are we parents yet?

Today I was on the phone with American Airlines today making changes to our airline tickets (the tickets that some awesome friends BOUGHT FOR US using their airline miles... that's right, all 6 tickets). I mentioned to the customer service rep that we are doing an adoption. Later in the conversation she said, "Oh, I don't have the name of the infant here."

The infant...? The infant...? The...

"Oh! No... We're not adopting an infant. We are adopting four teenagers."

Sometimes I wish I could be inside people's heads when I say that. But it's probably better I'm not. 

Anyway, then I had to correct myself: "Actually we've already adopted them."

*gulp*

So yes, it's 100% official.... at least on paper. But I sure don't feel like a parent. It feels like we are long-term babysitters. I assume that will change at some point, but right now when I hear someone say "Mom," it feels like they're talking to someone else. I'm more comfortable with "Hermana Karen," which is what they called me when we were volunteering at the orphanage and some of them are still calling me.

We got four of these this morning!

I read an insightful article the other day that a friend posted on FB. If you're wondering what we're feeling and experiencing, read this: "Adoption Is Not Love." Or at least read this, which pretty much sums it up:

"The adoption process can be long and grueling and hard and painful, but it isn’t really love. Much like a wedding, adopting an orphan isn’t loving them, it’s just making the decision to start loving them. Adoptive parents aren’t great because they made it through a home study, got on an airplane and signed a few papers. They are great when, after months and years of hard stuff, they still choose to love this child they brought home."

So, we've decided to start loving these four kids. We're taking it one day at a time and trusting the love is going to keep growing as we play card games and make meals and remind them to brush their teeth and persuade them to read a book instead of watching TV and take trips together and tell them stories at night and help them (I hope) overcome some of their emotional baggage.

So this morning we picked up the kids' Peruvian passports, each with a freshly stamped immigrant visa. We also got a big packet of paperwork for each kid that we're not allowed to open until we're at immigrations. Of course we're all curious what's inside... and a little nervous about how long it's going to take the immigration officer to review it all since we only have a 2-hour layover. But in any case, we're coming home!

When we told the kids today about our travel plans, there was a range of reactions from each of them. For one of the girls, it was like we pushed a button and her eyes immediately filled with tears. One of the boys started cheering and jumping around. As you think of us, please pray for these kiddos. They have a lot of changes ahead.

Here are some photos from the last few days in Lima.

With our friend Jaime from Lima

A big group of school kids wanting to practice their English.

Dorking around in the house.

Lima has the most amazing park with tons of elaborate fountains.

 

 

 

It's almost never sunny in Lima now (winter time) but we had a gorgeous sunny day on Sunday and spent a few hours at the beach. So fun!