Beauty parlor, hospital & more!

Wow -- it's been two weeks since I posted, and I don't know how to sum up the time! I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. :o)

A smattering of events from our house these past two weeks:

• Anya Rashi has discovered the joys of playing beauty parlor! Between our two heads, we used every barette in her collection.
• Anya Rashi started playing doll hospital (another favorite game), and Nathan disappeared for a few minutes. He came back with a shirt and tie, and had drawn paper money, and asked to play along. When I asked him what he was going to be, he said, "The hospital's lawyer. That's why I have all this money." I tried hard not to burst out laughing, and he added, "I make sure that everyone has enough money to pay for their treatment." That is certainly a much kinder view than many people have about lawyers . . . and I have no idea where he picked up any of his ideas!
• We had a great time one evening shoveling and taking a walk around the block in the dark. The snowbanks on either side of the sidewalk allowed the kids to lean back and make vertical snow angels. It was fun to see a trail of 3 different-sized angels the next day.
• We had some fun with a few simple science experiments last weekend. All of the kids loved it!
• My mom comes over almost every Tuesday night, just to hang out. When my dad doesn't have choir practice, he comes too -- but this week Grandma was solo. She's such a fun lady, with so much energy. The game she's playing is called Balancing Moon, and has been a favorite "first" game for all our kids.
• Not pictured (mercifully) is the inevitable stomach flu bug that seems to come with each winter. Nathan is fully recovered now.
• Not pictured is my cousin Mike's heart surgery. He's doing well, but still in the hospital. They fixed a problem that was diagnosed when he was 14, and finally was starting to create some complications. He's one of those quieter, steady, good guys, with a great sense of humor, a love of history, and is an avid bicyclist and motorcyclist. He also keeps track of our family's history, and has traveled to the Netherlands to meet relatives. I'm so grateful that he's recovering well. He's also our neighbor -- he lives 2 blocks away.
• Also not pictured is Peter and I doing paperwork for several adoption grants. We didn't apply for any with our first adoption, but are finding it necessary this time around. Please pray that we have some great surprises in store through these grant applications, or from other sources.

Peter is growing his beard -- because he's playing the role of Jesus in the passion play again this year! After investing the time and memorization last year, it's nice to have him be able to do it again. Yesterday, we listened to a recording of one of his songs from the show, and it gave me chills.

Aaron and Nathan are joining the cast this year -- they're singing about four "crowd" songs, and Nathan is playing the (silent) role of Pharoah's son. (At the beginning of the show, there's a montage explaining Passover to give context to Easter. Nathan will be carried onstage by Pharoah, when Pharoah has finally been affected by the consequences of the last plague.)

Anya Rashi, in her current beauty parlor mode, could leave no hair untouched -- so Peter's beard was home to a half-dozen butterfly clips. What a good Daddy -- willing to be photographed in such an undignified state!

Flashback and flash forward

Yesterday, the three kids and I headed to Milwaukee to visit my sister Alicia. (Actually, we were on a mission to deliver fruit that she ordered from Aaron's boychoir fundraiser -- she won the award for furthest delivery, I think!)

Earlier this week, she'd been hinting at a "super secret project" she was working on. When we arrived, we went into her house to have a snack before going to Discovery World science museum, and she gave us a heart-shaped box with the project inside: a DVD that included all our photos from our 2007 India trip, along with the short videos we took, all labeled with names and places, with Indian music in the background! She did a beautiful job, and it looks like we could've paid a professional to do it. She has blessed us so many times over throughout both adoption processes.

What a gift to have this all in one place, and not on a computer (which I'm always afraid will mysteriously lose these precious memories). She even gave us a second copy, which we will put in our fireproof box for safekeeping. Right away, the boys asked to see the Taj Mahal photos, and the video of our first meeting Anya Rashi.

It is heartwrenching now to see how confused and frightened she was in those first moments -- she definitely knew something was going on, and it was going to involve HER. All she wanted was her bottle and nap, and here were these strangers making a fuss over her! It's amazing to look at her today, in all her joyful, noisy glory, and remember how timid she was.

