Jeff admitted to falling ill for a short time to the "reluctant husband" syndrome due to his lack of sign language proficiency, but he soon warmed up to the idea, and we brought home Benjamin a year later. Ben was four at adoption, and is now 10 years old.

We always felt that when we adopted a second time, that we would go back to China so Benjamin could have a sibling who shared his history and culture. Every time we tried to apply through different agencies, however, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. China just didn’t “feel right.” Although I was sad and couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong, we continued to pray about the direction our lives needed to go, and one day, voila! ...the ever ubiquitous internet pictures of waiting children struck again. I saw our next daughter’s photo from an orphanage in Haiti and I knew regardless of what country she was in, we just needed to go get her. I will discuss with you my thoughts later on having a family with children from more than one country.

After 19 long months fraught with delays and emotional upheavals, Micheline finally came home, also at the age of four. I decided after the arduous process of a Haitian adoption, that we were done... finished... never going to do another piece of paperwork related to adoptions.

God had other plans for our lives, however, and now almost two years after our daughter arrived home with me from Haiti, we are sitting in a hotel room more than six thousand miles away from home, excitedly waiting to see what the next few days will bring.

When Benjamin came home, I was already a certified interpreter, so I knew sign language very well. I studied Creole for almost a year before Micheline came home, and was functionally conversant, so I never had any tantrums from her related to not being able to convey her point clearly.

Our new son, however, only speaks Chinese, and my Chinese is limited to about 20 words. I admit to being fearful for my son and all that will change in his life, but am especially troubled about how Caleb will express himself without becoming incredibly frustrated with a family who can’t understand what he is saying. Caleb is 11 years old and will not only be uprooted from the only sights, sounds, smells and tastes he has ever known, but also won’t be able to express his frustrations clearly unless it is through an interpreter.

I realize that his life would be easier if I spoke his language, but the inability to speak Mandarin was not due to a lack of desire. Time constraints and not being a spring chicken anymore seemed to make mastering this tonal language almost impossible to me. Knowing that siblings might help ease his transition to his new family, Jeff and I decided to bring along our youngest four children. They are all asleep right now, and I hope that Caleb is asleep now as well, getting much needed rest for the life changes to come. Meanwhile, I have had many sleepless moments, wondering what the “new normal” for our lives will become when our seventh child joins our family. Come along with us on the journey and share with us what it is like to add yet one more sibling to an ever growing family.