Why Not?

Well, I'd planned to continue our last blog, but much has happened in the last two weeks!

On Saturday March 24th we got a call from the same caseworker who worked on T & C's case in December. He was wondering if we'd be interested in adopting a sibling group...a sibling group of FIVE. Yes, five. He asked if we'd like to hear more. I paused then said..."Sure..." After explaining the situation, and describing each of the kids, the caseworker asked if we'd be interested in learning more, in which case he could drive up that afternoon. I asked Clayton and he said "Sure!" The caseworker was excited and explained that they were not yet legally freed for adoption, but would be in June and he really wanted this to be the kids' last move. They had no other foster-adopt families who would take all five of them, and the department really hoped to keep them all together. After talking to the caseworker in person and getting additional information on each of the kids, we told him that we would have an answer for him by Monday morning.
After he left, Clayton and I went to Palisades for dinner. Clayton was being very quiet, so finally after getting our drinks, I asked him "So...how are you feeling? Do you think it's something we should do?" He immediately responded "Yeah, why not?"

Why Not?

The human part of me could have raddled off about a million answers to that question.

 - Because it's FIVE (plus little "Tato"), when we only agreed to take three or four total.
 - Because half of the kids were out of our original age range.
 - Because we will have adopted five children by our second wedding anniversary.
 - Because we're 24 and 25 years old.
 - Because we've never met these children.
 - Because we're living off one law enforcement officer's salary.
 - Because we have a 3 bedroom house and have nowhere to put everyone.
 - Because people already think we're crazy...what will they think now?
 - Because we will have gone from a family of 2 to a family of 8 in about four months. 
 - Because, by golly, we're American and that's just not how people do things.

But then again, God often asks his people to do what society tells us is "crazy". We've learned not to view anything as impossible. God is SO faithful and he always provides a way for his people to do his work. Maybe that's why we got that unexpected call on a Saturday afternoon amid our Spring cleaning. Maybe that's why Clayton, who is probably one of the most cautious people I've ever met with big decisions, responded to the task of raising five children with an uncharacteristic "why not?"

Whatever the reason, we got to meet two of our future beautiful daughters last Friday. K(12) and M(10) stayed the weekend with us, and will be coming permanently this Friday April 7th. P(7) and L(7) will be moving in when school is out in late May, and V(11) will be transitioned in after that. We still don't know exactly how we're going to fit everyone, nor have we even met V, L or P. BUT we trust that God will figure out the details because, well, he always does!