We made it (all 10 of us!)

So, we picked up "the girls" today and everything is going really well so far. We met up with them and the social worker at an In'N'Out Burger and had lunch. After the initial shy phase for all of the kids (the 3 girls and our 4 children), they started talking and laughing, and playing and laughing. . . did I say laughing? Well, apparently adding 3 children multiplies the laughter factor exponentially because Jeff and I had one of the most laughter filled 4 hour car rides of our lives (and this is saying a LOT because Jeff used to be a youth pastor!). This pretty much continued ALL night, through dinner and bedtime until we had to just finally bring the night to an end with some cookies, a Bible story, and some bedtime prayers! I guess all of the children like each other . This is VERY good and THANKS for praying.

Obviously we know that there are "issues" but hopefully for these 11 days we can keep it really positive and just LOVE on these girls and let them know that they are totally worth it - they are valuable and loved not because of what they do but because of WHOSE they are (God's!) Jeff and I both noticed that they are quite in awe that a family could actually ENJOY being around each other and not need to fight, manipulate, and argue all the time (this is their default, of course, but they are trying not to and we put the k'bosh on it right away. LOL!).

It is definitely and interesting and strange kind of visit. On one hand, the girls KNOW that we are possibly adopting them but on the other hand this visit is (officially) "just" a respite visit. Makes for awkward conversations. . . I'm pretty much thinking that I'm just going to be fairly open and honest with the older girls and hope they will feel safe enough to do the same. They've experienced a lot in their short lives and they aren't letting anything escape their notice.

While I know that a normal emotion at the end of today should be something like "oh my, what are we doing here?" I actually found myself thinking "why wouldn't we love these girls and give them a family? Why wouldn't anyone? How can we (as Christians) think that just because they have had a hard start in life that they are beyond redemption? Why would we EVER choose to not love your children because it might be hard on or "mess up" our current children? Oh, Lord, help them to KNOW you and your love for them!" I am mostly writing all of this so I will REMEMBER this when it gets really hard - because it will. . . and I will need to remember!