Feathering the Nest

For the last 9 days, Craig's parents have been visiting from New Mexico. We took advantage of Nana and Pa's Most Excellent Babysitting Service and went on an overnight jaunt to Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Lancaster is an outlet shopper's smorgasbord featuring offshoots of some of our favorite stores. I practically had to rip Craig away from the Restoration Hardware outlet. He, in turn, had to drag me kicking and screaming out of the Pottery Barn Kids store - but not before I grabbed an armful of terrifically priced nursery bedding.

Here's the loot:

We picked up a crib bumper featuring a car motif, a matching crib sheet, cribskirt, and a coordinating picture frame for $68.00 We also picked up a matching set for the twin bed that we're going to move into the nursery. Our plan is to relocate Andrew into the baby's room when we have a lot of guests sleeping over and to later transition Szu-Chuan into that bed when he's old enough.

I figured that by the time Szu-Chuan gets home, he might soon start taking an interest in vehicles. We beat the construction truck theme to death in Andrew's room, and I couldn't find a full set of train-themed nursery bedding at the outlet. So, cars it was.

We plan to begin work on the nursery in January (eek! tomorrow!). I have to admit I am cringing a bit at the thought of the labor. I have horrible memories of working on Andrew's bedroom, scratching away at 3 layers of hemp-like wallpaper that had been painted over decades ago, all while 9 months pregnant. And that was just the beginning of the renovations that took 10 years off our lives and those of everyone else who was gracious enough to help us scrape, steam, and plaster.

Thankfully, the work on Szu-Chuan's room should be fairly simple: slap up some crown moldings, then paint.

(Heh, heh, heh... that's what we said about the last nursery.)

Manifest of a Ziploc Bag

On our way to our baby is care package #2. All of our love and fondest wishes have been rolled, squished, and crammed into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag. Specifically, the contents take the form of ("Wonder Twin powers, activate!"):

(1) Disposable camera and (1) disposable video camera, this time with instructions on how to turn on the flash included.

(1) Bible Baby board book. I had every intention of sending a CD of myself reading it. Unfortunately, technology won out yet again and we couldn't locate the program on our computer with which to download recordings from the digital voice recorder. Next month...

(1) Gymboree one-piece jumper. I caved in. I bought him an outfit. And it has a panda bear on it. Perhaps I'm overthinking things, but I hope the caretakers at St. Lucy's don't think I'm trying to make a big deal out of Szu-Chuan's "Asian-ness" by buying him an outfit with a panda. It would be just as bizarre as a family in Tawian adopting a child from America and sending him clothes with bald eagles and Uncle Sam emblazoned on them. To be honest, I'm fond of panda bears and er... um... didn't want to pay the extra $8.00 for the other jumper I liked that wasn't on sale.

(1) Picture of Craig, Andrew, and myself, enlarged, laminated, and threaded through with ribbons for hanging on Szu-Chuan's crib. Thanks, Island Boy's mom, for the great idea.

(1) Crunchy butterfly. Pull the string and the toy wiggles. Squeeze the wings and they crunch. Even a child would enjoy this.

(1) Pacifier clip. If you look carefully at the last set of udpate pictures we received, you'll note the pacifier holder the caretakers have MacGyvered out of a burp cloth in order to secure Szu-Chuan's pacifier. It wraps all the way around his neck and has "strangulation hazard" written all over it (well, no it doesn't, but it very well should). Craig picked up a few clips that should be compatible with the pacifiers used at St. Lucy's. Szu-Chuan will be getting very familiar with these doo-dads over the next few months.

Fly away, overstuffed Ziploc bag, fly away! And perhaps this is wishful thinking, but may you be the last care package we send to our baby before we can go shower him with love in person.

Merry Gotcha Day!

Just before Christmas two years ago, I endured a miscarriage. It was an upsetting incident, but with a highly active two year-old to care for and the busyness of the holidays, life marched on. When things had slowed down a few weeks later, I found myself on the computer researching international adoption. Over and over again, I was drawn to watching videos like the one above, compiled by Holt International Adoptions. Each time, the girl who seldom cries couldn't help but get "ugly-faced" with tears, to borrow my favorite phrase from the Lands. The gears of our adoption process had begun to turn.

One can chalk the emotion up to postpartum horomones or vicious dust allergies or something else, but here's what I think. I believe videos like these touch something deep within us because they hint strongly at our relationship with God. The Bible tells us that our heavenly Father has "predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will" and that "we ourselves... groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." There is something within us that desperately longs to be united with God and to experience his unconditional love.

