We have spent the last week cleaning, packing and organizing our house. It has been exhausting work. It is times like these that having a lot of children is very obvious. On one hand, we have so much stuff, because there are so many people in our family. On the other hand, there are a lot of extra hands to make the work lighter. I have been so impressed by the hard work even my six year old has been able to accomplish, let alone my older children. Most of us are feeling very excited about this new adventure in our lives. We looked at our hopeful new home again today, and it was fun to again imagine what our life will be like if everything goes through and it becomes ours.

One thing has been on my mind a lot lately, though. My eldest daughter, who will be twelve tomorrow, has repeatedly said she does not want to move. She was nine years old when we adopted her, and has seen a fair amount of struggle and change in her young life. Every time she says she does not want to move, I ask her why. She cannot, or will not, say for sure what the reasons are. I am beginning to think that she is afraid of more change. She has only been in America and in our family for two and a half years now. She is probably just now feeling completely settled and comfortable. Moving to a new home, new neighborhood, new friends, and new church congregation is most likely frightening for her. Luckily, she is old enough to handle this change in life, and she will still be with us, so it shouldn’t be too upsetting for her. It does make me realize just how important stability is for an adopted child. It has worked out well that we will move before Georgia and Talley come home from Haiti. The last thing they need upon arrival home is a move to a new house.

I look forward to working on our new home to wile away the painful adoption wait. I look forward to making a nice home for our new children to come to, and of course, to seeing them happy and thriving in their new environment.