In spades

When people ask why we wanted a larger family, it can be so hard to explain.  We clarify it isn't for religious reasons, nor are we a mixed family through remarriage, it isn't because we don't know "how it happens" and we aren't stupid or uneducated.  We have a large family because.....well, because we just do!  Did we plan on five kids, no.  Are we thrilled to have them all, YES!  I will fully admit that many days are long and hard, that it can be exhausting especially with both parents working, and good sleep is hard to come by.  Financially you need to be frugal and smart, we live in a world where a stocked pantry, fridge, freezer, OTHER fridge and OTHER freezer is a necessity and still we somehow run out of things.  The house gets messy in mere moments if everyone is home, and the volume level can rise in seconds if everyone is wound up and playing.  It is worth it to us, the hard days, the long nights, the crazy schedules, because it is paid back to us in spades.  I get more "I love yous" a day from my brood, kisses all day long, huge smiles when I walk in the room and long, tight hugs around my neck. 

I am so happy with our family, I couldn't have picked a better group of people to call my own, and someday we hope to add to our group.  Ryan and I want to move the family and when we do we want a home that not only fits our current family, but one that will fit our family of the future.  We are seriously looking into adopting a child from Eastern Europe that has some medical issues.  We hope that we can do this when Finn is around 3 or 4 and that the child we adopt will be around the same ages as Teagan and Finn as we believe this will help the child develop, being surrounded by healthy normally developing children of similar ages.  At present we expect the child will have Down Syndrome as we know they are at greatest risk of being institutionalized and we feel very comfortable with the idea of dealing with some of the associated health concerns which include cardiac issues and seizure disorders.  Did I ever think we would consider adopting an at risk child from another country?  No, not until I was pregnant with Finn and realized what a gift we had in our ability to have and raise our kids, and that we would be able to take a child destined to live and die young in an institution and provide a better life.  I feel secure that that child would be loved and cared for by our whole family, and that one of his/her siblings would step in and provide care when we were no longer alive or able to if needed.  I love our big loud family, and I cannot wait to see how we change and grow over the next few years,