The buzz...

Our house is abuzz with all sorts of things going on right now.

There's "normal life" with the eight of us... which means lots of stories and outings and sunggles and loving with each of our 6 precious little ones.  It means family dinners and movie nights and playground time and playing ball.  It means laundry galore and dishes always running and toys underfoot and backpacks hung.  It means picking out clothes and mixing bottles and making lunches and brushing teeth.  It means giving medicines and wiping noses and changing diapers and putting kids on and off potties.  It means packing up backpacks and driving to school and walking to classes and picking up from school.

There's also Wesley's adoption.  Right now that is just waiting, but it has meant picking up papers and getting things notarized and signing more papers, and mailing them off.  It has meant picking out names and going through clothes, and planning out bedrooms, and planning for purchases.  It has meant saving up money, raising up funds, drawing up plans to leave, and getting things ready.  In the very near future it will change to packing up suitcases, buying plane tickets, setting up apartments overseas, and arranging our travel.  It will also mean preparing our childcare, signing paperwork, preparing our home, and getting things settled here.  That change in gears could happen as early as today.  It's a scary shift because it means that this is all REALLY happening, and we are really letting go of control and walking out this Faith Road.

Then there's Aleksa's potential adoption.  Right now it's at a standstill overseas until we find out if we can bring her home or not, but over in our neck of the woods it means fundraising, fundraising, fundraising, and fundraising!  We have secured only a very small portion of what will be needed if we are able to bring her home.  We have about $1500 of the $13,000 (we thought we would have another large amount but it didn't come through).  Two, maybe 3 people are fundraising for us as well, and we are saving money in every way we can and going out of our way to try to make a little extra money as well.  For this I just set up 150 outfits for infants to consign this month.  I also brought a bunch of clothes to a consignment store this weekend and received store credit for them (which we will use once we're home with the kids to fill in the gaps!).  We are also preparing ourselves.  Or at least trying to.  Though this is the child we met in 2008, we have to recognize that she is not the same child.  She has now had 2 1/2 years in an institution.  That's a LONG time to just age, much less to change due to the different structures and routines of an institution versus a baby house.  More on that another day...

With both adoptions being the main thing taking up out mental energy, and the 6 kids at home taking up much of our physical energy, and of course the house and chores taking up what is left... it has been a busy little household here recently!!

Though I have blogged rather randomly about things, our hearts are still the same... God is always first.  In every deed and action, He is priority.  Our marriage is second.  Our children at home are third.  Our waiting children come next.  And then our work and extended family and friends and everything else.  Holding tight to our priorities makes it much more manageable to work on an adoption.  If it doesn't push itself into slot #1 then it is much easier to accomplish.  God has to drive, your spouse has to be on board, and your children at home have to be cared for.