i guess this passes for normal now

I’m never quite sure what “normal” means.  It probably varies for every family.  Kim and I learned long ago to stop measuring our family against others when it comes to defining normal.  We’ve tried to establish some regular rhythms of life for our kids, and they’re responding well.  We thought and prayed about how busy we want to be as a family, and what that would look like when Annabelle arrived.  We got lots of advice and teaching from our friends who have adopted, and from our agency.  We had a plan in mind, but we had it stuck in the back of our mind that we would be flexible and adapt our plan as things unfolded.

We had no idea how our busy lifestyle would sit with our newly adopted daughter, what stresses she would feel, or how our other kids would react once we got home from China.

If this is normal, I’ll take it.

Annabelle is adjusting like a champ.  She’s loving all the new experiences, the new people she’s meeting, and her new family.  And our kids couldn’t be handling all this better!

Kim scooted out to a meeting for parents of incoming freshmen tonight at the high school.  Levi will hit high school next year, and the school district wants to help parents prepare their kids for scheduling.  So while Kim was out, and Lilly watched the little kids for a life group that meets in our neighborhood, I had dinner with Levi, Annabelle, and Sadie.  Cauliflower, no; noodles, sure!

Annabelle is learning more and more words in English every day, and we’re getting the hang of having Google translate words and phrases for her.  She’s got a quirky sense of humor, just like the rest of us, and loves to laugh with us, even when she doesn’t know what she’s laughing at.  She was trying to teach me a couple of phrases tonight at the table, and I just wasn’t getting my pronunciation or inflection right.  It might have been her mouthful of corn that was inhibiting my effort.  At any rate, I moved on to asking her if she wanted some more food.  She said No, I said Si.  So much for my Mandarin.  Levi and Sadie busted out laughing, and she almost spit corn across the room laughing with them!

After supper and a quick homework check (done!) the girls and I got down to some serious Wii action.  There were a couple of epic tennis matches, and then we hit the bowling lanes for a couple of frames.  Annabelle and Sadie were hilarious to watch and play against.  They teamed up on me in tennis.  I loved hearing Annabelle bust out a couple of full blown “What in the world are you doing, girl?  Daddy, you are going down!” phrases in Mandarin.  I’m guessing on my translation, but I’m pretty sure that’s close.  The intonation was there, anyway.  And watching them jump and swing (watch your sister’s head!) all over the livingroom was priceless.

Kim rolled back in and we connected with her sister on Skype.  Annabelle has never met Aunt Rinny (Levi couldn’t say Erin’s name when he was little, and Rinny stuck) but she knows her face and voice.  We all jammed ourselves on the couch as we skyped away.  It was a good evening all around.

As Kim sang and prayed with the girls as she tucked them in bed, I couldn’t help but give God a great big smile and thank him for our normal family.