From the Mouths of Babes...

Future Teacher

Here’s what Gracie said to me the other night at dinner, apropos of nothing:

“Did you know the sun’s rays travel 93 million miles to ripen and dry the fruit that makes our bodies strong and healthy? I thought you’d be curious about that. Sun Maid is a proud sponsor of PBS Kids.”

I did not know that!! (3/29/08: thanks, Sara!!)

Somewhere a marketing rep from Sun Maid Raisins is smiling right now.

Grace watches a half-an-hour of PBS programming per day after her nap. Sometimes, we stretch it to an hour if I have a lot of work to do. Often she’s playing or doing something else while she’s watching.

So I ask you: if an almost-three-year-old can pick this up and can repeat it like an automaton, what are kids picking up when commercial television is on in the background? It’s a scary thought.

Happy Birthday CMG!! Hi-Ho-Cherrio!

Tucking in my babies

There's nothing that beats the heat of a 60 degree day like ice-cream!!

Saturday was a busy day. I like to plan busy days away from the house because it keeps me from obsessively checking the computer for updates. (Our agency is closed Saturday, so this activity defies logic anyway.)

We spent the entire day at the zoo along with about 90% of the people living in our fair city. Despite the crowds, it was a beautiful day. We capped off our afternoon with an activity that may sound crazy to our new blogger friends from the south: we sat on the terrace without jackets and basked in the 60 degree sun eating ice-cream!

When we finally got home, Grace was asleep almost before her head hit the pillow. I finished my night up the way I usually do by sneaking into her room and tucking her in again and giving her sweet sleeping cheek a good-night kiss.

Ah, but the computer was calling. I couldn’t resist and logged on just to check. And there, in my first e-mail of the day was the picture you see below. This was sent from Kate’s mom (see sidebar for link), who had just returned from visiting her daughter who also lives at Danny’s Home.

For the first time since Danny was born, I got to tuck in both of my kids. Thank you, Sara for this very special gift with the perfect timing for a mother’s heart.

My night-time ritual now includes a look at this picture either before or after my good night visit to Gracie. I go to bed picturing my sweet Gracie and Danny peacefully slumbering.

Here’s the last little cool bit serendipity: I’ve had the goodnight prayer from Hansel and Gretel (the opera) running through my head. I used to love listening to it when I was a kid. Thinking of my own slumbering kids made me think of it again. When I Googled it to find the lyrics the first link to them was on the website “Adoption.com” Wow!

Children's Prayer from Hansel & Gretel
When at night I go to sleep
Fourteen angels watch do keep;
Two my head are guarding,
Two my feet are guiding;
Two are on my right hand,
Two are on my left hand,
Two who warmly cover
Two who o’er me hover,
Two to whom ‘tis given
To guide my steps to heaven

Sleeping softly, then it seems
Heaven enters in my dreams;
Angels hover round me,
Wisp’ring they have found me;
Two are sweetly singing,
Two are garlands bringing,
Stewing me with roses
As my soul reposes.
God will not forsake me
When dawn at last will wake me.

April Fools

April 1, 2008

Two days later

There were a few things that caught us by surprise as April made its appearance.

The first was the weather. As you can see from the above photo (notice Josh’s T-Rex under the tree), Mother Nature surprised us with about 7 inches of snow for April 1st. That’s surprise number one.

The next surprise was Gracie telling us there was a lion in the back yard and a polar bear in the refrigerator. She kept reporting strange sightings all day just for the pleasure of seeing our surprised faces when she yelled “April Fools!”

I've just repainted the living room....April Fools!

Finally, you could say our orphanage laid an April surprise on us, too.

Let me give you uninitiated a little background: Sometime around the beginning of each month, the orphanage puts new pictures of our kids on their website. As soon as the pictures appear on the website, we get terribly excited and begin to check our e-mails for our personal copies of pictures of our kids.

This is the drill taking place all over the country: 1)Check orphanage website; 2) Troll through all blogs in our little adoption family to see if anyone has their pictures; 3) Check e-mail just in case. 4) Wait as long as you possibly can (15 minutes, more if you can stand it); 5) lather, rinse, repeat. It’s a wonder we don’t jam up the World Wide Web with our enthusiastic checking!

As you know from seeing the pictures posted here, the photos are a work of art with details lovingly attended to. It’s a treat to see what each month’s theme will be.

So naturally on March 31, I began to look for photos on the orphanage website. I checked there last thing last night and first thing this morning – nothing. So imagine my surprise when I opened my e-mail and found not one, but two sets of pictures of Danny waiting for me. What a wonderful April surprise!!

Nobody's Fool!

Case Update: As of March 14, we were back in PGN (one month to the day of our first submission.)

