Catching up

It's been a while since I posted photos . . . because our old computer finally croaked. We limped along for many months as it gasped, wheezed, and died a slow and dramatic death. Then, we borrowed a computer for a week or two because we had an adoption class to complete, and I had to design the program for Peter's summer church production. Now, finally, we are typing on a new computer, and I can post photos again.

A few friends have asked where we are in our adoption process. We are in the middle of our home study, and expect to have it done in 3-4 weeks. We hope to get on the waiting list in mid-summer, if the rest of the steps go quickly . . . and then we will likely have a year+ of waiting until we see the first picture of our daughter. After losing our sanity a bit during Anya Rashi's adoption, there are days when Peter and I look at each other and say, "I can't believe we're doing this again!!"

We've had a lot of fun watching Amy, Heather, and Colleen meet their new babies through their blogs over the past two weeks. Reading their posts and seeing those first pictures as their new families are born has been a terrific reminder of why we signed up for this crazy journey again.

Anya Rashi's take on the whole thing was funny. I showed her the pictures of the babies meeting their parents at the same baby home in she came from in Kolkata. Her only comments were,"Cute!" for the babies, and "Mama, baby needs car seat," for the photos of the mamas holding their babies in the taxi. Too funny!

Our last month has been full of Nathan's family birthday party, Mother's Day, last Cub Scout meetings, friends' moving, helping with a rummage sale, Anya Rashi's first tea party, and the big cahuna: potty training! I'm happy to report that the rumors are true -- girls are much easier and faster to teach than boys! Anya Rashi still wears a diaper when she sleeps, but she's doing really well by day (and I'm sure she will be REALLY happy I'm talking about her toilet habits online!). So, enough on that topic. :o)

Yesterday, the boys went with Peter and Grandpa L to watch a college baseball tournament game while Anya Rashi played with Grandma L, and I got to exercise, read, and go to the grocery store by myself! (Is it just me, or have my standards for fun slipped since becoming a mom?) Today, we went to our city's Memorial Day parade, and planted our vegetable garden and flowers. Then Grandma and Grandpa B and Uncle Matt came over for a cookout and a fierce round of ladder ball.

The other fun things going on here are:

1.) Anya Rashi is obsessed with her new box of Dora Band-Aids, and carries them around everywhere.

2.) Aaron and Nathan have been building a 3-D model of R2-D2, and she has her own name for it: she calls it 2-2-1.

3.)We were going to eat in a nice restaurant, and were talking to the kids about how to behave, including sitting still. Nathan politely told us, "Just so you know, that's going to be really hard for me. I have loads of energy. I'm like a suitcase packed with live things!" For sure!

A twist on transracial adoption

Here's a really good article from Newsweek about an African-American couple who have adopted a causasian daughter:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/194886?digg=1

I was really shocked at some of the things that are in the article, mostly about strangers being suspicious of Katie's parents because they are African-American and she is not. I have at times felt very "noticed" with Anya Rashi, but never felt like anyone was worried that I was kidnapping her or harming her.

The article says that the U.S. foster/adoption system does not require adoptive parents to do any sensitivity training when the parents are a different ethnicity than the child. Has anyone had any experience with this?

It made me appreciate Dillon's education requirements all the more -- they are so thorough and careful about trying to prepare adoptive parents.

Oh wow . . . just, wow

By turns, I have been undone, filled with joy, in awe, and reduced to a puddle of tears over the past week . . . all by the posts written by the Compassion International bloggers.

I am part of a chat room of moms who have also adopted children from India, and one recent conversation was about how to share the reality of poverty in their birth country with our children. We have poverty here in the US, to be sure . . . but we have more safety nets, with public schools for all, food programs, and more. I know there are so many who still fall through the cracks . . .

I am including a link to a wonderful, devastating post by Melissa Fitzpatrick:
http://livingproofministries.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-do-you-like-my-house.html
I still don't know how we will talk with Anya Rashi about the dire reality of poverty in Kolkata. I don't know how we will discuss it with Aaron and Nathan, for that matter. We sponsor a baby home for abandoned girls in Ooty, and I have no idea how we will address that reality either. The only thing I do know is that we have to keep on fighting the good fight, knowing that God's heart is with the poor, the forgotten, and those without hope.

I hope you don't find Melissa's words depressing -- I'm not including her post to depress you. I hope you'll take away some hope, too, and be as humbled as I am by the joy that can be found in the most dire circumstances when people choose to give $32 a month, and some treasured letters a few times a year.

I have an entirely new affection for the children sponsored by my sons' Sunday school classes -- and for the kids who faithfully bring in their money every week, so that San San's and Jaime's lives can be changed.