Every year on August 21, we celebrate the day Michael’s Adoption was finalized.  Here’s a glimpse of how we celebrated today and a recent interaction I had with Michael…

Mom:  “…and thank you for sunshine and good food and blankies…”

Michael:  “Do some more.”

Mom:  “…and thank you for Birth Mom Miss Lynsie and Mr. Ryan…”

Michael:  “What is a birth mom?”

Mom:  “Before you were born, you grew in Miss Lynsie’s tummy, she knew she did not have a good nest for you to grow up in, so she went looking for one. And mom and dad were looking for a baby…”

Michael:  “And it was me!”

Mom:  “That’s right, and we met and we all decided together to name you Michael Joseph and when you were ready to come out of Miss Lynsie’s tummy, mom and dad brought you home and adopted you.”

Michael:  “Oh, thank you! I glad you ‘dopted me.”

Lucy has an insatiable curiosity. She is always asking questions and fascinated at the thought of trying out new experiences that she hears about. She keeps a mental list of things she wants to try out and periodically reminds me about the things on it. Well, Sunday she checked three things off! She was dedicated at church (she had been counting down the days all week), got the chance to hold a new butterfly on her hand (she had been waiting since last winter when she saw a picture of Hanna doing the same), and learned how to snap (a skill that had been eluding her). How she managed to contain all the excitement,
I just don’t know!

After a season of hearing the Lord say “wait,” we had been talking about and praying into the possibility of adopting again…  with no nest egg to put towards it, already feeling stretched thin in every way!

In the mean time, I had been reading the Jesus Storybook Bible to Michael and Lucy…
Do you know it?
I LOVE it!

“God will do it for you. Trust him. And watch!”
“God will make a way!”
“…they were lost, they didn’t know the way back. But God knew the way.”

So, here is how God entered into our story…
A few weeks ago on June 22, a Monday… Jason prayed and asked God to show us if he wanted us to adopt again.  He included in his prayer that maybe if He wanted us to, He could bring together a project Jason had been working on for a few years.  Jason had a domain name that a company was interested in purchasing, but they had been unable to settle on a price.  He had last talked to them several months ago before our China trip in hopes that the money would help make that all happen for our Sparrow.  Well, God provided all we needed there in other ways… and then some, of course – even allowing us to repay our interest free loan to Lifesong.  So after praying this prayer on that Monday,  the next day – they called him. They settled on a price, got an escrow company involved, and we  just received the check… for $11,000.
That’s amazing to type!
Can you believe that?
God is amazing.
We shouldn’t be surprised!

So, as it is hard to finish a thought around here, much less a conversation with each other… Jason and I are still at the “jaw hanging open” stage, and haven’t yet figured out exactly how to proceed or exactly what this all means… except that we are
buckling our seat belts for another adventure! 

We will keep you posted!

So, Lucy and I have a little game we have been playing where we pretend to call someone on the telephone.  Usually I am supposed to place the call… ring, ring, ring… and say hello to the recipient on the other end of the line.  Then I pass the phone to her and she says hello and passes it back and then proceeds to tell me what else I should tell them.  I think I am learning all kinds of interesting things by being part of these phone calls that I may not otherwise be privy to!  Recently, we started out calling Hanna, Spencer, Becca, Baba… then we moved on to calling people in China.  We called Baoji Mama and Baba (her foster parents in Baoji) and some other familiar names of her friends.  Then things started to get interesting and she started asking me to call other friends from China with names I was not yet familiar with… some of them were younger children, some older, some had been adopted.  It is amazing to me how well we can communicate in our combination of Chinese and English after only 3 months and how quickly more and more of the balance of our communication continues to lean toward English.  Sometimes we talk around ideas or use a translator app on my phone like Google Translate or Pleco to help us get over a hurdle.  On this particular day, as we continued to make calls, I used the English word “adopted” and she stopped and asked what I meant.  “Remember that Baba Mama came to China to find Lucy?  Remember that we signed papers together?  Remember the blue thumbprints and your hand print that we put on the papers?”

