gung ho heart: Tuesdays Best, Happy Campers, and the Number 3

this tuesday's best was quite the party. guest appearances included:

aunty melissa

her mom, aunty pattycake

uncle jason

aunty geraldine (baby girl's namesake)

we had 4 very happy campers today. they are loved and they know it.

we turned the computer around to show them our disaster of a living room that we are in the middle of painting. the furniture is squished in the middle of the room, tape and plastic sheeting everywhere, and dust bunnies are freely blowing around... but that didn't stop mohamed from proudly declaring "that is my house! that is mine and gerald's house." ignoring the fact that he completely left his sisters out of this equation, this struck me as new thought from him. we have never spoken to the kids about our intent to adopt them. until it is so real that we are sitting together outside of a courtroom, waiting for our turn to speak to a judge, i will not breathe a word of it around them. if anything were to happen that ultimately would prevent us from bringing them home i couldn't bear for them to be as heartbroken as i would be. i'm not sure i could live with letting them down to that extreme. so no, we haven't uttered a word to them about it. but things are beginning to change for their friends... and mohamed is figuring out what that might mean for he and his siblings (errrr brother).

uncle jason and his wife, aunty erica, are the founders of the raining season. they adopted from sierra leone years ago, and decided that the things they saw were not ok with them. they have fought, tooth and nail, for everything that i am a part of when it comes to sierra leone. jason and erica are currently on the ground at the covering and will return to their home in nashville next week with fanfare that will surely have me bawling like a baby at the airport. after 3 years of tenaciously fighting for their family, jason and erica will arrive home with 3 additions in tow. i am already working on the sign that i will be holding at baggage claim. i am also already practicing my you've-got-this-pull-it-together-don't-cry-like-that-it's-ugly face. it's a work in progress.

but until next week's inevitable tears, there are this week's smiles.