6 Months!

As I sit here pondering whether to stay awake to ring in the New Year or to just call it good and go to bed,  it seemed like a good time to update the blog. The girls have now been home for 6 months-half of a year.....it still seems like we stepped off of a plane last week, but when I really look at all that God has done in our lives, it is obvious that they have been here for a while.  Since it is New Year's Eve, it seemed fitting to blog a top ten list.  Here goes....

Top Ten Ways that 2015 Will Look Different From 2014 For Team Yoho

1.  I will spend many more Tuesday nights braiding hair while watching a movie.  (I have to actually schedule time on my calendar for this three hour endeavor.  I am slow, not that good, and still learning on this front!)

2. I will now walk around with  the Doc McStuffins theme song (or at least part of it) in my head driving me nuts while I fold laundry and make dinner.

3. I will strive to hold my Haitian daughters and read to them from God's word each night before I tuck them in.  One of them, in particular, refuses to sleep without hearing the Word of the Lord. (thankful for this kid's insistence, especially when I am tired at tuck-in time)

4.  Our school budget will increase because James is consuming books really fast and our two newest students are burning through curriculum at an exciting pace.  

5.  I anticipate that my vacuum will burn out this year due to tiny rubber bands and beads being sucked up from all areas of the house.  Surely it can only take so many assaults before it refuses to work anymore.

6. Since 33% more socks are being worn in the family this year, surely more socks will lose their mates. Just today seven lonely socks came out of a load.  SEVEN UNMATCHED SOCKS IN A SINGLE LOAD!!!

7. The second half of the year will feel really normal because it will be full of "seconds" not "firsts." We will all know what to expect and nothing will be as scary or awkward as it was this year.  (For example, it will be more obvious that we don't throw away all of the decorations after Christmas, we just pack them up and save them until the next year.)

8.  We will begin full-time use of  the currently neglected basement bathroom because 6 children, two of whom are 'tween girls, using a single bathroom seems to be about 2-3 too many at any one point in time.

9.  I will answer at least 50 questions a day from a five year old who eagerly seeks to engage in conversation and to make sense of everything she see around her.

10.   We will praise our God together for the work he has done in each of our hearts.  We will stand in the same house and use the same language to speak praises to our God.  We will marvel at the way that He has taken 8 sinful lives, melded them into one family, and continued to pour patience, grace, kindness, acceptance, and love into out hearts to help us grow together as a team.  We will fail as a team, and we will grow as a team, and we will all experience the forgiveness and great grace of our God together.  And we will thank Him for the hard days because they help us see our need for Him.

Happy New Year!  10:30pm is close enough, I am going to bed!