Our upcoming JASON

Of the hundreds of "Encyclopedia Brown" cases I read in my younger years, one of the ones that I remember the best is about JASON.  As Encyclopedia so sagely realized as he sorted through clues, it turned out that (SPOILER ALERT) the "Jason" in the case did not refer to a person, but instead was an acronym for "July, August, September, October, November."  I have no recollection of how that tied in to solving the case, but the acronym has always stuck with me.

Yesterday as I was taking a shower (a.k.a. the only time I get to have real thoughts all day), I noticed my bottle of JASON brand lotion, and that of course made me think about the months.  This year in particular I think those months will hold some interesting things!

As July begins, 2/3 of the family is in Maine, enjoying beautiful hikes and views, and 1/3 of us are enjoying the view of cardboard boxes slowly growing all around us as we pack up everything.

  In less than 2 weeks we close on our new house, then rapidly try to make some changes to it before we move in.  Five days later we must have all of the multitude of boxes, debris and detritus removed from our current house, and we will say goodbye to our home of 13 years.  We will  stay at my parents' house for a few days while the paint and carpet fumes dissipate from our new house, and then we will move in, to start a new chapter in our lives at the "Cottage at the End of Ivy Hill Lane."

August will likely be busy with some company arriving, some major school planning, some major home projects, and daily football practices.  And then, before we know it, school will start and our free time will fly away.

September will likely be spent collecting all the items and resources we need to prepare for our trip to China!  We still haven't learned one iota of Mandarin yet, so there's that, too.

Then, at the end of September or sometime in October, we plan to go over and pick up our little girl.  We'll be gone for 2 weeks, so the rest our kids will be spending time with as many relatives and friends as we can rope in for childcare.  Then we will bring her home, and hope that the transition for everyone goes well...

.... And because I've read enough adoption books, websites, and blogs to know, we will likely still be in major transition as we all adjust to our new family addition in November.  I imagine communication will be challenging for everyone, and she will probably be grieving what she has lost.  We plan to hunker down for November, and spend a lot of time as a family.*

So that's our anticipated JASON!

I'm praying for peace and calm, at least on the inside, through it all.  On top of all the activity of the next few months there are just SO MANY decisions to make.... and decision-making is very taxing for me.  So, if anyone is reading this, please pray that I will keep my soul anchored in the Lord and not let the stress overwhelm me -- or anyone else in the family.  :)



*Side note:  I'm grateful for Ann Voskamp and how she has walked the adoption journey so recently, just a few steps ahead of us!  She puts it all into words much better than I will ever be able to do: 

 http://www.aholyexperience.com/2016/06/how-to-catch-a-falling-star-an-adoption-story-or-why-you-thought-should-not-adopt-or-care-for-an-orphan-and-were-wrong/