From Advent to Fulfillment

It's December 22. One is out running, one is at a birthday sleepover, and the other three are alternately yelling at Mario and Luigi and at each other. And I'm sitting upstairs, waiting on my Silhouette to cut shirt designs, marveling at the changes in our world since last December. One year ago, we were right in the middle of a hard limbo. We were right in the middle of fundraising, of waiting, of rearranging our house, and of hoping. Our kids didn't know yet that we existed and we still had two hard tests to face. At this point, we were not yet officially "matched" and, while it's unlikely to be pre-approved and then not matched, it's possible. So we were in the middle of moving around an entire house, not even certain that people would be coming to fill it. We also knew that we were facing a hard deadline of March 12 for completed government approval paperwork, and as each second ticked by in waiting for the match, it delayed everything that came after. We knew that if the March 12 deadline wasn't met, Francisco would age out which would make things impossible. So last December found us very much living in our own advent season.

ad·vent  (ăd′vĕnt′)
n.
1. The coming or arrival of something or someone that is important or worthy of note

One year later, having already experienced "the coming or arrival of something or someone that is important or worthy of note", we are leaving in a season of fulfillment. The fulfillment of a long-awaited Promise, the fulfillment of family, the fulfillment of a hope and a future, the fulfillment of lives that were preserved for a reason, the fulfillment of the fruit of years of God working in the hearts of Emma and Kelsey to prepare them for this time.

I cannot even put into words how utterly amazed I am DAILY at the ways the Lord has blessed all seven of us through this process. Our three new kids are incredible. They are kind, courteous, fun, witty, smart, helpful, and loving. They tackled the world of American public school this semester and absolutely ASTOUNDED me with their drive and work ethic and concern and success. Francisco's final grades aren't in yet but it looks like 2 A's and 2 B's. His first experience EVER in our educational system and he blows the top out of it. Every teacher and every student who has interacted with them has only had great things to say. They are so pleasant at home and with all of us and each other.

I honestly hope this does not come across as bragging because believe me when I say that I have had my struggles in other ways, but every single day this Christmas season when I have looked at my Facebook memories, I have been dazzled at the ways God has created time and space for me. Every.single.year. I am stressed out by the amount of things I have to do, I'm behind, I'm low on energy and time. I am normally buying Christmas gifts now, one year I STARTED buying on the 20th, I often am writing my students' Christmas cards WHILE THEY TAKE THEIR EXAM, and I seldom have teacher gifts done until the wee hours of the morning the night before the last day. This year...... it's just unbelievable and I don't know how it's possible. I have had so much MORE to do, so many MORE people to care for, and I have somehow been more ahead of the game than EVER. My grading has stayed caught up all year. My end of semester work of cards and research papers and final grades was done weeks ahead. I left school 30 minutes after the kids did, as opposed to my YEARLY having to stay until 5 or 6:00. My gifts have not only been bought, but WRAPPED, for weeks. We sent teacher gifts to school in shifts and were done early. My business orders are the only thing that are down to the wire, but that's only because I decided in order to PAY for this Christmas, maybe I should take some last minute orders and do some advertising, haha! There is no feasible explanation for any of this except a God-miracle. He knew that my heart was pretty wrapped up in emotional stuff right now and it didn't need the stressors of time management and procrastination, so He somehow created extra space and time for me. And I ADORE Him for it.

A few people (who apparently know how stressful an adoption can be) have asked me, often in a whisper, "So how are you and Kraig?" The answer is that we are wonderful. Is it always perfect? No, but I think waiting all of these years until we were both in the same place was such incredible provision by God. I also think the massive amount of preparation and training that you do in an international adoption made a difference for us. Our time with Royal Family over all of these years put us in a place where we understand what issues we might face. And we have always been incredibly in sync in regard to our parenting styles, a fact that I attribute to the similarities with which we were raised. There have been some things since school started that we have had to deal with, things with "new" and "old" kids, and we have been on the same page in handling those issues.

I will say, all of the previously mentioned things considered, though, that the most incredible and beautifully amazing gift of God through this family change has been His work in the sibling relationships. 5 teenagers. 2 bedrooms. 1 house. 2 schools. A ton of social groups. 2 parents. A million activities. Incredibly different personalities. AND YET. Unfathomable love. Unbelievable connection. Unexplainable harmony. And that is all, 110%, due to ONE GOD. I honestly believe that the sibling relationships are what have shaped the beautiful success of our new family. If there is harmony among the kids in the home, it's so much easier to create and find harmony in every other situation and dynamic. I am so thankful to God for that. And so indebted to these five beautiful children for all of it.

So here we sit, fresh in the bloom of fulfillment. I know that challenges likely loom ahead, but the same God who shaped and formed these first six months together will walk us through those.