Overwhelmed

I am overwhelmed...

...by how much "needs" to get done between now and when the children come home. I put needs in quotation marks, because it's mostly stuff I think needs to happen or things I would like to do. All the children really need are some clothes, food, and our love.

...by how hard it's going to be, especially at first. I don't enjoy the thought of taking R and S away from everything they know and bringing them to a place where everything looks, smells, and feels so different. They are from a village of 1,000 people in a relatively poor European country. They've never seen anything like a Kroger or Wal-Mart. We took them to their first restaurant when we visited in February. They've never ridden in, and may have never even seen, a mini-van. Or a car seat. Or a swimming pool. Or a library. We want to be sensitive to this, and will spend a lot of time at home the first month they are here.

...by people's generosity. Especially by people's generosity. We knew going into the adoption process that it was going to be expensive and that we would have to make a lot of sacrifices as a family. Then, when we were referred two children, the costs increased even more. But people have been so generous, saying "keep the change" at the yard sale, handing me an amount of money they think isn't very much, but I know it all adds up. And, we now have an $8,000 matching grant for any money we raise for our Both Hands project by May 31. I still can't even wrap my mind around the amount. Between generous family members and some anonymous donors, we can use that $8,000 toward the $25,000 we need to complete the adoption.

I'm overwhelmed, but I'm enjoying this work of getting ready for R and S, and the excitement is building in our family as we get closer to the date when we may travel. We still don't have dates, but are hoping to go to Bulgaria by mid-June. 

It's funny, I always had such a hard time getting M and E to de-clutter their rooms and the playroom, but now, all I have to say is, "let's make some room for R and S" and they are willing participants. That really warms my heart and I think it shows that they are ready for their new siblings. We're all a little overwhelmed, but we're all excited and ready, too.