Been thinkin' about our baby girl. Been thinkin' about her African hair and how this lily-white momma's gonna fix it. Research.

Jesus, Jesus,
How I trust Him!
How I've proved Him
o'er and o'er.

Jesus, Jesus,
precious Jesus!
Oh, for grace
to trust Him more.

We sang this lovely old hymn at church on Sunday. I've been humming it under my breath ever since: as I make out our check to Gladney, as I wonder/worry about the health of our baby-to-be, as I continue to get to know my Korean students and figure out my job, as I send my sweet husband off to his first day of school, knowing how very little I will see him this semester......"oh, for grace to trust Him more."

Melissa Fay Greene: On newly adopted older children, including her own.

Within days of the arrival of our ten-year-old son, Fisseha, from Ethiopia in May 2004, our kids discovered he could aim and throw a spear through a plastic frisbee. "Mom!" screamed the other kids. "You've got to see this!" Fisseha had found a thin, white, metal bicycle flagpole on the driveway and was piercing the flying frisbee with it. If Lee, fifteen, threw the Frisbee near a tree, Fisseha could spear the disk with the bike flagpole and nail it to the tree. That night at dinner, our non-English-speaking child shook his head to decline the nice cheese lasagna I offered.

"Hmmm, no," observed our oldest son, Seth, then nineteen. "I definitely have the impression he prefers to spear live game."

Later Fisseha would carve his own spears and hurl them, and he would peel bark from the trees and weave it into twine with which he wove slings and bullwhips. He had been a goatherd on the central plains of Ethiopia his whole life before landing in the American orphanage in Addis. . . .

******

Marta Little, who thanked God for her cute mother, made up a song. She sang it in a sweet, high voice and her mother, Chris, wrote it down:

My one mommy die, my one mommy die.
My one daddy die, my one daddy die.
I sad, I sad.
Now Mama no die, now Mama no die,
Now Daddy no die, now Daddy no die,
I happy, so happy.

I clothes to wear, I fooding,
I good house, thank you Lord.
Ticklish, my daddy,
Good food, my mommy,
Thank you, Lord.

******

Frew, age eight, was adopted to Alaska. The sunny, barefoot little boy of Addis Ababa now appeared in photos in a hooded parka, mittens, and snow boots, grinning broadly between two red-headed sisters. "I heard him praying in English the other night," his mother said. "He said, 'Thank you, family me.'"

******

Our daughter Helen, who arrived at five in February 2002, made lots of friends quickly in America. But I always heard her ask a child, soon after making her acquaintance or near the start of a playdate, "Do you have a mother?" If she was feeling shy, she would whisper to me, "Does she have a mother?" Most children and adults were surprised by the question---"Of course I have a mother!" the children replied. "Of course she has a mother!" said the grownups.

Only our African friends were not surprised by the question. Helen had a mother again now, too, as she was eager to tell, but she didn't take it as a given about anyone.


---from There Is No Me Without You by Melissa Fay Greene

.....

Yes, that's me down below. You, too, can simpsonize yourself. It's hours (okay, maybe just a few minutes) of fun.

Greetings.

Hi, there. Not too much to say. I have my physical tomorrow, and Michael has his next week. We're on the verge of completing our Gladney app. Yay. God bless Michael for doing most of the work.

Last week was my first full week of my new, "tutoring all evening, every evening" schedule. It went well overall, but it took me just a week to realize that we WILL be hiring KBS Dossiers to assemble our foreign dossier for us!!! Heavens. Once Michael starts back to school, I can't IMAGINE us pulling together a dossier. Despite the cost, we are extremely content with our decision! : )

A few more from Mexico....

.....because I'm missing it right about now.




White boy hits the beach!

I really like sea turtles.

Michael posing for his on-location fashion shoot.

Our last night ends with dinner on the beach (and us

looking a bit pinkish.

Friends join the blogosphere!!

Our sweet friends, Shawn and Jami, have FINALLY gotten themselves an adoption blog. :) Shawn and Jami are in the process of adopting TWO little ones from Ethiopia and were part of our inspiration to adopt from that country. They are so dear-so add these guys to your sidebar! :)

We had a lovely time!