Hi Everyone...

I'm so sorry that I haven't written or updated sooner. As many of you know, we are home. Safe and sound. We arrived home the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving... exhausted after almost two straight days of flying, airports, taxi's and airport shuttles. Kajal met her Aunt Linda and Grandfather at the airport as well as friends Pasqua and Franco. She managed to get home without getting car sick (it's taken her a little while to get used to the motion of a moving vehicle) and was bravely climbing the stairs to our apartment when Logan in his excitement to have me home, ran down the stairs towards her. Kajal threw up her arms and turned around screaming... she ran right back out of the building and into the street. She screamed bloody murder! It was almost comical. Most of you know Logan and he is about the cutest dog in the world but to Kajal he might as well have been a giant rat. When I finally convinced her she was safe to go upstairs and held Logan back, she cautiously made her way into her new home. Thanks to my downstairs neighbors Holly, Brian and Brian... there was a beautiful sign on the door, all sparkles and butterflies... welcoming Kajal home. She recognized her name and reached up to touch the door in awe. The first evening home was quiet... I walked Kajal into her room and showed her some of her things. The expression of total bliss was on her face as she gazed into every drawer and touched the clothes hanging in the closet as if they were made of gold. To her, they were. She couldn't resist... she spent the next two hours trying on everything she could get her hands on! All the pink had her swooning with joy and she absolutely fell in love with her first pair of blue jeans!

Our first week home was rocky... Kajal came to become less afraid of the animals (even sneaks them all cookies when she has a chance!) The hardest part was helping her understand that their would always be food... she cried a lot. Mostly when she was trying to communicate something to me that I didn't understand. I finally gave her a little lunch bag (thanks to a gift from one of my neighbors) and filled it with water, juice, rice and crackers and let her carry it with her all the time. Having access to food and drink any time she wanted it seemed to reduce her fear and stress, quite a bit. A major gift was the daily visits from her best friend, Manisha. Manisha came to visit on Thanksgiving and the girls were so happy to see one another. It was as if they'd never been apart. Manisha introduced chicken nuggets to Kajal and now Kajal is always asking me for 'Manisha chicken'. Thanksgiving was a bit of a challenge... Kajal didn't really understand the concept of family style dining... once she got a taste of the stuffing and the gravy she pulled both huge bowls over to herself and glared at anyone who even dared dig in for a portion.

We've had a lot of firsts... first feeling of cold. Kajal wouldn't put on mittens... she had no idea what they were. So we went outside to play without them. About an hour into being outside she threw her hands up in the air and screamed ferociously.. she was shaking her hands and the look on her face clearly showed the pain and confusion she was in. I pulled out the mittens and put them on her and she smiled happily and sighed with relief. Ever since, she not only puts on her mittens.... she puts on hat, scarf and wears about 5 layers of clothing before she steps outside. Welcome to New England!

She's fallen in love with Dora the Explorer, has figured out how to use the TV remote, curls up with Logan and brings me the phone when it rings. She eats rice all day and still loves pink. Cupcakes have gone over huge and she almost cried with joy when she saw her first balloon. She was so happy when I got her one that when it got away from her and floated up in the sky she waved at it, sadly but still happy. Two balloons later and she was still so in love with the precious ball of plastic that she hugged and rocked it against her body with glee.

Her first candy cane was a huge success, after she figured out that biting into it produced a mouth full of plastic...

She is learning so fast, she understands so much of what we say and is gaining new words herself very quickly.     `Mommy, Grandma, Logan, Dora, Cupcake and thank you (this melts me, everytime).

We're spending a lot of time right now running from doctors appointment to doctors appointment. Some days are really great and some are really challenging. She is funny, gregarious, kind and generous... she is also at times, frustrated, angry, sad and confused. Together we are learning, about ourselves... about life, about compassion and about patience. Kajal is smarter and brighter than I ever could have imagined. She has a huge heart and would give the shirt off her back for a friend. Every time Manisha comes to visit she gathers up some of her favorite things and offers them to her friend.

This child has clearly been battered and bruised, her body and soul are healing from nightmares none of us could even imagine... and yet she runs through the wind and cold, laughing with a dog she has just come to know. She gives me running hugs and calls out for her Grandmother. At night we curl up together and we give thanks, she runs down the list of all she loves, Mommy, Grandma, Logan, Zoey, Sasha and Salem, Serena and Manisha, Caleb etc...every day the list grows longer. She loves rice crispies and white sugar, cupcakes and the color pink. She loves Dora and blue jeans, rice and stickers... she laughs and it is full of the music of life.

She is a true miracle, this little one.