Preparing

We have so much to do to get ready to bring our son home! First the paperwork- really hoping to get that done in the next day or two. Then there's the whole decision of how to arrange bedrooms. For those of you that haven't been to our house, we have 4 bedrooms, but the kids' rooms aren't all that big- in fact Peter's bedroom in the "basement" (we have a tri-level so it's not exactly a basement) is something like 9 by8. The two youngest girls have about 10 by 10 and the 2 oldest girls have about 10 by 12 I think. So we're thinking we're going to move Peter and our new son into the little girls room upstairs and put all the girls in one room . So for the boys, piece of cake. They get bunk beds, clothes will ALL go in the closet and they'll have some floor space for legos. Then for the girls it's a little more tricky! The room isn't really big enough to fit 2 bunks like we were hoping. So now do we do a twin over full with a trundle? Then we'll have very little room left over! Clothing for 4 girls will not all fit into their small closet so I have to have room for some type of dresser.

Seriously, we have thought many times about moving. In fact, we were getting pretty focussed on pursuing that until about a week ago. We decided that while this house may not be "ideal" for a large family (the ideal being a big laundry room right next to a family closet, large bedrooms for SLEEPING, a separate toy room, school room - or space for storing school things in the large dining room, and a guest room for the company we like to have, including my parents and sister and her family), it is OURS and it's just more affordable to stay put. Besides, I really love this house. So we need to make it work for awhile yet unless the Lord shows us otherwise (by dropping a house in front of our faces and having the door bell ring one day to find someone begging to sell them this house...??) So we have a lot to figure out!

Life is just a whirlwind right now. Less than a week before we got our referral I was asked to be a tutor again for our Classical Conversations group. So I'll be doing that for as long as I can with breaks as needed for travelling to Ethiopia and for possibly staying put for awhile when we get home in order to give our boy ample opportunity to adjust to his new surroundings without getting thrown into the thick of a busy schedule. Also, Pete JUST started grad school one night a week. Since we didn't think we'd get a referral for awhile he thought he could do a term or 2 first. Then of course there are the fall and winter things at the YMCA that we planned on doing- 5 week ballet class for Maddie (Kate doesn't want to do it) and then 8 weeks of basketball for Peter. We really try not to overschedule the kids for the most part so since these are almost the only sports type things they do, I hope I can manage the schedule of it without being crabby :) And without failing to cook dinner on those nights! I am also hoping that rather than make me lose my sanity, the busyness will just help the time to pass for all of us in a constructive manner.