While we watched the video of those first moments, something interesting happened: Anya Rashi said, "Is that upstairs, Mama?" I asked her to repeat her question, and she said, "Was that upstairs?" She caught me off guard, because I don't think we've ever told her that the baby home she stayed in was on the second floor of the building. (We live in a one-story home, so she likely wasn't talking about our house.) I wonder if some part of her remembers that scary trip down the steps with those pale, funny-looking new people.

After we got home and the kids were all asleep, Peter and I watched the other videos of our first days with Anya Rashi. It made us think about traveling again, to meet another tiny stranger who will become part of our family. We keep wondering if she's born yet, what her birthparents' circumstances are, and if she has any idea that there is a God who is working to bring our lives together . . .

We are still holding steady at #7 on the waiting list. I had a dream last night that there was a sudden burst of activity with new referrals, and we jumped up to #4. I've never had the experience that some people do, where their dreams are prophetic -- but I am hoping there's a first time for everything, and this might be mine!

Whether or not that happens, we are steadfastly praying that we will be surprised with good news about moving closer to our next daughter.

Scenes from our house

If you'd been able to peek through the windows of our house these past two weeks, you would've seen a dizzying variety of experiences.

First, you would have seen me staring at the computer as I learned via e-mail that my friend, former co-worker and museum curator extraordinaire Kim had finally succumbed to ovarian, lung, and brain cancer. Her friends and family in Canada celebrated her life at a memorial service that I was not able to attend. But, in a divine coincidence, a mini-reunion of other museum friends was planned for that same weekend in our city. It was good to be together, talk about her, and remember all the people that made the museum such an incredible place to work.

A second look would've shown you an elaborate indoor picnic complete with fake food, doll house, kleenex, and more. Fun things happen when I have appointments and Anya Rashi stays home with Daddy . . .

But a night-time look in our window would've found two bleary-eyed parents and one sick little girl. Anya Rashi brought us a parenting first: our very first ear infection in 9 years as parents! She had a wicked cough -- so severe that she vomited 5 times in 24 hours from the violent coughing spasms. She's all better now, but the experience definitely left an impact: this morning, she was playing dolls, and placed a toy cup on her baby's lap "because my dolly might throw up from her coughs."

You would've seen more than a few laughs resulting from Aaron and Nathan creating a rock band starring their littlest stuffed animals. They taped spoons on for guitars, stood a pencil on end for a microphone, and used tiny medicine measuring cups to make a drum set. (Not to be outdone, Anya Rashi taped a serving spoon onto her stuffed jaguar. She wasn't quite sure why, but wanted to be part of the action.) The band's name: PET ROCK.

You would've witnessed a few tears when our beloved parakeet Cletus passed away. Afflicted with parakeet obesity, a grumpy disposition, and gender confusion (long-time readers of this blog may remember a visit to the vet where we discovered Cleo was, in fact, not a girl), Cletus died peacefully in his cage on a Saturday afternoon. That was actually an answer to my maternal prayers that we would not discover him deceased on a school morning . . . because my sweet sons cried their eyes out. We put him in an old 1-lb. chocolate box on a bed of bird seeds, and the boys had the brilliant idea to put their school photos in with Cletus. We tied on a silk flower and satin ribbon . . . but we live in Wisconsin, so we can't bury him until the ground thaws. You may be horrified to know that Cletus is currently resting in peace in his casket, wrapped in two plastic bags, IN MY FREEZER. This is not what you think about when you become a parent (and a germophobic one at that).

Another look through the window would show this mother learning some simple theology from her 3-year-old. When she prays, she has her own very touching way of beginning. After hearing us say "Dear Lord . . . ", she put her own spin on it by saying "Lord, dear, . . ." It sounds like she's having tea with Him and is about to ask Him to pass the sugar. Strangely, her little phrase has had a profound effect on me -- it's definitely made me think about how intimate I can be with Jesus, even to the point of calling Him "dear."

