The last day of school ...
Hard to believe that today is the last day of school. Mind you, we're the only people still in school at this late hour (thanks to snow make up days), but it's still hard to believe the school year is winding up.
Our firstborn is finishing second grade and is well on her way to being taller than her mama. :) She is beautiful and funny, we have such a good time together.
Our sweet second born finished preschool yesterday. She came home with a backpack full of pictures from the year and a heart full of friends and memories. She loved school ... from the busride in to the busride home. She says she's excited that school is over, but I know she'll miss her friends before the week is out.
And wonder boy is now 19 months old. Our beautiful baby boy is a running, talking little person. Occassionally he will allow us to snuggle him close, but that doesn't happen very often. When it does we try to take deep breathes and savor the moments.
The summer is before us ... so much fun planned this year.
We're headed to the Science Museum in Springfield, MA tomorrow for the day. Buying the family pass to all the science and kid museums was one of our best moves.
Daddy has a missions trip next week for a few days.
We'll be camping at Rocky Neck for a week.
The kids are spending a week at my parents in Jersey after that.
We're all spending a week in PA with grammie and papa.
Soulfest is at the end of July.
Kenni goes to camp all by herself (6 nights in NH!) in August.
And then we round off the summer with family camp up at Spofford, our real vacation.
Whew. We might be ready for school to start again in the fall.
Now I'm off to enjoy one last cup of coffee for the school year.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Adoption Musings
An adoption update ...
We are currently in the middle of the paperwork stage for our next adoption. I specifically remember a conversation Pete and I had on the plane ride to Ethiopia (probably right after Kendalyn's vomit incident) where we both agreed that Tariku's adoption would be the only adoption and that we were done having children. :) Hee, hee. I also specifically remember the moment when we saw all the beautiful children waiting for families at the care center in Ethiopia. We both knew then that we would be back.
Another boy ... this time he will be older. He can be as old as a year younger than Sasha, and it is likely that he will be that old, because the older they are the harder they are to place with families. We are hoping to bring him home within the next year and so that will make him about 5 years old at that time.
Our son. Only now he is someone else's son. And he will always be someone else's son too.
Our son who will soon find himself in the most horrific of circumstances. Circumstances that will leave him orphaned and in need of a new mommy and daddy. Circumstances so traumatic that I dare not even speculate what they might be.
And so what do we do now? Well, for one, we fill out piles of endless paperwork and get countless signatures notarized. We write checks. Big checks that are only being written because we have the ability to take out loans. And then we wait ... wait for our adoption agency to send all our paperwork to all the right places ... wait for visas and passports and medical evaluations, etc.
Why? So many people ask us why. People ask us why, and then generally they tell us why they are not able/choosing to adopt. *Sigh*
Why? Let me tell you why.
Because 15 months ago we traveled to the other side of the world to pick up our son who has forever changed our lives. He is beautiful and smart and a little crazy. He is our son.
But he did not start off as our son and he is not only our son. Due to the tragic imbalance of resources in our world, he was born to a beautiful Ethiopian woman who was unable to care for him. It is true that I will probably never meet her, but yet I see her every minute I look into his face ... and I wonder ... did his birth mommy have dimples ... and did she ever get to see his? Did she have long curly eye lashes? Did she love popcorn?
Did she get to hold him close, even for a minute? I pray she did. Oh God, I pray she was able to hold him.
Because my son is a gift. But he was her son first.
In a perfect world, she should have been able to raise him and love him and chase him all over the place like I do everyday.
And now there is another little boy ... a little older this time ... who is about to lose his family due to the tragic imbalance of resources in our world. And this time he will remember his birth family because he will be old enough to remember. And we will do our best to help him keep those memories alive.
So many beautiful children. So few people who are willing. And if they could only understand ... what we have "sacrificed" to bring these two boys into our home pales in comparison to the joy they have and will bring to us. It pales in comparison to the gift of family and the amazing mystery of adoption.
We might not own a home. We might not drive a nice car. We might not go out to eat or out on dates. We might eat too much pasta and not enough meat.
But we have experienced love, life and blessing like we would never have otherwise known.
The expense, the risk, the grief, the wait ... it's all worth it, I tell you. Well worth it.
We are currently in the middle of the paperwork stage for our next adoption. I specifically remember a conversation Pete and I had on the plane ride to Ethiopia (probably right after Kendalyn's vomit incident) where we both agreed that Tariku's adoption would be the only adoption and that we were done having children. :) Hee, hee. I also specifically remember the moment when we saw all the beautiful children waiting for families at the care center in Ethiopia. We both knew then that we would be back.
Another boy ... this time he will be older. He can be as old as a year younger than Sasha, and it is likely that he will be that old, because the older they are the harder they are to place with families. We are hoping to bring him home within the next year and so that will make him about 5 years old at that time.
Our son. Only now he is someone else's son. And he will always be someone else's son too.
Our son who will soon find himself in the most horrific of circumstances. Circumstances that will leave him orphaned and in need of a new mommy and daddy. Circumstances so traumatic that I dare not even speculate what they might be.
And so what do we do now? Well, for one, we fill out piles of endless paperwork and get countless signatures notarized. We write checks. Big checks that are only being written because we have the ability to take out loans. And then we wait ... wait for our adoption agency to send all our paperwork to all the right places ... wait for visas and passports and medical evaluations, etc.
Why? So many people ask us why. People ask us why, and then generally they tell us why they are not able/choosing to adopt. *Sigh*
Why? Let me tell you why.
Because 15 months ago we traveled to the other side of the world to pick up our son who has forever changed our lives. He is beautiful and smart and a little crazy. He is our son.
But he did not start off as our son and he is not only our son. Due to the tragic imbalance of resources in our world, he was born to a beautiful Ethiopian woman who was unable to care for him. It is true that I will probably never meet her, but yet I see her every minute I look into his face ... and I wonder ... did his birth mommy have dimples ... and did she ever get to see his? Did she have long curly eye lashes? Did she love popcorn?
Did she get to hold him close, even for a minute? I pray she did. Oh God, I pray she was able to hold him.
Because my son is a gift. But he was her son first.
In a perfect world, she should have been able to raise him and love him and chase him all over the place like I do everyday.
And now there is another little boy ... a little older this time ... who is about to lose his family due to the tragic imbalance of resources in our world. And this time he will remember his birth family because he will be old enough to remember. And we will do our best to help him keep those memories alive.
So many beautiful children. So few people who are willing. And if they could only understand ... what we have "sacrificed" to bring these two boys into our home pales in comparison to the joy they have and will bring to us. It pales in comparison to the gift of family and the amazing mystery of adoption.
We might not own a home. We might not drive a nice car. We might not go out to eat or out on dates. We might eat too much pasta and not enough meat.
But we have experienced love, life and blessing like we would never have otherwise known.
The expense, the risk, the grief, the wait ... it's all worth it, I tell you. Well worth it.
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