A DONE DEAL

I hope to post some Christmas pics tomorrow....underlying word is hope.....

I come back to this saying from time to time....With God...it is a Done Deal....our salvation, His love for us, His plan for us, etc. One and a half years ago, I would never have dreamed that I would be where I am now. One trip to camp...the ability of God to get through to me. Divine. That is the only way that I can describe it. Luke ran through the house yesterday and did something...nothing big or awesome...just went through the kitchen. The only thing I could think was...he is my son. There will never again be a moment when Dawit and Muluken are not a part of our family. I would go to the grave for these two boys just like the kids I have known for the last 11 1/2 years!! Their personalities are so unique and amazing. They make me laugh and become mad and want to go crazy. Sounds like a family huh?
I have soooo fallen off the Yahoo Group wagon and I sometimes wonder how others are doing in their journey, but there is just not enough time in the day to sit and follow everyone. I have made the conscious decision that it is more important for me to focus on what is going on with our family of 8, but it is almost impossible to keep up with everyone anyway! I would love to sit and read everyone's blogs and revel in the power of God in their lives....so any time I do get to do it is precious, but I am trying not to make myself feel guilty for not knowing what everyone else is doing....Does that make sense? Anyway... for those who do get to read let me tell you of our lives at this point...
We are living the crazy life of gazillions of loads of laundry each week, keeping up with lots of food prep, the kids school and activities, my job and Jim's job, Jim's doctoral work, and church. Typical I know, but having 6 kids is a circus in and of itself. Not to mention the noise level in our house and in our cars. Did you know that besides a 12 passenger van, there is only one van, and the Suburban that will actually seat 8 people? Luckily, we have an old Montana that seats 8. When old faithful goes out to pasture, we don't have a lot of vehicle choices!! I dream of a divider between the front and back like a limo!! Ha! How about a hotel room for the night? We knew that even with 6 people in the family, a lot of places make you get two rooms. Now we have to get two rooms unless we can find a hotel that has suites and is lenient on us! I know, boo hoo for us right? I actually love our life and God has blessed us beyond measure!!
We are currently in the process of pre-building a new home. We looked at houses, but it is hard to find a house that fits 3 boys, 3 girls, and us! I hate to even type that after we have seen Ethiopia first hand...It is hard to find the balance of what it is God would want for us and what we want. Our home now is ok. It is a little tight, with no storage, but maybe that means that we have too much stuff??? Gotta say, it would be nice for the boys and the girls not to have to share one bathroom though!! There is a lot of yelling, "Hey, knock first!!"
I feel as though I am rambling, but I guess there is one underlying point to all of this. We are no longer a family that adopted kids from Ethiopia...we are just a family with 6 kids that are very close in age!! Do we still have kids from Ethiopia that we have to make adjustments for?? YES! But, the main thing is that we are undeniably a family!!!! We are one....now if we can just find someone to invent clothes that don't get dirty and take up no space...life would be grand!