A reminder verse, from Christian friends...

Psalm 20 ~ May the Lord answer you when you are in distress; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you. May He send you help from the sanctuary and grant you support from Zion. May He remember all your sacrifices and accept your burnt offerings. May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the Lord grant all your requests. Now I know the Lord saves His annointed; He answers them from His holy heaven with the saving power of His right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm. O Lord, save the king! Answer us when we call!

Returning from a weekend trip to Minneapolis as a family of 6, this verse holds special meaning! :) We hope that we are painting a fair picture of this journey of adoption. We have chosen to focus on the positive and to never forget the blessing in it all. But, we also don't want to deny the challenges and exhaustion in the day-to-day adjustments. As a mom, it is a constant process of teaching, correcting, and praising. Each sentence needs to be spoken or interpreted carefully. Each new experience needs to be explained and walked through. Every lesson we teach our children between the ages of 2 and 5 are ones that we are faced with each day: pans are hot, outlets are dangerous, look both ways before crossing the street, use an indoor voice, don't push, say excuse me, buckle up, only sit on furniture, flush, use your fork, ask before taking, etc, etc. You get the idea. By the end of each day, I am hoping that my love for them and joy in having them here as part of our family is not overshadowed by all the other things I am having to teach. Each morning, I pray for the patience and strength that I know God can provide.

The way that Bruce and I have chosen to parent is a tougher route than many choose. We believe in giving each child all the love and attention and teaching that we can. We don't believe that we can buy that or hand that over to others to do for us. We make sure our rules and expectations line up with what God teaches, and that they are surrounded with enough positive and one-on-one time from us. Most of all, we try to model the behavior we expect in how we prioritize our time, money, and energy. We fall short every day, but we wake up and try again the next day. :) Anyway, when you parent in that way and live in that way...adding two additional children mid-way is taking about all that is in us. We are taking our time and being careful to do this "right" because we know it will pay off.