because this is a moment to be thankful for

What is normal? I suppose it is what you become familiar with. It could be constant external upheaval and internal peace, or it could be external tranquility masking raging internal conflicts. No matter what the normal for a person may be, it is hard for an outsider to discern. I know our life doesn't look normal. I acknowledge this to myself when I feel left out,  noting the difficulty it must be  for others to relate, or quite honestly, knowing that is not unfair for others to intentionally try to avoid including us for the simple fact that our normal is straining and difficult for others to be around.  Sometimes though, even as dense as I am, I get a moment to realize that really this is a different life.  I am thankful for the difference, not because it makes me better than others, or wiser, but because I think without it, I would indeed be very dull toward the needs of others, or the normal but constant pressure the families of the "different" live.   Only those who live it understand that this is not a cliche: "they have taught me more than I have taught them, I needed them, not they me, and it is they who have saved me from myself"  So the cliche is based on profound truth.  Every day, this is true. Every day I am starkly reminded how self-centered I can be.
And so today, when I caught myself suddenly thinking "well, I guess it is a little different to have seven sons from three continents, this sudden binding of cultures and backgrounds and traumas and needs"  It seems so normal.  Or maybe normal is just not noticing that this is not the normal routine of life.  I don't think I know what normal is. I don't know or judge if it is good or bad. Normal or not is not a measure of holiness. It may be good. I think in many ways it is a conduit to great good. But, it is probably not my life. Or maybe it is.  I don't know. But I do know this. "this is a moment for which I am truly thankful" "I am thankful for my 7 sons. I am thankful for their bio families that I have been able to meet and the ones I never will meet, orphanage families, their cultures, their strengths and weaknesses, their humor, their quirks," "I am thankful for this messy, blended family," and frankly (and a bit tongue-in-cheek); moments where I say "I am thankful no one killed anyone today and we are all under one roof without the unspeakable anguish of a missing child at this moment."  You cannot harden yourself enough for the non-normal, you cannot be strong enough that "it won't affect me, I will be prepared." So in its place, every moment, instead, I have found that "because this is a moment to be thankful for" is a good replacement for normal.
Because this is a moment to be thankful for:
Our boys have been home for good for 8 weeks.  Oh what a moment to be thankful for!