Our Week in a Nutshell

We have been home 8 weeks now.  This past week had many good days.  Last Monday, we went to Starkville to see Carlie at MSU.  The kids got to see her dorm and her room and she showed all of us around campus.  We were able to have lunch all together and just had a good time visiting with her.  The little kids loved seeing Carlie and sacked out on our way home.

Then on Saturday, we made a day trip to Birmingham, Alabama to visit with a family who adopted two children from Benjamin's orphanage in 2009.  The kids are older than Benjamin but at this particular orphanage where they were, the kids who have families go home on the weekends leaving the true orphans to spend their weekends together.  So they all remembered each other and Benjamin really enjoyed seeing them. He asked on our way home if they can come see us in Mississippi now.  It was a great day and he seems really happy that we went.  While we were there, the family was able to show us many pictures of a much younger Benjamin and their son even found a printed picture of him when he was either an older 6 or a young 7 year old.  I just love it!

Benjamin with Kolya and Christina

The whole crew.....well kind of....Kolya, Benjamin, Ellie Grace, Christina, and Jocelyn
(the older 8 siblings were mia)

People ask us if things are really going well and overall, it really is good.  I have been reflecting on the past few years and I think the first year we had Jocelyn and Ellie Grace was a harder year for us than it has been so far having Benjamin home.  It makes me wonder if part of the difficulty in adoption is the transition of bringing a new, non-infant, human being into your home and family and life.  24/7.  It was hard figuring out what made Jocelyn tick, what made her happy, what made her sad, why she thought the way she did, and why she behaved the way she did.  I had many teary days dealing with the frustration and difficulty of it all.  I learned many techniques to use with children from hard places and that parenting a child who had a hard background was completely and totally different from parenting a child who has been loved and nurtured and cared for since birth.  All of this experience is softening the upheaval of bringing another child into our home.  And, of course,  he is a really good kid which also helps a lot.  :)  It has been very interesting how Benjamin being here has raised questions and discussions with Jocelyn about memories of her early life that I did not even know she had.  He has questions of when and how the little girls came into our family and I guess that is spurring her thoughts.  We are praying for grace and wisdom in helping our little ones heal from their hard start in life and we are praying for all the others who do not yet have a family to call their own.  We know God is able.