Sacrifice

We are not really looking to move, but the other day David was talking about a house he had seen recently that interested him.  When he said that it had six bedrooms, Faith got pretty excited. 

"Hey, Mama," she said,  "We could each have our own bedrooms!  And you and Daddy wouldn't have to share anymore!"

Deep Thoughts. . .by Faith Bullington

Faith asked me this at dinner tonight:

What if there were parents who named their child "anonymous?" They wouldn't even know who he was.

Please

Davis really is the sweetest. I can nearly smother him with hugs at bedtime and he will still call me back in a few minutes after I leave his room for just a little more.

Last night at a few minutes after midnight Davis woke up crying. I went in to see what was wrong and he told me about his bad dream, "Mama, I wanted someone to kiss me and no one would come." I kissed his little face and tucked him in while my heart went out to all of those little ones who are waiting. Waiting for someone to love them. And to the parents who are waiting to give that love.

We were once waiting. And then on this day three years ago. . .

We got the CALL about our baby boy!! We saw his sweet face for the first time in these photos:

And fell in love big time.

If you are considering adoption, please listen. Hear the motherless and fatherless children for whom the lack of love is not just a bad dream. Hear them asking for a mama and daddy to tuck them in and give them just one more hug.

If you are already moving towards adoption do not be discouraged. Paperwork hassles, enormous fees, government slow-downs, and any other problems you face along the way are all meaningless next to one "ordinary" sweet moment with your child.

I'm a Liar. And a Thief.

Davis asked, "What do you have?"

I said "Nothing," through a mouth stuffed with his Valentine candy.

Oh, the shame. I am not even joking.

Greetings!

Newsworthy

There's a nice article on our Chinese adoption group in the news today, along with a super sweet photo of our Pearlie-girl! It is a great testimony about how far Pearl has come in sociability that she let a photographer - a stranger - get close enough to her to get this shot. It is true that she was sitting safely in my lap at the time, but it wasn't so long ago that she would have totally freaked out about this.
I'm grateful to this reporter for sharing such a positive, joyful message about the adoption community. I have such a great desire for others to see adoption as a normal, even celebrated way to be a family, and not an isolating experience for us as parents or for our children. And I'm so very grateful to the Drafts family for tirelessly organizing and hosting these group events!

I couldn't help being reminded today that this is not the first time Pearl has been in the news. One of the artifacts we have from Pearl's early history is her "finding ad" - an advertisement in the newspaper from Pearl's hometown province that included her very first known photo and some information about her. These types of ads are meant to call birth families forward. Pearl's face is oh-so-tiny in her finding ad - several of the infants and toddlers in the ads surrounding hers also have clefts. All of these children were faces without names--little and lost and waiting.

And then there is today - when we are so thrilled to see our baby girl's beautiful photo in our newspaper. We can't wait to frame it and hang it on the wall next to our previous news-maker's handsome baby face.

In this sometimes strange, looking-glass life, I really can't imagine the original reaction to that very first, beautiful picture in the news across the sea of place and time. I have so much compassion for those who may have seen it when it was printed and know the story behind it in a way that we never will.

it's a small, small world