Due to Popular Demand....

I'm going to enter a post to chronicle day two of the journey right after I finish this one. Several people have made it very clear that they are unwilling to wait any longer for 1) new pictures and 2) an update of how Hugo is doing after the first week home. Since I didn't even get to see him until day three of the trip, I thought I better go off-topic for a post just to quell the uprising before it gets out of hand. Allison Miller, this is for you.

This was his first day home. As you can see, it didn't take long for him to join in the fun. He, Beatrix, and Mabel Jane were taking turns jumping off the stairs for anyone who would stand still long enough to catch them. When the grown ups tired out, we had to put a stop to the fun because Bea (who is four) was offering to do the catching. Bad idea.

When Rebekah was pregnant with Henry, we thought it would be fun to have twins. Eight years later, we didn't exactly get our wish but these two have become fast friends and play together most of the time. They are almost exactly the same size and they seem to like the same kinds of things. Our favorite is when they sit and talk for long stretches and seem to understand each other despite speaking two different languages.

No, we are not trying to embarrass him. He put these on himself. Before this lovely choice, he was wearing one with a large, pink, sequined flower on it.

I broke out the guitar on Thursday afternoon and we had a little jam session.

Movie night, complete with bags of popcorn. We watched Pingu, a collection of short, animated stories about a family of Penguins that don't speak a recognizable language. Since there was no language barrier, Hugo enjoyed it right along with everyone else and would break out into long belly laughs. It was hilarious.

Henry brought in a tub of snow and the kids gathered around to play. So far, the cold weather seems to have no affect on Hugo at all. Yesterday, with about three inches of snow on our front porch, he followed Henry out the door before we could stop him. He was wearing no socks or shoes and didn't even flinch. We brought him right back in but definitely thinks the snow is pretty great. Leaving church this morning, he kept stopping to play in it, eat some, and hand it out to people passing by.

(By the way, the things on his face are not injuries. Just before this picture, he and Beatrix were playing doctor.  He is wearing a bandaid on his forehead and has blobs of some sort of lotion on his face that was just part of the game.)

Overall, he is doing amazingly well. Is he perfect all the time? Nope, but what kid is? I'm not going to detail the difficult times here because I wouldn't want my shortcomings to be published on a blog either. But the short version is that he sometimes gets overwhelmed. Everything in his life changed massively. When it becomes too much, it is an excellent opportunity for us to love on him all the more. He needs it. We need him. By the grace of God, this is going very well and we can see him learning so much.

Thanks for the prayers and keep them coming.