If you had peeked through the window this Friday evening, you would have seen us celebrating Valentine's Day a bit early. Peter is a wonderful husband and father -- each year, he takes the kids on a little shopping trip in the quest to teach the boys to be good husbands, and to teach Anya Rashi how she should expect to be treated by her future husband. The kids choose something small for me (one year it was a huge fake amethyst costume ring, once it was a bottle of perfume, once a cotton shirt), while I make a special dinner that we eat by candlelight. This year, we followed up with dancing in the kitchen (and teaching the boys how to cut in politely!).

What's the favorite scene from your house so far this month?

Birthday girl

Apologies for the wacky spacing!!! I can't figure out how to fix it without accidentally deleting photos.

January brought with it the chance to celebrate Anya Rashi's birthday with her grandparents. The first few photos were taken the morning of the party, as Anya Rashi helped me make Chicken Makhani. This girl LOVES to eat raw onions!

Flower cupcakes were the order of both parties, after months (starting in July!) of deliberating between different ideas by our then-2-year-old. In my family, my brother has a January birthday, and I'm happy to say he didn't mind sharing his celebration with Anya Rashi (pink flowers and all!).

A small dream of mine also came true with one particular birthday gift: my Mom repainted and spruced up a little wooden cupboard for Anya Rashi's gift. The cupboard was originally made by my Grandpa for my Mom when she was a little girl. My sister and I played with it when we were kids, and now it's being passed on to a third generation in our family.

The cabinet makes me appreciate two of my grandparents' character traits: they were very fun and creative, and like most who lived through the Great Depression, they were very thrifty. The wood for the cabinet came from a truckload of scrap wood delivered by a local paper company to my grandparents' house in the country. (My grandpa later worked for the same paper mill.)

Every summer, a load of wood was dropped off, and the five kids (one more would be added to the family a few years later) would spend time during the summer removing nails so they could burn it throughout the winter to heat their house. Grandpa built the cupboard out of this scrap wood -- on one side of the cabinet, the raised words from a peach crate are still visible beneath the white paint. The knobs on the cabinet doors are halves of thread spools, painted red to my Mom's little-girl delight. My Grandma sewed most of the family's clothes, and saved spools because of their potential uses.

I'm so proud of my grandparents' legacy, and my Mom was as happy as Anya Rashi to play with it non-stop for 30 minutes after they brought it into the house.

You may notice that we have current photos again! A friend of ours' mother had read on the blog that our camera was broken, and gave us a (very nice!) camera that she no longer used. I felt like God had given me a big hug and reassured me that He is watching out for us as we save each penny for our current adoption. I won't use her name, because I know she would never want "credit" for it -- she's such a sweet woman.

Spelling bee

We are SO proud of Aaron! Today was the all-school spelling bee, and he did a wonderful job. There were 12 kids on stage representing the 3rd- through 8th-grade class winners. Our boy was cool, calm and collected, and did a fantastic job cheering for each of the other contestants as they spelled their words. Because the microphone was set as a vague "medium" height to accomodate the different ages, he had to stand tall and reach his chin up to the microphone. :o)

Aaron lasted through many rounds, and correctly spelled the word "monopolize" among others! He ended up in 6th place after battling with the word "subterranean." What a great morning for him -- his love of reading definitely showed today!

There were a few other highlights: the first was seeing how Nathan supported his big brother. He prayed for Aaron this morning before school, and it was so sweet. Then, during the spelling bee, we could definitely pick out Nathan's voice as he cheered his guts out after each word Aaron spelled.

The second was seeing what a great, encouraging atmosphere our teachers and staff have created. Every time a child disqualified and had to leave the stage, the crowd of students clapped, and there were kids patting them on the back, giving high fives, and whispering "good job" as they took their seats.

All that, and Anya Rashi was an angel during the bee, playing quietly, drawing and looking at books. What a great day! (The photos are from our family's "boy" trip to the Field of Dreams this summer. We had never posted them, and wanted to share.)

Current events

First and most importantly, we are thanking God tonight for the safety of our church's children's pastor and his family. They are spending three months in Hinche, Haiti to serve in a variety of capacities -- and we feared the worst when we heard about the earthquake. Their youngest son Jeffrey was adopted from Haiti, and their other four children are getting a chance to live and serve in his birth country. I'm sure God is planning to use them in all kinds of surprising ways with the needs brought on by this emergency. Our church had sent a medical team there in November, and was planning a trip in February too . . . I don't know yet if they will change the trip dates to help earthquake victims. If you'd like to help, our adoption agency is sending contributions -- just click on the link to Dillon International on the sidebar.

