Amazed

Well, the other family from our agency arrived yesterday. We have spent the last two days with them. We have also been blessed to spend some time with families from Norway and Spain who are here adopting their babies. It has been a wonderful experience getting to know these families and getting to enjoy this miracle we are all experiencing together. But it has also opened my eyes to what a family can really look like.

See, there is this one family who were here from Norway wo truly blew my mind. They were two sisters here with their husbands and their older children both adopting babies. Which in and of itself is pretty awesome taht it worked out for them both to be here at the same time. But then the parents of the sisters were here and the parents of one of the husbands as well. Why were they all here? Well, to help but more just to get to experience it all together.

And I watched in shock. What amazing grandparents I thought. And then I spent some time with the two other moms from our agency who are here early as well. And their families are pretty awesome too. One has her mom here already. Her mom came with her and will be here until they can go home. The other will be here by herself some (already has actually) but her sister will be coming over to be with her and help, etc. Once I again I was in shock.

I mean I flew here by myself. With no intention of Hubby being here for two and a half weeks. Our families were very worried about us. They felt that it would be unspeakably hard for us to be here while I was the only adult. They offered to watch our big kids while I was gone - meaning I could leave my children behind for a month and they would happily take off from work to care for them. They argued and begged us to reconsider but not once did any of them offer to come with us. One family member even offered to fly all the way here and pick the big kids up and bring them back if we felt like it was not okay for them to be here. But still no offer to stay and help. No offer to come and let Hubby stay home and work since we absolutely cannot afford for him to have taken all the time off that he did. And to be fair I did not ask. It did not even occur to me to ask.

Isn't that sad? I mean how is it that we are all in a place where that kind of help - the kind that would actually have worked for us (seeing as how I was not leaving my kids behind) - was never even considered? I am amazed at these other families and the relationships they have. I am in awe of the amazing trip they must be having together. And, in truth, I am a little jealous. *sigh*