Dating Our Children

It's new.

Learning how to meet our children and get to know them.

We've compared it to dating and marriage.

It's the closest thing that we have experience with.

Just like we vowed before God, our family, and friends to love one another no matter what, we vow to love these children no matter what.

It's easy right now.

We are in the dating phase of our relationship.

Everything is new and fun and exciting.

But we know the honeymoon phase will eventually end and real life will settle in.

We will have good days and we will have hard days.

We will have days when the love comes easily.

And we will have days where we have to seek forgiveness from one another.

It's all a dream come true.

Our path to parenthood is different than I ever imagined it to be growing up.

Our path is showing me the truth of Ephesians 3:20.  My God is able to do immeasurably more than I could ever ask or think.

We are treasuring every minute of this path.

We met our middle son yesterday for the first time.  It was strange to be back in this place of first introductions.  We were not as nervous this time, but we were equally as excited.

Our sweet boy seemed nervous at first.  

Who could blame him?

We told him how excited we were to finally meet him and we told him how much his brothers and sisters missed him.

We gave him the cards from his brothers and sisters and that seemed to bring out his true personality.  We gave him the option of waiting to read them in private or reading them right then.  He wanted to read them right then.  

It was precious to watch him read his siblings' words to him.  We could tell that it meant the world to him.

We played basketball for a little while.

Andrew beat him at a game of horse.  :)

We walked a few laps around the track and just talked.

He told us he was excited about being adopted and even more excited that it meant he could be with his brothers and sisters again.

The excitement they all have to be adopted all together...

It's why God laid on our hearts to adopt a sibling group.

Their love for one another is a beautiful thing.

Sure they are siblings and they pick on one another, but oh how they love one another.

Last night we took our two oldest daughters out on a date.

We went out to eat and then took them for manicures.

Such a fun girls night, even with Andrew tagging along. :)

He knows how to show three girls a good time and make them feel special.

The girls had never had manicures before and it was fun watching them experience it for the first time.

Our Shy One wanted our nails to match.

That made a momma feel loved.

The Oldest chose bright neon colors.

They could not have been more proud of their new nails.

The night did not seem nearly long enough.

It gets harder and harder to say goodbye at the end of each visit.

And it saddened us that we didn't get to see the other children last night.

We miss them.

We cannot wait for our next visit.