Anniversary...

It has been two years (and a few days) since bringing J home from Ghana. My oh my how life has changed for her....for us all...we have all grown so much. This is one of my favorite pictures, taken in the parking garage of the airport right after we landed, with 'Miss(y) America'

UGH! I wish someone would have told us that the anniversary date needs to be in the middle of NOTHING - as in pick a month when you have no other events/changes/etc to adopt your child. Whatever you do don't pick the month your oldest has a birthday (that is shared with Papa -grandfather), school gets out for 2 weeks, Christmas (all the hoopla of events that goes with that) throw in some presents and parties, extra work for Mom working at a church.....and what do you have.....a RAD in fine form. Now please don't go lecturing me, just venting a bit.

Of course at the time, we were just thinking "wow, do you really think we can bring her home before Christmas?!? yes we will miss performances, birthdays, etc".

In all seriousness, we wouldn't change a thing knowing what we do now.....well except for trying even harder to speed the process up and maybe bring her home in November ;-)

All that to say, those of you living with RAD or at least understanding it a bit, this month has been TOUGH. We knew going into to December that life will be hard, way too many triggers, way to many stressors, and too many distractions for us all. That being said, we also have been working really hard to provide the most therapeutic environment possible, while still celebrating another siblings birthday and the birth of our Savior. I could write a long list of crazy behaviors that have been going on but that is putting too much 'out there' for our family, times like this I wish this blog was a bit more anonymous for communicating with other RAD families. Because I know how much hope, encouragement, and strength I gain from reading other's stories-knowing that I am not alone in this parenting journey. Reading the everyday norms for those parenting kids from tough places, has helped me so much. I wish I could share more, in hopes that our stories would bring encouragement to others or at least the feeling of 'you are not alone' in this journey.

Thanks for reading my rambling thoughts. Anyone out there reading who has some ideas they would like to share during this extra crazy time-I WOULD LOVE TO READ THEM!