Two years ago . . .

Two years ago today, Peter, my sister Alicia and I met Anya Rashi for the first time! It was 70 degrees in Kolkata, which felt balmy to these Wisconsin natives, who had left below-zero temps to fly off to India. On that day, we showered, made a few nervous phone calls to the baby home, and prepared gifts for the Ayahs. Then we piled into the car with our driver Nayeem and drove off to a changed life.

My most powerful memories of our visit to the baby home are that the ayahs cared very much about the children (especially one very young woman who teared up watching us hold the baby she had cared for over the past 12 months). I was afraid I wouldn't be able to pick out our daughter's face among the other babies . . . but there she was, and I knew her instantly.

Anya Rashi was not entirely happy to meet us, however! I knelt down beside the crib she stood in, and talked softly to her so she could see that we were safe people. Peter and I took turns holding her, and the ayahs gave her a bottle to soothe her. Then, we tearfully thanked the staff who watched over her. I had purposely learned how to say "thank you" in Bengali, but my wits left me, and I completely forgot in the emotion of the moment.

Then we packed ourselves back into the car, and she fell asleep on my chest. What a lovely feeling that was. It's hard to believe that tentative little baby is the noisy, joyful, busy little almost-three year old wandering through my kitchen right now. Happy two years together, Anya Rashi!

The best Christmas gifts

If you remember way back when, I posted that a script I wrote would be produced this Christmas. Well, faster than I can believe it, the show dates have crept up on me. I saw it last night with some friends and family, and was totally astonished. I will see it again on Sunday with the boys, and with my 90-year-old neighbor Ann. (She's been my date for the past 6 years, since Peter is the director and has to be there early.)

I wrote most of the script two years ago while we were waiting for Anya Rashi. I had a four-month window after Nathan started kindergarten, and before we traveled to India -- that's when I wrote the bulk of it. Then, this fall, three experienced writers helped me polish it up into the final draft.

I was really nervous watching the show during the first act -- my hands were like ice, and I was experiencing what can only be called flop sweat. :o) It was really fun to hear how the actors chose to say lines, see how it was staged, and see how the music and lighting made the script three dimensional. We have some very talented singers and actors at our church, and it was very humbling to see how much they've invested.

The other surprise was seeing how the audience reacted. It was really thrilling to hear them laugh, or catch the Biblical references in our modern retelling of the first Christmas. And it was so touching to hear people sniffling when the two main characters are changed because of the poor, pregnant, unmarried couple, and when the Christ child (a real baby of someone in the cast!) and his mother emerge from a homeless person's shack (our modern version of the manger).

The very best thing, though, is knowing that this show is having a spiritual impact. After the show, people are invited to begin a relationship with Christ if that's something they've never done before. That is the entire reason our church does a Christmas musical, and it's the thing that makes me happiest about having this script performed. One of my uncles was at the show last night, and said that he wanted to know Christ as his savior. His decision, and that of others who attended, is the best gift I will receive this year.

Since I don't have photos of the show, I thought I'd post our Christmas card photo -- my other favorite gifts, along with Peter!

Whirlwind

It's been a bit of a whirlwind here -- and our camera broke, so there have been no post-able photos for the last few entries. We're using a disposable camera so we don't miss anything important, but I can't upload those pictures, unfortunately.

We've been joyfully following along with the three (soon to be four) Dillon families who are in India right now meeting their children for the first time! Congratulations to the families of Mason, Keira and Pala -- your long wait is over! We are also celebrating with the families of Maiya and Alesha, who just received their referrals and saw the first photos of their beautiful little girls. (On a more self-centered note, that also means we've moved up 2 spots on the waiting list!)

The past few weeks have been very busy with normal life, and with more frequent rehearsals for the Christmas show at our church. It's a family affair this year . . . Peter has directed the show for the past 9 years, my brother Matt helped design the set and is working to finish it, Peter's brother Bob loaned his expertise for the medical scenes (it's set in an ER, and he's an ER doctor), and it's my debut as a playwright. I haven't gone to any rehearsals -- I'm waiting to be surprised when I go to the show. :o)

We've also had our share of sadness in the past several weeks. Our dear friend Joel's father passed away after an inspiring battle with cancer. He and his wife Mary Ann were so graceful and strong through the past year, and showed me (and many others) what it's like to be honest about fear and grief, while remaining solid in the knowledge that God is still good during our pain, and that Jerry gets to meet the Savior he's loved and served for many years.

My aunt Yvonne also died unexpectedly last Sunday. She and my uncle Ernie just celebrated 50 years of marriage in September, and they have a grand legacy of caring for others through Habitat for Humanity, tutoring Hmong school children here in our local schools, mission trips to Mexico, and their five children. Two of my cousins shared about their mom at the funeral, and it was so beautiful to hear the everyday ways she loved her kids, and about moments of transforming mercy and tenderness when Yvonne truly lived out the grace of Christ's love.

Please pray for Mary Ann and Ernie and their children as the holidays approach. It will be a hard year for them.

The list!

I'm happy to say that we are officially on the waiting list for Baby #4! Tami, our case worker and the co-director of the India program at Dillon International, e-mailed this morning to make it official.

It's a little goofy that we're so excited to reach this step, since we will be likely be here for quite a while . . . but we are excited, nonetheless! Families are told to expect to wait about 12-18 months, so we still have lots of time before we see the first photo of our next daughter. (By this time next year, we may not be quite as excited about being on the list. Ha!)

