We Are Family...

I came home from work yesterday to greet our kids from the bus.  I picked up Sha's school pictures on my way home and they came our gorgeous!  I love both of our kids pictures so I am THRILLED :)  We will have a family photo taken with Kara's mom and step dad next Friday, and then we will have an old friend, Lexi Treat, do a family photo session while we are in Arizona around Christmas time. 

I picked up the mail as I always do and there was a letter from the kids' case worker in Texas.  This isn't unusual considering we often get paperwork related to the kids adoption.  Well, when I opened it, it was a letter from the kids' older brother.  He also sent two pictures.  One was a picture of himself and one was a picture of a group of people.  He is a handsome kid.  He is 21 years old.  His writing was very disorganized and a few comments left me a little nervous and wondering about his mental health status.  He sent an email address and a few phone numbers to try and reach him with.  I think for now I will send a letter to the kids' case worker to give to him, and just have a few conversations back and forth before we contact him directly.  While we have no indication that he is in any kind of trouble, he did mention that he is doing community service and had dropped out of school.  He doesn't have a job right now and is jumping around from house to house, but he really seems like good kid. 

He said he loves us for taking care of the kids and thanked us for adopting them... and giving them a good home.  He said something about Might Mutant Ninja kids..> That made me a little nervous as it was totally random, but maybe he just isn't a good writer.. I don't know.

I do want to support our kids knowing their family.. that is so important.  We found out their mom has a TWIN sister... There is so much about their lives that we don't know about.  I feel like a new chapter has just begun... We are finished with Bringing Home the Kids, Adjusting as a Family, and now Chapter 3 is something like Finding Roots and Family...Here's to the next chapter.... Whatever it might look like.