Let the Wild Rumpus Start

This is a post I have been wanting to write for almost 2 years. In May of 2006 Lori and I decided to adopt from Africa. So our journey began. In April of 2007, we found our children. On March 17th, 2008, at 7:30 pm (we are soooo hoping for an on time flight) our children come home.

Everyone asks me if we are nervous. The answer is no. This is the calmest I have been in almost 2 years. This year has been stressful. We never knew when the children were coming home and we lived in constant hope it would be next month, then the next month, then...you all remember. Knowing they are coming home and our family will be complete is the most incredible feeling. We are six days away from holding them for the first time.

We want to buy groceries so that we have their favorite foods. We look at books and wonder what they will like. What kind of clothes do they want? Things we know for Kennedy and Ben but can only guess for G and K. As parents, we do not like not knowing these small things about our children. We are so excited to learn these things about them.

International adoption is a ride I am happy to be getting off of. The highs are incredible and the lows are agonizing. Things have come out of this process that I am so thankful for. We knew that at the end of this process we would have our children. We did not anticipate how loved and supported we would feel by our friends and family. Just because our children are home does not mean we do not need you all anymore....there is still babysitting to be done.

I think everyone has people in their life that you know will be there. I did not foresee all the people in our life that would be so supportive of us through this adoption process. Coworkers, parents of our children's friends, neighbors, church members and acquaintances have all followed us through this adoption with sympathy and joy. People we barely know have journeyed with us and we are so thankful. We have incredible people in our lives and one good thing about this crazy process is that it enabled us to see that.

The other thing that came out of this process was the community of other adoptive families that we have grown close to. We have felt our highs and lows as well as every high and low of the other adoptive families. No one knows what this process is like except for these other families. When things were most extreme they were the ones who always knew our kids would come home. They never asked "Are you sure they will come home?" or "Everything is still okay right?". They knew the only way to get them home was to go through it. I did not expect others to understand the process. I often felt like we were in a crazy tornado where you did not know what was going to happen with the crazy but you understood the rotation of the tornado. You cling to this force that is beyond your control knowing that when it lands everything will be okay. And it is. And I am so happy to have been caught in the tornado with such incredible people.

We are done with one tornado and onto the next. I know for sure things will be crazy when the children arrive. I know our world will be turned upside down before it can be put back together in a new, wonderful way. I know there will be times I will want to run. Far, far away. I cannot wait for that. Let the wild rumpus start.