So we have been back for about 2 weeks now, or at least going on 2 weeks. I have determined to just sit down and write out my thoughts so far, in no particular order and with no particular purpose. Random. So here we go…

1. It’s a lot of work. I have never had 6 kids before, so please forgive me. I knew it would add significantly to the work load, which it has, but the sheer number of things like bikes and bananas can pose a significant threat to ones sanity ( and I am at the office most of the day. Amy is the one on the front lines. Yikes).

2. The Gospel takes on new meaning. While Dallas Theological Seminary was great, I hesitate to say that I experienced the full impact of the Gospel there. I did experience intellectual and theoretical beauty. Over the past couple of weeks I have learned the Gospel in a whole new way and this is very hard to explain. It is not something communicated with words. The best way to put it would be something like this…raw love. When Jesus said that it is easy to love your friend and that He wanted us to love our enemy, I think what He meant was that talk is cheap. Loving people that you like and know and want to be friends with is no real love at all. But loving people that you did not chose based on “likableness” is a whole different ball game.

3. God has been gracious. over the past two weeks we have been very happy to find that our family is blending nicely. Our Bio kids have responded much better than I thought they would and our adoptive kids have been pretty flexible and have been rolling with the punches. Except for riding in the car;) Mikias has motion sickness. Other than that and the normal issues related to be human and a child things be been really good. Thank God!

4. I love experiencing 1st with the kids. I took the kids to Olympia sports the other day. Their eyes came out of their heads. I don’t know if this is a good thing or not, but it was fun. The cool thing about it is that they are not consumers. So, I was able to pick the sneakers out that I wanted to buy with absolutely NO argument. They were SO EXCITED to be getting new sneakers that they cared less which ones I pulled off of the wall. Boom. I will never take my bio kids and adoptive kids shopping togther;)

5. People are funny. I like to see people interact with our kids. I even had the privilege of watching an adult speak to them like they were deaf, slow and loud. Like somehow that was going to help. Funny. Here is a tip: Use a noun, a verb, and an indirect object or direct object…and that is pretty much it. Don’t get fancy. Humble yourself talk like you don’t know English and not like they are deaf. Otherwise they glaze over and just freeze. Also, use hand motions and gestures. It is amazing how much we talk using our hands. We can talk about almost anything with our hands, some simple terms, and some patience. Oh, and eye level helps.

6. Thanks for the food. It has been next to amazing how much food people have given us. People from church and the neighborhood have been great. I think we need to have more kids just to get the free food. I cannot tell you have much of a stress reliever it has been to not have to worry about dinner. Thank you thank you thank you. Huge.

7. We hope it is contagious. Right now the swine flue is making its way around Maine. Highly contagious. I am hoping that adoption becomes this way: highly contagious. There are 48.3 million orphans south of the Sahara desert and 143 million worldwide, which is almost half the population of the USA. Whether domestic or international, there are many children in need of moms and dads. I used to think adoption was a calling. Maybe it is. But the longer I am in this the more I think it is a choice. There is nothing special about Amy and I that sets us apart and marks us as called people. We simply made a choice based on our faith and it has lead us to where we are. Hard, yes. Amazing, yes. Regretable, NO.

8. Thanks for the support. Many of you have been so supportive of us and we cannot say thank you enough. From the financial support to kind and encouraging words. Thank you. We are grateful.