The Blessing of Friends and Family

My dad picked us up at the airport Saturday morning, and we drove the 45 minutes to their home, where our girls were staying. It was so wonderful to have the girls meet their brother. They were so excited. My mom fixed us lunch and sent us with some food for dinner. We drove the 90 minutes to our own home, where we found banners and balloons and bags and boxes of clothes for Alex and food for the rest of us. One family had left gifts for our girls, in addition to the gifts for Alex, so they wouldn't feel left out. Another friend brought by milk, ham, cheese, and frozen pizzas so we wouldn't have to make a trip to the store. Leigh's mother, who lives in town, had been checking on our house, and she had taken our towels and washed and folded them, so they'd all be clean when we returned. It makes me want to cry when I think of how blessed we are to have so many good people who love us.

And now we begin our adjustment period. I keep reminding myself to be patient. It is going to take awhile for everyone to get used to our new circumstances. It's going to take awhile for Alex to get on the right time schedule so we can all sleep at night. I'm going to have to get used to doing things with just one arm, while Alex is in the other. And it's going to have too be okay that some things don't get done the way they used to. And eventually, we'll get into a comfortable routine. Thank heaven for the blessing of good friends and family to help during the transition.