Have I mentioned how well Claudia has done since Aleks and Milena came home? I can honestly say that second to adopting her into our family, giving her siblings is the best thing we have done for her. Claudia has become more caring and more fun loving since her siblings came home. She absolutely adores her them!
If Aleks is near her, Claudia always wants him to lay on her (he'll often fall backwards onto her/she'll pull him backwards and hit his head on her abdomen or chest which she thinks is the greatest thing ever!)
Claudia loves just hanging out with her big sister! She has learned so much from Milena, she even helps to clear the dinner table with Milena. Frequently Claudia won't want to go to bed unless her big sister is coming too (they have bunk beds.)
When we first started pursuing Aleks, we showed Claudia all of the pictures and videos of him that we got from our agency. We called him her "baby brother" as he was just a year at the time we started the process. Claudia now refers to Aleks as "baby." When we added Milena onto the adoption we also showed Claudia her pictures and videos as well. This was the best way we could think of to prepare for their arrival. It took about 21 months from start to finish, so in reality we were preparing her for almost 2 years. I think our preparations payed off.
Seeing my children all together is priceless. Sure they have their spats but really they get along better than we ever hoped. We were expecting the much more jealousy than we saw. There has not been much from any of the kids, just occasionally when we're doing something with one or two of the children that the third is unable for whatever reason to participate in. I think one of the hardest parts of having the 3 children that we do have is that it's difficult to find activities that they can all do together.
Many people fear adoption, think that it could ruin their lives, too many "what if's..." I will tell you that Jason and I also had those same reservations about the adoption of each of our children. We chose to listen to what we felt God was calling us to do. There are many unknowns but so many blessings that can come from any adoption. There are people, even social workers and adoption agencies that will tell you not to adopt children out of birth order or not to adopt multiple children at once if they are not biologically related. We did both, Claudia went from our only child to a middle child and she is thriving. Milena and Aleks are not biologically related but they are as close as if they were biological siblings. Milena is so sweet with Aleks (as is Claudia.) I'm not saying that these situations are best for everyone or that they always work out this well; but we have been blessed. If you are feeling led to adoption, no matter how afraid you are, take the first steps to look into it and learn the truth.
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