Opening the door a little WIDER!

OK--I have some explaining to do. I know it has been months since I last posted, and really, I knew this would happen! Life gets in the way, and I don't take the time to journal my thoughts. I can say, though, that there have been MANY thoughts circling in my head. Here we go--I began wondering why were were waiting so long for our little girl from Africa right after the holiday season. I even sent a note to our agency worker asking the same thing. Actually, there were no real answers given. But, while working through this in my head, the thought came to me that perhaps we are waiting because our little girl has a sibling, and we need to open our door a little wider. Need I say that we already have 4 kids, so adding 2 more seemed to be quite a jump? How would that work? Where would we put them in the cars and in our home? I mentioned this to one of our boys, and his reply was -of course we would take them both, for he has his biological brother and he could not imagine living without him. So, that is all I needed to hear. I spoke with our agency about perhaps opening our door to include a sibling group, what all that entailed, and how long it would take. As we began the process of adding this information to our homestudy and to immigration, I saw on our agency waiting children site a sibling group-of THREE! Well, let me clarify that, the picture I saw of them was so small that I could not really see them, but I read their profile. For those of you not in the adoption world-this is a "sales pitch" for the child-it includes their likes, a bit of their personality, and maybe some medical information. Really, a couple lines for each child. But as I read their descriptions, I looked outside on our lawn where about 10 kids were playing ball. My immediate thought was-they would fit right in! S- boy,age 13--loves to play soccer!! E-age 10, loves to run and jump rope! B-age 6 loves to play with friends! Check, check, check. Thank you God!!! The next step was to present these kids to my family. Marco walks in from work, and I jump right in with my "sales pitch". (Remember--we have been waiting for ONE little girl under the age of 4!) He responded--"That is ridiculous". Ok--he didn't way NO, so I took that as a--lets move forward! That night I opened the conversation up to the kids. Each had their own unique response-Bella said that the girls could have her bed because they might be sad, Mika and Luka said they would just get bunk beds in their room to share with S, and Nico was concerned for the siblings he would have the rest of his life--how would they ever fit into our life here in Bucks County? I asked each member of our family to pray for these kids, to pray that they find a forever home, and if that home is ours, that we would move forward in faith. And so we have, and in the process, we have fallen in love. Sort of like dating, one date at a time to see where things lead. Oh believe me, I have a list a mile long of fears! Real fears as to why we should not do this. On the top of the list, how will we ever be able to communicate with them, on a deep level, to help them heal from their past? How would we ever be able to fill the shoes of the parents they have lost? And on a more practical note--how will we fit them all in our van? And even more importantly--How will I feed them all?? I have to say, this last month has been hard. The newness of the decision has worn off, and reality is setting in. Just thinking about the medical visits, the school evaluations, the dental work, the activities for now 7 kids is overwhelming me! There are days when I don't do 4 very well, how can we possibly manage 7? That is where trust comes in. God has asked us to trust HIM. To ask HIM for help. To know that only through HIM this is possible. We still have a long journey ahead of us, but we are taking baby steps. We are raising more funds. We are preparing now for 3 instead of one. Our DOOR has been BLOWN WIDE OPEN!!! We cannot wait to see them walk in:) Ephesians 3:20(The Message) God can do anything, you know---far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.