So tired of waiting...but life is good...

Hurry up; we are ready for you, Danny!!!

..

This wait seems so very long. It’s strange that waiting can be so tiring but I know first hand that worrying about your children is the most exhausting thing there is.

The weeks have dragged by and the fact that this is also the fifth anniversary of the month leading up to Josh’s diagnosis hasn’t helped.

I was just putting the finishing touches on a blog of several paragraphs of “woe’s me” when I took a break to put Gracie to bed.

One story and she was out like a light. I stayed there for a while as she slept. Then just as I was getting up to leave she rolled over. Still completely asleep, but just as completely sure of where I was she snuggled herself into me nudging her head into the crook of my shoulder.

And so for tonight anyway, life is good.

Easter Sunday; 6 inches of new snow; 32 degrees outside; but our hearts are warm!

Lost in Translation...

That’s going to be our theme this week.

We learned that we’ve been kicked out of PGN for a translation error on our Power of Attorney. It sounds like it’s a simple matter to fix, and we were told we’d be re-submitted by this Friday.

That pesky Power of Attorney is our undoing again! First it was lost, and now it’s got a mistake! I’m glad that this is an easy fix, but at this stage of the game every lost week hurts.

It also makes me wonder how many other little small things they’re going to kick us out for before we’re finally out for good.

I have a splitting migraine and I think the stress of this news and lack of sleep that followed are big contributing factors.

Danny, 7 months

On a lighter note, there was another little something that needed a bit more careful translation. It’s painful to admit this, but for a brief time, I didn’t recognize Danny in a photograph.

One of our wonderful friends from this nation-wide family of bloggers snapped a picture of Danny while she was visiting the Children’s Home. Her son, Nathan, is one of Danny’s roomies. I’ve even noticed that they’ve shared outfits!

Anyway, I saw the picture and didn’t think it was my boy. Too much hair. But further inspection, a facial feature analysis by another friend and a second look from momma confirms that it is indeed our little Danny. This picture was taken just after a smile. Obviously, he’s regrouping for another one!

Here’s what Amy had to say about our little boy: He was sitting in the swing and was very alert and watching everything going on around him. Two of the caregivers were sorting an enormous pile of socks as he watched. When Amy said hello to him he gave her a big smile! He was very content.

This picture was of a much higher resolution than the photos we usually receive from the Children’s Home. I must confess I blew it up large on my computer and looked at every little hair on his head. I looked at his cute little nose, his big eyes; those cute ears super close up in perfect focus. It reminds me of the scrutiny I gave each of my two previous children the first time I held them. I can hardly wait to give him the once-over in person.

In Community

Danny(nller) and a few friends hanging out before their photo shoot: Early March

I consider myself pretty competent on the computer. But when it comes to riding the cutting edge of web-communication I’m a throwback.

I prefer to use the ear-piece of a phone rather than the little message screen; in fact, I’ve never text messaged in my life. I can’t even type names into my cell phone directory. Everyone ends up with extra QQQ’s or VVV’s because I can’t figure out how to get to the next letter.

But twice in my life, the high-tech world we live in has brought me into community with people I desperately need and who I never would have otherwise met.

The first of course, was the CaringBridge community of families battling their children’s cancer. The support of friends through our website as well as being able to keep in touch with others travelling the same journey was a life saver for me.

Now I find myself so very fortunate to be a part of the amazing community of families at various points in the Guatemalan Adoption Odyssey. How is it that a seemingly random group of people have changed my life and kept me on track? It’s only been about 5 months, but I feel I’ve known these families forever. It started with a Google search (yes, I can do that!) on the name of the Children’s Home where Danny lives. This brought me to one website which in turn provided links to many more. Now I have a dozen blog stops to make every day.

Granted, we don’t sit around over cups of coffee rehashing our day, but somehow we do manage to cry on each other’s shoulders. We offer hugs and celebrate milestones together. You see the public world of our websites, but I have met people who I can call at 2:00 am if I need to, and people who can read panic in an e-mail from me and will write back immediately to offer comfort and support. And I hope these same people feel they have an equally caring friend in me.

Many times it seems, too much technology and “screen time” can create a vacuum resulting in stunted personal growth. But other times the seemingly cold sterile environment of a piece of plastic with a bunch of memory chip thingies can actually spread warmth and humanity and compassion.

Thanks to all of you who visit this website, and to all of you who comment and keep us in your and prayers and who blanket the Universe with your positive healing energy and thoughts! And thanks to my community of Guatemala Adoption friends!

Once I figure out how, I will post a list of families who are travelling this road with us and who all need to be included in your thoughts and your prayers as they go down a path that continues for a lifetime.