I had to
change the name of our blog because, for those of you who don’t know, the
Sorrells are (drum roll) fostering their seventeenth child.
I say fostering because we don’t know for sure if we will be adopting, although I hope we are because I don’t want to have to change the name for this blog again.
Meanwhile, other than adoption, I think our lives are finally slowing down, especially since the last year of our lives has been a rollercoaster of stress, surprise and confusion.
Last year our parents announced that they had decided to adopt a girl from China. The girl, whose name was Tina, would be ageing out of the system in a few months. We then had to go through a process that could normally take a few years and had to do it in six months.
There were many times when people said the paperwork wouldn’t be done in time and many setbacks, but I think those setbacks were a way for God to prove he wanted us to go through with it. I believe through Him, Tina is now part of our family, we were able to skip whole steps of the adoption process and miraculously paperwork was done in unbelievable time. It was overwhelming how miracle after miracle came so we were able to adopt Tina the day before she would have aged out.
God’s ways are amazing. After Tina, we had other remarkable adventures. Tina had to have open heart surgery in June.
My mom and Tina were in Birmingham for a week, so once again our house had to operate without Mom which is always an adventure.
Then in August, right after we had returned home from vacation in the Smokies, our grandma, my dad’s mom, became terminally ill. This meant that one of my parents had to be there 24\7 then at the same time Anna was placed in the hospital for a lymphatic infection. It wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before; Anna has been placed several times in the hospital for the same reason but it meant both parents were gone 24\7. Rebekah and I were left in charge of the house; my other older siblings couldn’t do much because of being in college.
That was one of the craziest weeks of our lives. We had never been in charge for that long without both our parents; having both of them gone took away our sense of security but the thing about me is that I hate asking for help and I hate being handed things. My mom says I got it from her but I was stunned at how many people stepped in to help.
We had people bring us meals almost every day, people who came to help clean and people who came just to give us a break. At first I was mad that all these people had to help me and I called my mom and said I felt like she didn’t think I could handle this. She told me simply “Kaela, you are fourteen you shouldn’t have to handle this.” After that I realized how blessed I am to have amazing friends and family who are always ready to support us.
My Grandma passed away quietly and Anna was released from the hospital and things started getting back to normal. But since bad things happen in threes, as the old saying goes, we had to hit one more bump in the road (we literally hit a bump in the road).
My Uncle Markus had come down for our grandma’s memorial service and to help settle her stuff. He went out to eat with my parents while Rebekah, Tina and I were coming back over the mountain from basketball practice. It was raining and dark. We slowed down because there was a wreck in the road and then “crash”, we were spun around into oncoming traffic by a car that lost control. Although it was a five car wreck and the scariest night of my life, no one was hurt or killed other than our car.
In the aftermath, we now have two newer cars, which are identical. Mazda one is a manual named Nellie and the other is a automatic named Ozzie. Like I said, the last year has been a rollercoaster but now our lives are almost back to normal. Well, normal for us, but if you want adventure just come to our house for a week and I guarantee you, you won’t be unsatisfied . . . and you probably won’t come back ;).
I say fostering because we don’t know for sure if we will be adopting, although I hope we are because I don’t want to have to change the name for this blog again.
Meanwhile, other than adoption, I think our lives are finally slowing down, especially since the last year of our lives has been a rollercoaster of stress, surprise and confusion.
 |
| Daniel and Baby being serious |
Last year our parents announced that they had decided to adopt a girl from China. The girl, whose name was Tina, would be ageing out of the system in a few months. We then had to go through a process that could normally take a few years and had to do it in six months.
 |
| all the paper work we did |
There were many times when people said the paperwork wouldn’t be done in time and many setbacks, but I think those setbacks were a way for God to prove he wanted us to go through with it. I believe through Him, Tina is now part of our family, we were able to skip whole steps of the adoption process and miraculously paperwork was done in unbelievable time. It was overwhelming how miracle after miracle came so we were able to adopt Tina the day before she would have aged out.
God’s ways are amazing. After Tina, we had other remarkable adventures. Tina had to have open heart surgery in June.
My mom and Tina were in Birmingham for a week, so once again our house had to operate without Mom which is always an adventure.
Then in August, right after we had returned home from vacation in the Smokies, our grandma, my dad’s mom, became terminally ill. This meant that one of my parents had to be there 24\7 then at the same time Anna was placed in the hospital for a lymphatic infection. It wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before; Anna has been placed several times in the hospital for the same reason but it meant both parents were gone 24\7. Rebekah and I were left in charge of the house; my other older siblings couldn’t do much because of being in college.
That was one of the craziest weeks of our lives. We had never been in charge for that long without both our parents; having both of them gone took away our sense of security but the thing about me is that I hate asking for help and I hate being handed things. My mom says I got it from her but I was stunned at how many people stepped in to help.
We had people bring us meals almost every day, people who came to help clean and people who came just to give us a break. At first I was mad that all these people had to help me and I called my mom and said I felt like she didn’t think I could handle this. She told me simply “Kaela, you are fourteen you shouldn’t have to handle this.” After that I realized how blessed I am to have amazing friends and family who are always ready to support us.
My Grandma passed away quietly and Anna was released from the hospital and things started getting back to normal. But since bad things happen in threes, as the old saying goes, we had to hit one more bump in the road (we literally hit a bump in the road).
My Uncle Markus had come down for our grandma’s memorial service and to help settle her stuff. He went out to eat with my parents while Rebekah, Tina and I were coming back over the mountain from basketball practice. It was raining and dark. We slowed down because there was a wreck in the road and then “crash”, we were spun around into oncoming traffic by a car that lost control. Although it was a five car wreck and the scariest night of my life, no one was hurt or killed other than our car.
In the aftermath, we now have two newer cars, which are identical. Mazda one is a manual named Nellie and the other is a automatic named Ozzie. Like I said, the last year has been a rollercoaster but now our lives are almost back to normal. Well, normal for us, but if you want adventure just come to our house for a week and I guarantee you, you won’t be unsatisfied . . . and you probably won’t come back ;).
No comments:
Post a Comment