- How have the kids done learning English? Amazingly well! Jacob pointed to a truck yesterday and said, "Mom, that truck look like Grandpa new truck. It's shiny!" Marti also told Ben recently that she liked the bird on his face. Ben had a beard... not a bird. :) The kids conversational English has developed steadily and they understand about 90% of what is said in conversation. Their academic English is still developing and could take another year for them to be considered "bi-lingual".
- How have your "original kids" adjusted. Do you wish you had not disrupted your birth order? Danny, Lilly and Addy have adjusted really well. It was hardest on Danny and mostly because he didn't understand the boys and thought he would. Danny was also used to being the best soccer player in the family - a title he had to give up right away. We have seen a counselor twice to help our family adjust, it was a great experience and I am glad we went but do not feel like we need to go again now.
- Would you do it again? Absolutely! We have talked about our family and how God called us to these children, we wonder if he will call us to travel to Ethiopia again someday to add to our family.
- How was parenting teenagers for the first time? Parenting teenagers has taught me a lot and I have definately grown from it. Ben is better at giving the kids space - but I have learned to stop trying to hold Joseph's hand while crossing the street and that staying up late with mom means the world to Marti.
- How hard has it been - be honest? There are many many things I don't put in the blog. It is harder than you might see from the outside. I am a very upbeat person and it is rare that you will hear me share our struggles to the big blog world. But we do have struggles. They are not horrible. But they are very real and have definately caused a couple sleepless nights. Kids are kids and the saying that "A mom is only as happy as her most unhappy child" has never meant so much to me as it does now. The kids have had hard stages. The 5 oldest have gone through tough times that have each lasted about 6 weeks. But they have recovered and we are stronger from each tough time. Seperating the "adoption issues" from the "bratty kid issues" is also a daily conversation between Ben and I... but we are learning.
Some of my friends have called us their "guinea pigs" because they have wanted to adopt too and love watching and learning from our experiences. I never intended to be any kind of rodent - but I am so glad for the opportunity to share with friends and strangers the life I have. If you have any questions you can email me at purse-n-ality1@charter.net. We would love to talk with you.
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