what do we need?

Many of you are asking what we need now or when the kids come home. We're so thankful to be able to say that we honestly need nothing. God has provided in amazing ways through many of you for our kids' homecoming. We have a list of over 50 thank you notes waiting to be written to prove it! Their room is basically ready to go, we have all the clothes we need, and meals are waiting in the freezer. Peter needs to attach baby gates at the top of our 2 staircases so we don't lose Garty as he discovers a new thing called stairs, and then we'll be ready to go. Thanks to all of you who helped get us ready for this huge change.

Saying that we don't need anything doesn't mean that we expect the transition to be easy. Our dear friends Tom and Theresa, who have given birth to twins and survived several major health issues over the past few years, have encouraged us to be really specific about ways that we would appreciate help as we go into the upcoming months of transition. It's hard to ask for help when you feel that people have done so much already. It's even harder to feel like you're defining how people should help you. But we trust Tom and Theresa, so we sat down and gave the situation some serious thought. If you still want to do something to help us as we transition, here are things that would really bless us.

If you are local and would like to come over for a few hours to help out once Peter goes back to work (hopefully on April 10), we would be very grateful. Depending on what day you're here, we might need someone to do some light cleaning or run a few quick errands or just help mommy regain her sanity by walking up to the park with us and talking in grown up language. Weekdays and Saturdays would be options, although weekdays are definitely a bigger concern. Our ideal would be to have 2 or 3 people spaced out during the week so that when we're running low on bread or starting to have a meltdown, we know that it won't be long until someone comes to rescue us. If you're considering helping, please be forewarned that I (Becky) am a slob even under normal circumstances. We have no idea what the state of our house will be when the kids arrive. If you crave order to the extreme, being in our home may send you to therapy for a long time.

We've heard some almost unbelievable stories recently about how much these kids eat when they first come home. They specifically tend to eat a lot of protein (meat and eggs). We have a bunch of ready to cook meals waiting in the freezer that I have been preparing for stress free dinners over the first week or 2. At first we want to be careful what we feed the kids, since we don't want shock their bodies too quickly by giving them lots of processed American food. Having these meals ready will mean we don't end up resorting to frozen pizza and hot dogs every night. We have lots of rice in the pantry and a very cool rice cooker waiting for a workout, so we're ready to go. Once we get through the first week or so and Peter goes back to work, we're sure getting dinner on the table will be a little more stressful. If you're close by and enjoy cooking, we could let you know what kinds of things the kids are eating as soon as we figure it out. Receiving a meal or 2 during the course of a week would really be wonderful. If you want to spoil us, we would love to have a few gift cards that Peter could use to pick up dinner a few times when we're really desperate or want to splurge without the guilt of the added expense. Panera, Subway, Bertucci's, and LongHorn Steakhouse are right across the street from Worldlink's office. He also passes 2 supermarkets, Giant and Genuardi's, where he could pick up prepared dinners.

Please don't feel that we're expecting these things from anyone. They would be blessings far above and beyond what we expect. We simply wanted to share these things for those who have asked how they can help. When we started the adoption journey back in 2005, we never imagined the overwhelming support and encouragement we have received. Each of you has already blessed us tremendously through your prayers or gifts or encouraging words or hand me down clothes or donations toward our adoption fund. We're certain we'll never be able to fully express how much we appreciate you all. We only hope that some day we will have the opportunity to bless you in return.