Nods and agreement from Lucy to all of this.  “Lucy, do you understand?  Now I am your mama.  No more new mamas.”  Yes, she nodded and asked to tell me something in Chinese using the translator app.  I found it on my phone and we both patiently waited for the little ding that indicates she should start talking.  Then I held the phone and waited for the English word to appear…

Back in China, in the world that Lucy knew, all the female caregivers were called “mama” and all the male caregivers “baba.”  These caregivers have come and gone in Lucy’s life and have not been “forever and always.”  When I caught my breath, I couldn’t help but be amazed and be so blessed.  As I type tonight, I am thinking of how easy it is for things to be lost in translation even among speakers of a common language and
of the other game called “telephone” that demonstrates this so well!
I am so grateful that this truth is taking hold in Lucy.
May she truly feel it in the depth of her heart.
She has a family forever and always.

We took Lucy to get her glasses today.

 At the “glasses store” so exciting!

 Before picture.

A very special eye glasses case.

After picture.

 It was a fun drive home.

 It will take some time before she wears them continuously,
but they are already bringing her new revelation. The first thing she said when we turned a video on this afternoon was “Whoa… Maisy cute.”

Maybe tomorrow she will say that about her BaBa.

“…But his mother treasured all these things in her heart.”
Luke 2:51

I can remember my cousin, Craig, as a little boy hearing this verse at Mass during one of the readings.  He loudly mentioned that in his opinion, Mary ought to share!
At the time, even as a child myself, I thought it was cute and knew that he was supposed to be quiet during Mass!  As I think about it now, I think he was right…
we ought to share!

You see, as I came across this verse this weekend and thought of this childhood memory,
it made me think about why we are chronicling our adoption story here to share with you.
Truly we should treasure these things in our hearts,
this story of redemption and adoption that we are living…
but we should share them too,
this faith building story, this story of the goodness of God and his work in our lives.

Thank you for reading along with us
and for all the comments and encouragement
that you send our way here and on Facebook and in emails.
We appreciate you!

Our day to day life is a hard fought battle for the heart and mind of our Sweet Sparrow, Lucy Joy.  Many things are cropping up and threatening to distract us from our goal of pointing Lucy to Jesus and knitting all our hearts into a new family, a family that God has put together, just like any other… continued illness and injury, life experiences and wrong thinking, as well as numerous home and auto repairs needing our attention…
Not to mention the laundry!
We are believing God for big things, our God, 
“…the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”  (Romans 4:17)

During this season of “cocooning,” we have learned that the transformations that God brings about inside that little refuge is intense and that it requires undoing before rebuilding… I will never look at a butterfly the same way again!

And yet, in the midst of it all there is joy!
We laugh, we create, we dance, we sing, we play, we help one another, we are getting to know each other and we are so aware that being a part of this story is a great gift.

We are all in and committed to this journey with our sister and our daughter!

And yes, in case you were wondering,
this entire winter is evidently one big pajama party for Michael.
*smile*

As we are settling in there have been a few minutes to process. We (Kirstin, Jason and the ‘bigs’) went through the first 4 days of our China pictures together a few weeks ago. Hope to get through the rest with them soon. Here are a few things we saw on our trip and didn’t eat.

This is the Chinese version of a taco truck. This enterprising woman is selling bread with meat and rice. Notice the upside down plastic cups that are being used as condiment containers. These guys along with many other types of seafood were prominently displayed in the restaurant we at in often (OK, we ate in some, and got carry out from a lot). Seafood and amphibians… I’m sure our Chinese is much worse than their English, but I think something was lost in translation on this menu item. These were in the traditional medicine section of a large grocery store. I think they are dried squid. They keep the good stuff in the case behind the counter (notice the lock).  Here is another menu item we did not fit in during our trip. Notice the disclaimer at the bottom “The picture is for reference only, refer to the actual product”.  Prawn crackers and shrimp flakes didn’t make our list. 

These giant salamanders are a delicacy in China. They are endangered, which means they should be on every menu (no risk of chickens and cows going extinct…). But we didn’t do our part to save the species while there.

At this restaurant we didn’t know which intestine they were talking about, and we didn’t want to find out. 

So grateful for our friends and family; the meals we have received since returning home have been much more comforting to us.