Crawfish and Congee: Home!

Well, we made it!
It felt like an eternity (30+ hours) but we made it.

We landed in Houston somewhere around 6:30 and then when we got to our vehicle, the battery was dead :/

Yay...

It was freezing and we couldn't even get into the car bc the electric locks wouldn't work...Perfect.

After about 20 minutes, the Eco Park ppl came and jumped our vehicle and we were finally on our way...HOORAY!!!

THEN.....I saw a text from Ali..."Call me when you land."

So...I called...

What I heard from her was, "I don't know how to tell you this, but.....Pixie died..."

Devastation....

Heartbreak....

Pixie was my 9 yr old teacup chihuahua, and I loved her dearly.

She was my baby.

Even now my heart is hurting bc I SO wanted to see her after a long 2 weeks away....

She always gets so sad when I leave, and I just couldn't wait to see her and tell her, "Mommy's back!"

Selah...

To top off the evening, after all of the above and fighting exhaustion and nearly running off of the road while driving 4 hours home from Houston...We got a speeding ticket only 30 minutes from home...Yay....

Selah...

On to the good stuff...

We got home at about 12:45 a.m. and were so excited to show Ann-Jolie her home and, best of all, her room and toys :)

I can honestly tell you, she was SO excited!! She was like a child at Christmas!

She was so happy to see her sisters and brothers and hugged them all right away.

We finally went to sleep somewhere around 2:00ish and let me tell ya...I.was.pooped...We all were

Scotty and I were up around 7:30, but the little ones slept until 9:00 and after.

Maddox woke up and saw Ann-Jolie for the first time this morning. He was so excited we were home, and when he saw Ann-Jolie, she was playing with his building blocks...

His first words to her were, "You have my blocks." LOL!

The kids played so well today and Ann-Jolie was really an absolute angel. She played....

and played....

and played...

I let all of the littles stay up later than normal bc, well, I think this is a special occasion...Don't you?

They are now all cozy after their baths, and sleeping like angels :)

I.am.blessed...

I am so thankful...

Right now, as I'm typing this, all 7 of my children are under our roof.

I.am.SO.blessed...

We're getting into the Christmas spirit and just enjoying being together.

And even though I am grieving the loss of my little fur baby, and find myself grateful...

Grateful for all of the good in my life...Grateful that I had 9 years with my little Pixie.

Grateful for family...Grateful for home...Grateful for being back in the good ole USA...

Joyful...Just.plain.happy.

I can tell you with complete confidence that this is our last adoption...our last child...

Promise!

And so with that, the Richard family is complete...And my heart is full to know that we have the privilege to raise the children that God has blessed us with.