How We Told the Kids....


Chuck and I kept the news of our second adoption a secret for months.  We would take walks in the evening by ourselves just so we would be able to talk about it without having to use "code words".  It was kind of cool having this amazing secret.  But after we signed the official contract with our agency and started looking for another agency to do our homestudy, it was just getting to hard to keep the secret.  And we couldn't take long enough walks to discuss everything we needed to talk about.  It was time to tell the kids.

We knew exactly how they would react.  We expected there to be a wide range of emotions.  Everything from over the moon happy to completely annoyed.  Happy to say, our kids did not let us down and they proved we know them very well.

We decided to tell them one night while we were sitting around the firepit roasting marshmallows.  Who isn't happy when eating a marshmallow?  We thought the sticky treat could only help in this situation.  So here is how it went...

Us: Guess what, you're going to have a little sister.

Canaan:  Blank stare.  Focused completely on his marshmallow.

Kennedy: "What?!?  A SISTER!!!! "  And then she proceeded to run laps around the yard while at the same time screaming "I"M GETTING A SISTER!!!!".

Grayson: "Why can't I ever get what I want?  Why can't we adopt an 11 year old girl?  You never ask me what I want!?!  I want a big sister, why can't I ever get what I want?"   I think that is when Chuck stuffed another marshmallow in her mouth.

Aidan: You must mean sponsor another sister, so she won't actually live here.  Oh, that makes a lot more sense, I thought you meant adopt another kid.  You said we were done with 4 kids.  Phew, I thought you meant she would live here and stuff.

Us: No Aidan, we are adopting another child and she will live here.

Aidan:  Gives us a look like he is about to pack up his stuff and move out, after he eats all the marshmallows.  I don't think we heard another word from him until bedtime.  Just lots of deep sighs and sounds of annoyment.

So that was about a month or so ago and I am happy to report things here are better all around.  Kennedy is still thrilled, but has stopped screaming.  Canaan kind of gets it, but asks if we can go to his sister's house for a sleepover every night.  Grayson still wants an older sister, but thinks a little one will be fine as long as she isn't like Kennedy.  :)  And Aidan is slowly warming up to the idea, especially after we told him that he would be able to go to Ethiopia to bring her home.

Sadly Chuck and I have stopped walking at night.  Now that the big secret is out it just doesn't seem as exciting.