Telling family and friends about North Face

Well, we kept the secret as long as we could.  Lindsey has known that we were planning to adopt a son from China for months.  Given her age we continually had to remind her that the adoption was a secret.  For the majority of 2011 Beth and I had detailed conversations regarding the adoption process while around the other kids but always referred to our newest addition as North Face.  (I think I covered this in a previous post but we referred to the baby as North Face because Beth and I purchased North Face coats in China during our adoption of Lindsey.)

So getting back to telling the kids.  Our timing seemed spur of the moment for me.  I wasn't necessarily ready to tell everyone but we had just sent our dossier to our adoption agency and we were both very excited.  Friday evening February 10th Beth put together a little devotion about prayer for the kids.  The devotion basically highlighted that God answers prayers in His time and in His way.  Sometimes his answer is no, sometimes its yes, other times he may not answer in our lifetime.  I was dead set against adding to our family because things already seem chaotic but Beth and the kids continually prayed for my heart to be changed.  Well we shared with the kids Friday night that God answered their prayers and that we were moving forward with an adoption. 

We recorded their reactions and they were all very excited.  We had Lindsey tell them we were adopting again and initially Lindsey didnt want to tell because it "was a secret".  We finally got her to talk and all her brothers and sister were excited.  Mallory instantly said she wanted a girl because she doesnt like being outnumbered.  She got over it quickly.

Sunday morning I had a hard time telling friends at church because I was running around with a bunch of responsibilities.  We told the kids that they could share with friends and they did.  Before I knew it I had people coming up congradulating us.  We left church and started calling family so that they didnt find out because of Facebook.  In the afternoon we went to Grandma and Grandpa T's house and told them.  They were both very excited, Grandpa cried a little.  It was a great moment.