Hmmm . . . I'll have to think of something fun to celebrate . . .

Cold weather = crock pot + book

Since we've had our first two frosts, I am dusting off the crock pot and having the urge to sit down with a good book! I want to share an Indian recipe that my family loves, and that I will make for Diwali. It's a lighter version of Chicken Makhani, a.k.a. "Butter Chicken."

Chicken Makhani

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs or chicken breasts (can be frozen)
1 medium onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
4 Tbsp. butter
15 cardamom pods (sewn together with needle and thread)*
2 tsp. curry powder
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. garam masala
½ tsp. ground ginger
1 14-oz. can light coconut milk
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup plain yogurt (can be fat-free)
　
Place frozen chicken in 5-quart or larger crockpot. Layer with diced onions and dot with butter, and place cardamom seeds or pods in the middle of the layers. In a medium bowl, mix tomato paste, coconut milk, lemon juice, garlic, curry, cayenne pepper, garam masala, and ginger. Pour the mixture over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or high for 4 - 4 ½ hours. 30 minutes before serving, remove and discard cardamom pods. Remove pieces of chicken and shred, then return it to the sauce to stay warm. Stir in plain yogurt 15 minutes before serving.
Serve over brown, jasmine, or basmati rice.

* If you can't find whole cardamom pods, you can empty out a cheap tea bag and fill with the equivalent amount of cardamom seeds. 18-20 seeds = one pod. Just tie the ends of the tea bag with kitchen string and let it steep in the crock pot.

The Indian book recommendation is Motherland by Vineeta Vijayaraghavan. It was in the "young adult" category at our library, and is an excellent, universal examination of family and growing up. The main character is a young woman in high school who goes to live with her uncle, aunt and grandmother in south India for the summer. She grows to understand and have compassion for her family members in a new way.

Because she is an "outsider" in some ways as an American, the book had many insights for me about the culture and tradition of that part of India. It was a great read!

Cozy up and enjoy the crisp weather!

Adoption update

Since our first three children are usually the stars of this blog, I thought it was time to write about Baby #4 for a change. Where are we in our adoption process? Right now, we are waiting for the State of Wisconsin to apostille our documents so we can send off our India dossier and officially join the other families on the waiting list.

We hit a few snags with pulling our documents together -- one notary on a reference letter had forgotten to write when her commission expired, and somehow we didn't see the fine print about our birth certificates. They needed to be issued in the past 12 months, and Peter's was too old.

So, we hopped in the car and drove to another county to get new copies. We made a fun trip of it, just Peter, Anya Rashi and me (the boys were in school). He showed us the school and church he went to, where his parents worked, and the house he grew up in until he moved to our city when he was 15. We made the best of a minor frustration. :o) I was just grateful that he didn't grow up in another state!

But we had hoped to already have our dossier sent in by now, so we feel a bit like we're wading through molasses to get this step finished. We will breathe a big sigh of relief when it's officially out of our hands. It is a little funny to think how eager we are to join the waiting list -- by next autumn, I'm sure the waiting list won't seem nearly as exciting to us!

So, that's where we are. Meanwhile, we have our three to keep us busy. The picture at the top of this post is Anya Rashi, all ready for "school" at the YMCA. She is so proud of her lunch box, which she calls her back pack -- and she is the best reminder that someday, this wait will be over.

6 hours later:

And right now, I just have to add that she's charging through the house with a frisbee balanced on her head, a wooden back scratcher in one hand, hollering "I'm Super French Fry!" And then, "I'm going to India!" This will no doubt convince the authorities to speed up our adoption . . .

Lasts and firsts

The past few weeks have brought many 'lasts' and 'firsts.' We squeezed in a few 'lasts' as we tried to hang onto summer for a few more warm days: our last trip to walk the trails at a local nature center before the leaves change colors, our official last summer trip to our favorite ice cream place, last roasted corn on the grill, and our last trip to the Lake Michigan beach in Milwaukee with Aunt Alicia.

Our 'firsts' included all three children's first days of school! Aaron entered 3rd grade, and Nathan began second grade. Even Anya Rashi is attending "school" at the YMCA while I go to a strength and resistance class. It's one hour, three times a week, and she brings a little lunch box with her snack -- this is by far the most exciting part of the deal for her!

She is doing wonderfully there, and loves the routine. The hour she attends includes story time, snack and arts/crafts. What more could a girl want? She was very proud of herself after her first visit, and beamed as she told me "Mommy, I not cry!"

Our autumn schedule is now in full swing as well, bringing Aaron's first boychoir rehearsals, and Nathan's first Cub Scout field trip to a rehabilitation center for birds of prey. He asked so many questions that I think the presenter was worried he would eventually ask something she didn't know the answer to! We also had our first multi-boy sleepover in the tent . . . which was kind of a misnomer, since not much actual sleep happened . . .

I'm experiencing a 'first' of my own -- a full-length script I wrote was chosen to be produced at our church this Christmas. It's called A Star Over Us, and is a drama about what the first Christmas might look like if it happened today. The first act is set in an emergency room, and the second act happens on the streets of the city outside the hospital.

I'm a kind of shocked that it was chosen, and excited to see what it looks like when it's staged. (Although I do have to say that it feels a little bit strange to think of 3,000+ people watching something I wrote . . .) Mostly, though, it feels like my Christmas came early this year!