Closer to home, we are appreciating "normal" life even more in the face of such a disaster. Our blessedly mundane current events this January include Anya Rashi moving into a big-girl bed, Nathan participating in his second Pinewood Derby, Aaron competing in a spelling bee . . . and this mama getting her first nesty item for our new daughter.

Anya Rashi, you'll notice, is clutching two ziploc bags of assorted household objects. (Don't worry . . . we don't let her sleep with plastic bags!) Right now, one of her favorite things to do is collect very random items in a bag, then give it to someone with a bright "Happy birthday! Here's your present!" Today's present consisted of a refrigerator magnet, two bracelets, a book, and some plastic dishes.

She has also taken to e-mailing her baby sister several times each day. I open up WordPerfect and she types away (like this: ssssssslll77777777xxx) and clicks the X to send it. Her favorite e-mail topics are sharks, pirates, and ships (surprising choices, since we live an hour's drive from Lake Michigan, much less the ocean!).

We spent last Saturday morning at the Pinewood Derby races. My brother Matt helped Nathan design and build his car, the Blue Bullet, complete with a silver stripe down the middle and flames on the sides. Race day is always fun, but the best part was watching my brother and my son work together on the car.

Not to be outdone by the younger ones, Aaron was beaming today after school . . . he won his third grade class' spelling bee, and will move on to the all-school spelling bee next week! Good times! I loved seeing how excited he was, but how he doesn't boast or brag about himself.

Our new baby is still somewhere on the horizon in 2011. We are holding steady at #7 on the list, but I decided to get her the first present from her Mama and Daddy. I had something to return at a store, and couldn't resist getting her a soft, light green blanket. Anya Rashi is VERY attached to her pink blankie, so I wanted to make sure the new little one has her very own. :o)

A decade

We spent New Year's Eve with some dear friends and their children. All three families brought a pot of soup to share, along with bread and dessert. At 9:00 p.m., we gave 7 kids party horns and blowers (!), and ushered in a new year and a new decade.

All of us adults talked about what we were doing 10 years ago, when the year 2000 was new. (Peter and I had celebrated at a great restaurant in Chicago with our best friends from college.)

As we looked back, it was a shock to think about all that happened in 10 years! None of us three couples had children yet, and after a year of hoping for a pregnancy, Peter and I were wondering if starting a family might not turn out the way we anticipated.

If you'd told us that we would be celebrating 2010 with three children and another on the way through adoption, our jaws would have dropped at the sheer blessing of it. Add to that the fact that Peter and I both still have our parents, and we have far more than we deserve.

I haven't written much about the end of our year on the blog, because it's been hard. In addition to the first two funerals I wrote about in November, I've attended three more. Five funerals in five weeks . . . and a friend I used to work with is in the final stages of cancer, so I know there will be another funeral soon. We have other friends walking through difficult times right now, too, with fears for their children's health and their own, or with job troubles. My head has been spinning.

But, along with saying goodbyes, I've been so blessed to say hello to a dear friend's new baby. She is a first-time mom at 43, and she and her husband are bursting with joy. Another friend is due any day with her first baby, who will also be a long-awaited blessing. When I think ahead to finding out this year who our next daughter will be, it's another reminder that joy still exists in the midst of sadness.

So, I guess I'm feeling some emotional fatigue. Last night, it was good and necessary to remember where we were 10 years ago, and to remember that even though we don't know what's coming, God does. He's not surprised by any of it, even when I am -- and that goes for both the sad things and the times of rejoicing. I'm actually grateful that I don't know what's going to happen ahead of time because it forces me to stay focused on God's character: consistent, loving, and trustworthy, no matter my circumstances are.

If I were someone who makes New Year's resolutions, I guess that would be mine. May your 2010 be filled with the same focus, and the joy that comes along with it . . . no matter what each of our circumstances are.