Circles of Influence

Probably some of the best advice we got while preparing to adopt was, in the beginning with the newly enlarged family, to keep it simple and small.  That is, keep their world small and at time and experience go by and they get more settled, start adding pieces to their life.  I think this is especially good advice with older kids since they've already lived a life of sorts, and in some ways it's kinda like rebooting the computer to a whole new, well, everything!

The experience within our family went and has continued to go incredibly well.  If you didn't know they were adopted, you wouldn't know.  They just fit in.  It sounds crazy at time, but it's like we found the other 2 kids that were ours, but like 6000 miles away (well, 6092 to be precise....).  They look like us in appearance, act like us (yeah, even the bad sense of humor....) and have blended in like a ninja.

Probably the best outside our home influences have been their activities.  All of our kids do something to keep active, it's one of those things we've always promoted and supported.  For Kayleigh, she started taking dance classes where Alyssa had started dance the year before.  It has been such an incredibly supportive and welcoming environment for her, and they have gone way out of their way to make her feel at home.  For Michael, he started taking tae kwon do classes with Dylan and I.  We have had the pleasure of watching a scared loner of a little boy transform into a happy and confident teenager, have a bunch of friends to hang out with, and we see him growing in maturity and self assurance every day. 

It's been a great ride so far and we're still in the early stages but have enjoyed it so much.  I love getting to be a proud parent of the Fab 5.  To greet them in the morning with a big hug and tell them I love them.  To chase them around the house (they love playing tag....), watching Kayleigh at dance class (big embarrassed smiles when I watch and we are always making faces at each other....), watching Michael spar at class (he's an excellent fighter with awesome kicks....), and tucking them in at night (or mostly saying good night as I hit the rack at a reasonable hour, being a working man....).  Mostly the big hugs :)