when his friend leaves I think we'll watch a movie on Netflix through the Wii (very cool!) and just continue to take it easy with him.

Easy Re-entry afterall is what I've been praying for...and so far, it has been.