Intro to adoption blog

Introduction
I have been wanting to start a blog about my experiences with my adopted siblings since I have yet to find any blogs or books written from the perspective of an older, biological child plus I need an outlet to vent and get my thoughts out. I haven't started a blog before now because I have always struggled with how to start it. Since there has been some struggles going on with one of my younger, adopted siblings, I have had the need to get my thoughts out even more. I finally decided that not knowing how to start this blog was not a good enough excuse anymore. I figured that the best place to start was a short introduction and background to my family. I promise there will be more detail in the coming posts.

I was 18 and living on my own when my first adopted sibling came home. Up until that point, it had only been my biological brother (T.P.) and I. We're two years apart and we have always had a love/hate relationship (we still do). For as long as I can remember, adoption was always talked about in our family. My mom had always wanted to adopt and would spend hours on adoption websites. The thought of having another sibling that I might actually get along with was fine with me. My dad was always the one who drug his feet about adopting. When they finally agreed to adopt I was already a senior in high school. They agreed to adopt an older girl from Guatemala (my dad is fluent in Spanish and wanted to adopt from a Spanish speaking country). They found a facilitator that specialized in Guatemalan adoptions and we were matched with A.J. She was 10 when she came home and she DID NOT like me for about the first year (more on that in another post). She is now 18, a junior in high school and a very smart, funny, loving, young woman who definitely has her share of issues and is currently giving my mom quite a few gray hairs.
About two years after A.J. came home, my mom and dad divorced. They were planning on adopting A.J.'s biological siblings so all the paperwork was current. Before my mom's paperwork expired, my mom decided to adopt again. This time she chose Brazil and was matched with a sibling pair, T and R. By this time I was living in another state and was engaged so it was a little difficult trying to establish a relationship as their sister instead of some stranger who called every couple days and sometimes came to visit (again, more on my relationship with them later). T 14 is and R is 12 and they've been home for four years now. T and R also have their share of problems but I have never known two kids their age who work so hard and will do anything you ask them to do. T is a beautiful and very loving young woman. R is extremely funny and has the best smile of anyone I know.
All three of the youngers have Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) which is to be expected of older, adopted kids so they all have a hard time connecting to family members like a biological child would. Their journeys have definitely been difficult and there have been many trying times as a sibling but I can honestly say that I can't remember my life before them ( I have memories but I don't remember what it was like without them in my life). I can say without any doubt that God placed all three of them in my life for a reason and I am truly blessed to have them in my life.