Me and "Mee-Mee"

This little video was taken by Daddy.  That's my Mee-mee [Grandma] singing the songs and sitting on the sofa. Aren't I cute??? Love, Ana

Celebrations To Remember

Christmas with Ana was so joyful this year. She was happy, singing, dancing, and really "getting it". Mary had Baby Jesus in the stable and everyone is rejoicing and celebrating! Her favorite new word is "joy" as she keeps singing "Joy To The World" and "Joy, Joy, Joy".....she also likes "We Three Kings". When I got up this morning and thought about our Christmas Day yesterday with her, I remembered our first big celebration, or "party" as we say with her. It was our US Embassy appointment in Moscow last November. Every adoptive family must check out through the US Embassy...it is the final "hoop". The appointment is typically the day before you leave and going into it, we really didn't know what to expect. We were slightly apprehensive that all our papers would be in order and we were mysteriously told that we would be given a very important packet of (more) papers that we COULD NOT OPEN FOR ANY REASON. That MUST be opened by a US Customs Official once we landed in Dulles. It just all seemed so very...oh, I don't know, "spy-like", but I guess it is for some international legal reasons or SOMETHING. Anyhow, by now we had learned; "they say it, we do it!" So off to the US Embassy we went, Ana in the backpack, with a diaper bag, sippy cup, papers, toys books, snacks, etc. We were prepared to be sitting for hours. But when we arrived and went through all the appropriate (over-intensive) security checks, we were sent to a room with about a dozen other couples, each with toddlers, all looking somewhat bleary-eyed and speaking, we soon caught on, english. We realized these were fellow adoptive parents who had all been through the same experience (battle) that we had to get our new children. We quickly began talking to one another, sharing stories, laughing, and comparing notes. There were couples and new Moms from all over the United States....Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina, New York. Some were adopting one child, some two. The joke immediately became: "well, it's 1:00...naptime at the orphanage." These poor children were looking as shell-shocked as the parents. Everything was new to these little ones. They had probably never been outside their former orphanage walls, never heard english, they were with total strangers who spoke and smelled and acted differently from anything they had ever known. But it was such a sweet moment....to look around and know these kids had been rescued and these parents were building their families in an unconventional way. One couple from North Carolina had the husband's Dad with them and the proud new grandpa was BEAMING and chatting away about his new granddaughter. He was insistent that she was the brightest and most beautiful little girl in all of Russia- probably the whole world. Aren't all grandparents convinced of such things? Matt and the husband were rolling with laughter as we realized that we had had the same judge in St Petersburg just a week apart! The new Dad (this was their first child) started firing parenting questions at Matt and was particularly interested in our Kelty back pack...he even tried it on. It was hilarious and I wished we had had a camera to capture the moment. Anyway, we all commented that the moment was one big "adoption party"...we were all departing Russia soon and the mood was merry. Just like yesterday on December 25, the joy of a new Baby, ....just like Christmas.

So glad we didn't miss it.....

We Didn't Miss the Blessing

As the kids decorated our Christmas tree the other night, I thought about how different this Christmas was for Ana from last year. We had her last Christmas...but it had only been a month and, quite frankly, things were a blur- for us, and most definitely for her. But this year, she is singing the songs, anticipating the advent candle lighting at dinner each night, hearing the stories and getting caught up in the excitement of lights and decorations. I turned to Matt and proclaimed; "I am so glad that we did not miss the blessing of adoption!" It really hit me that we very well could have missed the blessing. Our family's life would have continued but we would have never had this moment of seeing our sweet toddler daughter decorating our tree. And then I couldn't help but think of all the other children, orphaned and abandoned, in her orphanage alone. And they were alone, for another blank year, another stark, lonely, meaningless year. So many other families were missing the blessing that could be theirs! The latest statistic reports something like 147 million orphaned and abandoned children are in the world today. That is a staggering number. And yet, if just half of the 300 million Christian families worldwide would open their homes for adoption...what a difference could be made! Would you consider adoption this holiday season? Whether praying for orphans, financially supporting couples wanting to adopt, encouraging adoption among your families and churches, or maybe, just maybe, consider what it would look like in your family to have another sweet toddler decorating your tree next Christmas.