He ain't heavy, he's my brother

My munchkins continually amaze me. We have been working so hard at getting Dylan to spoon feed himself, and the other day at lunch, he was finally doing it. So at dinner, I was showing all the other kids Dylan's new accomplishment. It warmed my heart to see how absolutely thrilled they were! seriously, I almost teared up. I love how they are so supportive of their little brother. They were cheering and clapping and jumping up and down. You would have thought he had just won an olympic gold medal!

This attitude of joy and support has carried over to our families next adventure. We are adopting a 15 year old girl with Down syndrome. Meet Haley:

These will be the only pictures I'll post of her for a while. The only reason I can post these is because they were already publicly posted on her adoption site. We were matched with her clear last July, but didn't get to meet her for the first time until this past weekend. She is a sweetheart. She also has plenty of stubborness! Just like our litte Dylan. She will be coming to stay THIS SATURDAY!! finally! We are thrilled to add Haley to our family. When we talked to the kids about her, they were all so excited to have a BIG sister. Landon (our oldest) was the most excited. I love that being the oldest was not part of his identity, or how he sees himself. He has said so many times that he can't wait to have a big sister. Technically, our little "A", whom we are fostering, is older than Landon, but only by 7 months. So he doesn't really see her as a big sister. They are great friends, though.
Luke, who truly has a heart for adoption, can't stand the thought of there being kids out there without a family. We'll load him in the big van (that has 4 empty seats, 3 empty starting Saturday!) and he'll ask when we're going to pick up more kids that need a family. Awww... If only it were that easy. We only have one more adoption in the works, so to speak (Serbia), and then we'll see.
I love the fact that we've been able to grow our family so quickly. It means no one has time to get settled into their "role" in our family, which is good, because that role may change quickly. That's just the nature of being a foster family. We don't go into any adoption blindly. Scott and I always talk it through, the changes it will mean to lifestyle, practical things like the increase in laundry, grocery bills, etc. And we pray. A lot. Mostly, we talk about the effect it will have on our children. Good thing we have such great kids. One thing a large family teaches just by being part of it, is selflessness. Instead of our kids wondering if they'll have to share a room, they are fighting over who GETS to share a room. "A" was quite put out when we told her that Haley would not be sharing her room, she was going to have her own room for a while. She WANTS to share her room. She is already trying to build a sister bond with a girl she has yet to meet.
Our munchkins have brought us change they found on the ground and asked if we could use that money for an adoption. How is that for pulling together? Our kids don't care about stuff, or nice vacations. They just love being together-- most of the time!
And to quote one of our favorite movies (because it has a great adoption message) "Meet the Robinsons" -- We'll just Keep Moving Forward!