Watching videos of children getting placed into the arms of their overjoyed parents is such a beautiful illustration of this principle. Like those dazed and tearful youngsters (typical Gotcha day behavior, I'm learning), we have no idea how much our eternal Father has longed for the day when at last we join his family. We don't realize the extent of the sacrifice he has made to procure us. Forget about the mounds of paperwork, the expensive agency fees, the long travel and waiting times; it all pales in comparison to the sacrifice of Jesus' life, willingly given so that we could be brought into his family. Did you notice the thrill on the faces of those adoptive parents? It only mimics the overwhelming joy God must feel when we accept that sacrifice on our behalves and enter into that family. What love, what safety, what wealth of goodness is ours to inherit!

Much more could be said about the adoption metaphor. But for now, I'll leave you with this thought: on the first Christmas day over two thousand years ago, the gears of our own adoption plan, already turning for countless millenniums, went into overdrive in the form of a little baby. This child, himself adopted into a human family, would one day grow into a man, and with the gift of his life for us, would victoriously throw open the doors for our own adoption into his family. What our souls have always longed for has became an attainable reality.

Merry Gotcha Day to us all!

Smiles All Around

OK, I'll eat my words. In my last post, I was dubious about whether we'd receive Szu-Chuan's latest monthly update pictures and information. Guess what I found when I checked my email this morning? Three pictures of our little guy with a smile that could light up the world. Guess who else is smiling, too?

It's heartwarming to see October's sad face replaced with a happy countenance. Truly, there's nothing more gratifying to a parent than to see one's child laughing.

On a side note, it's also useful to have pictures that show what kind of pacifier he uses. I've been hearing from other parents who have travelled that the pacifiers given to the babies in Taiwan aren't sold in the United States. Now that I can see what they look like, I can shop for something that is remotely similar. I also plan to take Dayla's advice and buy as many of them as we can once we're in Taiwan.

Unfortunately, the pictures didn't come with any updated medical information; this will follow once Laura is able to ascertain the correct date of the pictures. FFC was expecting to receive November's updates from St. Lucy's but instead were sent a batch of pictures that were date stamped in December (yesterday, actually).

In her email, Laura also verified that St. Lucy's has received all of our paperwork. We're still awaiting news of when our case officially entered the Taiwanese courts.

In the meantime, we're delighted to receive this early Christmas gift. I try to use emoticons sparingly, but at times like these, I think it's appropriate to bust out with a :)

The Lowdown

I've digressed a bit lately. In case you've been wondering what's been going on with the adoption, here's the lowdown:

1. We're still awaiting news of when our case has gotten logged into the Taiwanese courts. Laura at FFC tells us that this information should be included with Szu-Chuan's December 2007 update.
2. We still haven't received our November 2007 update with his pictures and basic health information (height, weight, head circumference). It's been 20 days since November (but who's counting?). St. Lucy's must be very busy. Also, with the FFC office closing for two weeks over the holidays, it's uncertain whether we will receive the information by month's end.
3. We've sent St. Lucy's a request to run several additional medical tests on Szu-Chuan. These were suggested by Dr. Farber, our adoption physician. Some of them are simply standard components of well-baby checkups in the United States. One or two are specific to a medical condition that a member of his extended family has.
4. We've also sent St. Lucy's a list of roughly 20 questions we hope they can answer about Szu-Chuan, his birthfamily, and other circumstances relating to his adoption in case he wants to know one day.
5. Our little guy turned 5 months old yesterday. Happy 5 months old, sweetie!
6. And yes, we're still laboring over his first and middle names. Sandy, our neighbor from New Jersey who's pediatrician in New York City, tells horror stories of parents with similar indecisiveness. They end up defaulting their child's name to whatever the hospital types onto the paperwork: twins named Female and Male (pronounced "Fuh-ma-lay" and"Ma-lay") or "Boya" and "Boyb" (aka, "Boy A" and "Boy B"). Come to think of it, Male is not too bad of a name. I should add that one to our name poll.

Freerice.com

After you've finished merging your head and those of everyone you love onto the body of a 4" dancing elf, try this next one. Go to Freerice.com and play their addictive vocabularly game. For every word whose definition you guess correctly, the site donates 20 grains of rice through the United Nations to people in need worldwide. At last, here's your chance to put to use those words that scored big points on the SAT but marked you as an oddball if you ever tried to use them in real conversation.

Based upon the words you're able to define correctly, the site adjusts the difficulty of the words you're given next. It rates them on a scale of ease, with 50 being the hardest. So far, I've accumulated 3,020 grains and can't get past a level 48. Give it a try and let me know how you did.

And They Dance, Too!

If you haven't gone to the Office Max "Elf Yourself" website and played around with it, you're missing out on a good chuckle. My sister, Diane, sent us her family's version and of course, I couldn't resist fiddling with the program and adding in our own Thing One and Thing Two.

What can I say? Our boys are talented.