Mei Mei's story ~ part 2

Though we (and by we I really mean I) had a name for our third child, in the weeks immediately following our return from China back in November I seriously questioned if there would be a third. I'm not going to sugar coat it, the adjustment was tough! Not that I didn't love both of my kids more than I had ever imagined possible, I just found that multi-tasking to meet both of their needs at the same time was a daunting task. And for goodness sake I only had two arms (that were so very tired from trying to carry two two year olds around at the same time) and two legs (that they each clung to as they were vying for my attention while I was trying to prepare meals) ~ where would the third fit?

Add to that jet lag and trying to get familiar with a new city and I was starting to "give up the dream" of having a big family. Then one day while I was sitting "criss cross applesauce" on the kitchen floor (this was sometime in late November or early December, I don't have time to go looking for the post where I recorded it right now) with both my kids in my lap. I can still hear Kylie's little voice saying, "This is my yeg and dis is Ta-eb's yeg and we need another one baby to sit here." as she pointed to the hollow created by my legs being crossed. Then it hit me that even though she was competing with her brother to get my full attention, she knew she was loved and that there was enough room ~ both in our house and in our hearts ~ for another.

But November was WAY TOO EARLY to think about that, so I began focusing on being the best mommy to a set of virtual twins that I could be. Before long we found a church here and were really getting settled into life and then Ian and I began to have a restlessness that we were missing something that God was trying to tell us. I suppose to some of you that last statement totally makes sense, and to others it sounds bizarre. To try to explain it succinctly, we both knew that there was something to do with orphans that we were supposed to be doing, yet we couldn't quite pin-point it. We spent most of our long car drives between here and where ever we were headed (back in December-February we did A LOT of driving between here and our old city) trying to figure it out ourselves. We'd be exhausted at night laying in bed, yet stay up until about 1 or later discussing possibilities.

Eventually we THOUGHT that the answer was that we were to be moving to Haiti to work in the children's home that our new church partners with. After all, was that the reason that we moved here in the first place? (Still haven't fully figured that one out ~ but for a while we thought we had). But before we further distressed our family who misses us back in Charlotte, we decided to spend some time in serious prayer. And as it was, Lent was approaching. So we decided to each give up something that we knew we'd want everyday and replace it with focused prayer to hear God's calling. If you know me via Facebook, you may remember my "signing off for Lent post" that said the following, "Kristi is signing off for Lent! I'll be replacing my FB time with prayer to figure out how God is calling our family to help the orphans of the world."

You know how the story ends, so you may be tempted to think that it's over now, but trust me, it's just getting good! However, I'm hearing the sounds of a little boy (my early riser) tossing and turning which means that it's just minutes from the day being "full on." Tonight is bath night, so I'll try to get back then.

By the way, I so miss what is going on in the lives of my bloggy friends, but Ian's computer doesn't have my RSS feed on it, so the best I can do is use the links I have on my sidebar. Come on Dell...