African Lullaby

I'll never forget hearing the Watoto Children's Choir singing this song:

Who will sing my lullaby?

Who will hold me when I cry?

When I awake and no one's there

Who will sing my lullaby?

One straw mat

Two sisters, one brother

Our Father is gone

Now we cry for our mother

Who will protect

And watch through the night

Who will be there to blow out the light?

Will You sing by lullaby?

Will you hold me when I cry?

When I awake will you be there

Will you sing my lullaby?

Couldn't have said it better myself, so I won't

A few nights ago CBS aired a terribly misleading story about supposed corruption in the Ethiopian adoption system. This report was full of errors and just generally made me ill. I hate to think that there may be families turned off from adopting because of this kind of misinformation.

I loved this adoptive mother's take on the situation. If you are interested, click here.

Happy Valentine's Day

Three years ago today we brought Carter home from the hospital after his final open heart surgery and he hasn't been hospitalized for cardiac reasons since. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

There was a time in our lives when we never thought the pain of those days of Carter being so sick would end. Now here we are, celebrating three (mostly) hospital free years. Since then we have added another child to our family and will soon be adding a fourth. A fourth who needs her heart repaired. And I have every reason to choose HOPE today.

Buy a Cookie, Save a Life

I am so excited to share a friend's website with you. Becky is a mom of two boys who is raising money for a wonderful organization called Child Alive. Child Alive provides mosquito nets to prevent malaria in West Africa. Becky is selling amazing cookies (you must see this to believe it!) and using the profit to donate to Child Alive. Becky is also in the process of adopting from Burkina Faso, so please pray for her adoption process, too!

Becky's website is www.cookiesforafrica.com

Inspiration

I am just blown away right now my a friend of mine who is in the process of adopting five children at one time. Mind-blowing, right? It gets better. She already has 14 other children.

Lately I've been discouraged, hearing the stories of several women who are choosing not to stay home with their young children. Women who could easily stay home, but don't. One woman, featured in a woman's magazine in an article about how to balance work and family, has been weighing heavily on mind. She is a chef, a very successful one. She absolutely loves cooking. She goes on in the article to say that she doesn't have time to cook for her family during the week and is too busy to cook on the weekends. And you know what? My heart broke a little thinking of her children for whom she does not have the time to cook. I mean, here their mom is, a wonderful chef, and they don't get to eat her food or learn how to cook from her. It just doesn't seem right.

Then there are moms like Rona, she has enough love and nurture in her heart to love and care for 19 children. She and her husband labor to make every penny stretch. She has great stories of how God has provided for them, too. She does all this with a smile and a light shining out of her that is so radiant, you want to look away, but she will hug you first.

Children are a gift. Ask my sweet friend, Steph, whose blog (Baby Braden Petska), you can link to from mine, about how precious a child is and she will tell you that every minute and every breath counts.

Adopted for Life, and Death

This is a tragically beautiful story.

Even though this child only had parents for a few hours, he died knowing he was LOVED and WANTED.

Groundhog Day

In our family we have a little joke about my mom's favorite holiday being Groundhog Day. How could Groundhog Day beat out such favorites as Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter, you say? How about no cards to send, no special meals to cook, no decorating. A holiday with no pressure, ahh. And this year, Groundhog Day falls neatly into my self-declared month of indulging my introverted side. LOVE IT.

If you live by me and are interested, Priscos in having a sale on GROUND beef and GROUND coffee today. But no pressure to make a special trip to take advantage of these sales, got it?

This morning as Casey and I were praying for wisdom in parenting Sitota, Casey had an interesting vision given to him. He saw our two biological kids as hardy flowers, like daisies. You can make mistakes, even neglect them a bit and they will be just fine, strong as ever. He pictured Sitota, our adopted daughter, more like an orchid. Have you ever read the instructions on how to care for an orchid? Very tender, complex care must be taken to maintain the beauty and health of an orchid.

Bonding with biological children happens without a thought. It is like breathing. Bonding and attachment with a child who is adopted is a thought out thing. It will not happen without effort.

I asked God to shine His light on any areas where we are not fully bonded with Sitota. I want to make sure I am taking proper care of this incredibly beautiful flower God has given us.