Near the end of Christmas Break I was getting bored around the house and spending WAY too much time reading adoption blogs and newsgroups and bulletin boards. Just like when I was pregnant and read all the scary chapters at the back of "What to Expect When You're Expecting", I started to freak out. What if our new kids won't eat anything except chicken nuggets? What if they refuse to sleep in their beds? What if they have lice and scabies and intestinal parasites and undiagnosed genetic disorders and grief issues and learning disabilities and post-traumatic stress disorder? What if I am terrible at doing black girl hair and they look awful and black moms say mean things to me? As you can tell, I became completely irrational and lost all perspective. So Brian hugged me and restricted my computer use, which helped a lot. But then I shared some of my anxieties with some friends. One friend said, "You're a great mom! Whatever comes up you will learn how to deal with it just like you've learned how to deal with stuff for your other kids." Another friend said, "They call it 'transition' for a reason... there's hard stuff at first that doesn't stay that way and you just move forward and it becomes the new normal." And another friend said, "Whatever God has in mind for you is His plan, and it is a PERFECT plan...beyond what you could imagine."
I am so grateful (AGAIN!!) for the many wonderful people in my life who support me when I need it. Not only was I encouraged immeasurably by their wisdom and kindness, but I know that they will be a source of strength for us when actual (not imagined) challenges come up.
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