And now there are 5

OK, I know it's been forever and a year since I posted. I am so busy, and I got tired of dial up (that was/is our internet connection at home) and I feel it is unethical to blog at work...at least for me...so I haven't been on top of it in forever.
In light of the fact that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I've been thinking about all I am thankful for.
I decided to get out of town for a few days, so I went to my parents' with my kids of course. My four biological children, and my "adopted" Mexican son (he always tells me that's what I'm supposed to call him). Now I have to explain...When we moved into our house 14 years ago, our neighbor two doors down had a baby a few months older than TJ. When Raul was about 18 months old, his family went to Mexico to help take care of a family members ranch. So, I didn't see him again until he was about 3. He was out riding his tricycle, and I was walking with Rose and TJ. Raul struck up a conversation with TJ, in Spanish, he'd only been back from Mexico for a few days. Fast forward a year or so. The boys were about 4 and they would play in the yard, and they were fast friends. Raul was speaking English now, so they could communicate. Raul was a fixture at our house all during the week. His little sister is 11 hours older than Clay. Over the years, he has spent untold hours at my house. A few years back, his parents got divorced, and this is when the "adoption" began. His mom got a full time job, and Raul was at my house more than he was at his own. He began to call me "Mom", and spent 5 out of 7 nights at our house. Now, he is a Freshman in high school, and is having difficulties with his dad, and his mom has moved to Hamilton City. He goes to Thanksgiving, Christmas, Family reunions, etc, with us. We had family pictures taken this summer, and Raul is part of our family. I love him like I bore him. He is a sweet boy, who has become an integral member of our family. He and TJ are best friends, but more than that, they are brothers. He is always telling people that he is my Mexican son. It confuses people, since TJ and Raul are built very similarly, and they are 8 months apart, and people who know me often wonder how I had a baby, with another father, in between TJ and Rose, since they are only 19 months apart, thus the Mexican son explanation.
I feel the same fierce protection for Raul, the Mother Bear instinct, that I feel for the children I have raised from birth. I watched him play football this year, and I worried about him, in the same manner I would my own son. It breaks my heart when my boy is hurt. When someone hurt his heart a few weeks ago, all I could do was hold him, cry for him, and experience that feeling I feel when any of my children are hurt. The fierce need to protect. He is my son. He is my son by choice.
I went to the Almond Bowl (Peanut Bowl for him, since he is a Freshman) and he was walking off of the field at the end of the game. He looked back and saw me sitting in the second row of the stands, and he blew me a kiss, made a heart with his hands, and pointed at me. My heart broke with the weight of love that I felt from this little boy whom I have watched grow into a remarkable teenager and whom I will watch grow into a remarkable man. He has told people he doesn't know what he would have done had he not been accepted into our family with open arms, I don't know what our family would be without him as a part of it.
So, there are pictures on my desk at work of my five children. My four biological children, and my adopted Mexican son. All five of them are blessings to me, and I can only hope that I have impacted and changed their lives as much as they daily impact and change my life. I am blessed, I am the mother of five children, whether they came in the "natural" way or in some other precious way, and each of them is a light in my life.