Snaking the toilet? Check.

If you are considering adoption, you probably are aware that it will change you and your family.  Change is not a strong enough word. Rocked is more like it.  Maybe my blog is a glimpse of what post-adoption can look like.  I know that there are adoptive families that have it much harder and much easier than us.  I just feel compelled to communicate to others the depths of what adoption can do to you.  Of course, we expect to be emotionally touched, physically exhausted, mentally drained.  I've got that, and so much more.

Random Changes in this Mama since adopting :

• Ringworm doesn't gross me out.  It's normal, I can pick it up a mile away and I am not offended by it.  I'm accustomed to at least 2 members of my household having it at any given time.  It's not just for wrestlers anymore.
• I don't hear noise.  I only notice silence.
• My body feels great with 2.5hrs of sleep (granted, my baby catchin' job contributes to this skill)
• I now like coffee. A lot.  I survived night shifts, colicky babies & grad school without it.  These Rwandan kids did me in with the java thing. 
• We have redefined "trench humor." My awesome brother tried to google this term.  If you are an ER nurse, adoptive parent or military personnel, you know what it means.
• Some of my closet friends are in CA & PA(and everywhere in between).  Contrary to what your high school counselor may preach, real and meaningful relationships can be established via social networking & texts.
• I let go of organized the moment we stepped off African soil.  I just shoot for "controlled chaos" at this point.
• I love more husband more deeply than I ever imagined I could.
• I lost my skills of small talk.  Somewhere between BA (before adoption) and AA, I decided if someone really wanted to know how we were, I wasn't sugar coating it.  Not going for shock value when a coworker asked "How are the kids?" and I may reply with "3/4 are great. That's a solid C, right?" or maybe "Well,  we had a lengthy and sort of traumatizing discussion on circumcision this morning."  If I am smiling, than glory be to God. 
• I CAN SNAKE A TOILET.  I am super proud of this.  Since I had to borrow a auger not necessarily designed for a toilet, this involved me sticking my hand down the toilet as far as it could go.  But first, I youtubed and researched length of toilet piping, main lines, types of clogging, etc.  It should also be noted that we never told Etienne not to put anything down the toilet, so it is sort of our fault.  It is what it is.  Learn from our assumptions.