1 Year Ago TODAY ******Wednesday********

1 year ago today was one of those super crazy days. Soccer practice, afterschool meeting, and dinner on the run. I remember coming home and standing in the kitchen sorting through the mail. I remember Ben coming in (he had been home with the kids for about 20 minutes) and saying, "there's an email you need to read." There was something in his voice that made me KNOW something was up. I started to head into the office and he said that I had better wait until after the kids were in bed... but of course I went to the computer instead. The email said (I have kept it and reread it 1,000 times) that there are 3 kids who need to be adopted right away. That the family that was supposed to adopt them had just found out that they (Janelle) had cancer and was starting treatments soon. (She is now finished with treatments and doing really well - we hope to meet them on our next trip to Spokane) The email gave us their names and ages (all of it was a little bit wrong) and a phone number. As Ben and I did baths, homework and prayers we talked. Our conversation went like this.

• We can't adopt 3 kids
• I wonder what they look like
• maybe we should call and find out more
• Do you think we could ever do that???
• I wonder who will adopt them
• 14 years old... wow
• We always said we wanted Danny to stay the oldest.
• I wonder what happened to other family
• How much would it cost
• There is NO WAY we could do this
• We just said we had to wait for our court settlement from the flood before we could afford to adopt. ***an hour later our attorney called and said he was leaving his firm and no one else would take it on.
• I wonder what it would be like to go to Ethiopia
• We could never afford it
• Our friends will think we are crazy
• I always thought we were supposed to have a girl
• 3 boys and 3 girls - that's nuts!
• I wonder if they like sports
• Should we call the number?
• What will our parents say?
• We don't have enough room for 6 kids
• We don't have a car big enough (that was solved soon after when some friends GAVE us their Suburban that they were planning to sell)
• I wish we were brave enough to do that...

The conversation went on all night like that. The next morning, on my way to school, I called the number. A couple hours later the phone rang and I spent my lunch hour talking to the woman who originally placed the kids and had met them on 3 different occasions. One of the stipulations on the email was that the family would have to have "successfully parented teenagers" and we certainly hadn't gotten to that point yet! We talked about the kids and our home and by the end of the conversation I was GIDDY!!!!!! I called Ben and we talked all about the posibilities... we started praying!

• Could WE really do this?
• Lord, is this YOUR will?
• HOW?
• Will Danny, Lilly and Addy ever love them
• Would we ever love them the same as our biological kiddos
• We don't have much left over at the end of the month now...
• What are we thinking?
• WHAT??????????????????????????????????????????

The days went on, we talked to friends and family... we asked them to pray. At one point I talked to my principal and he laughed... a few days later he said, "Brooke you know you are doing this... stop wondering!" Ben and I talked and talked and talked... you can imagine the conversations and less than 2 weeks later we KNEW the answer was YES!

Today, we are the Schuldheisz Bunch. Kind of like the Brady Bunch, without Alice (oh, how I dream of having an Alice)... We have been home together for almost 6 months and things are going so well! In a lot of ways it seems like we have always been a family of 8. The kids argue, get in trouble and cuddle all in a span of 20 minutes. Addy loves to have Jacob read to her. Lilly and Marti like to "hang out" in their room and read books together or watch movies in our room. Jacob and Danny are TROUBLE! :) In a good way. I love being the parent of a teenager and a tweenager. If you are driving past a soccer field or school gym and you hear a screaming mom (only saying good things) that is probably me. I jump higher and yell louder than just about any other parent... Ben's thinks it's embarrasing and shushes me often :).

So hear I sit with tears in my seys - so very glad that we didn't listen to the what ifs. We "dove in" to the greatest gift ever. We still listen to Dive by Steven Curtis Chapman all the time. We have told the kids how much Ben loves that song. How he was driving to school and was praying for clear direction from God and this song came on the radio. At that moment he knew... and the rest is history :)

The long awaited rains Have fallen hard upon the thirsty ground

And carved their way to where The wild and rushing river can be found

And like the rain I have been carried here to where the river flows, yeah

My heart is racing and my knees are weak

As I walk to the edge I know there is no turning back

Once my feet have left the ledge

And in the rush, I hear a voice

That's telling me it's time to take the leap of faith

So here I go

I'm divin' in, I'm goin' deep

In over my head I wanna be

Caught in the rush, lost in the flow I

n over my head I want to go

The river's deep, the river's wide

The river's water is alive

So sink or swim, I'm divin' in