WHOOPIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!

No matter your age or social status, a Whoopi*Cushion is going to make you laugh. Watching an 8 year old experience one for the first time, now that's a rip roarin' good time. Click on the arrow and enjoy.

You Had Us At Hello

I'll never forget the sound that a cell phone makes when it vibrates on a desktop. That's the sound we heard one year ago today when we received The Call from our adoption agency. It was 7:01 a.m. We were on vacation in a hotel, laying in bed, having just opened our eyes one minute before. Tom's phone vibrated, and we looked at each other wondering who would be calling so early in the morning. I picked up the phone, said hello and heard the words about a little girl we had waited so long to hear. It was a stunning surprise, and we were completely unprepared. There were tears to shed and there was paperwork to process in a short amount of time. Our favorite hotel desk clerk, Sasha, helped us tremendously, and, although we never anticipated he would be the first person with whom we would share our good news, it makes the story all the more special. It's impossible to believe it's been one year since that moment. The memory remains fresh, and we live everyday knowing we are truly blessed.

Rooted in His Love

Last Sunday the children performed their Easter program in front of the congregation. I don't need to tell you how sweet it is to listen to angels sing. One of them has been riding around in my car in recent weeks requesting the practice CD on most of those trips. It doesn't matter that she doesn't know the words, Maryn loves to sing, and she does it with gusto. On a recent roadtrip, the three of us were enjoying the music, and as the CD played the refrain I am rooted in His love, from the backseat Tom and I heard "I am weally, weally slow." However Maryn sings it, we are dazzled by her talent, and it's all the more touching when her daddy turns to me with a big smile on his face and says, "Don't you suppose God is smiling right now." I had to agree.

Lawns and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

It was a very chatty weekend at our house, so many new things going on, and there was a lot of conversation, explanation and repetition going on, too. By Saturday evening, I was talked out and looking forward to taking a walk with Toby and Jen's dog, Zoe, who was spending the weekend at our house. Oh, for a few minutes with just my thoughts and the quiet of walking dogs who are happy to be with me nonverbally. As it turned out, Maryn wanted to go with me, and I am well aware that's a great thing for a mother and daughter at any stage of the relationship. Besides, she is so darn cute, so I agreed. We were headed to the golf cart path behind the house, and I turned to Maryn and carefully said, "I'm going to run because I don't want Zoe to pee on the lawn." With that, I started to run, but I didn't get far. Maryn grabbed the back of my jacket, which caused me to stutter step, which caused Zoe to stutter step, which caused my foot to get caught in the flexible leash, which caused me to hop on one foot while trying my hardest to untangle my foot and keep from falling. I managed to right myself after about six large hops and finished running across the backyard. When we got to the cart path, Maryn's little hand was patting her chest signaling a racing heart. She told me I scared her. I said, "Because I ran?" She said, "No, you say lion." It didn't take me long to decipher that what she understood me to say when I told her I was going to run because of the lawn was that I was going to run because of the lion. I was slaphappy from a long day of talking, and all I could do was double over with laughter. She laughed, too. I spent a good part of the walk explaining to her that there are no lions living near us. No tigers either, no bears . . . you get the idea. We walked and we talked and talked, and if not for that I might not have remembered how special a walk with my daughter can be.

Da TuTu Dolly Dance

When we arrived home from China in August 2009, our friends Sandi and Bruce picked us up at the airport. When he first saw Maryn, Bruce tapped on the sides of his head with his hands, and Maryn declared, "Da tou tou," (usually pronounced like dah toe toe) meaning hit head in Chinese. In a combination of dialect and child speak, Bruce has been known since then as Da TuTu. Today we celebrated with Sandi and Da TuTu the marriage of their daughter Sara and her husband, Matt. Leading up to the event, we have been talking a lot about traveling to Da TuTu's daughter's wedding and what happens at a wedding. What Maryn has been hearing in all those conversations is Da TuTu dolly dance. The day finally arrived, and it was a beautiful celebration of a special couple's love for each other, their family and their friends. We had a wonderful time, Maryn was as good as gold, and we danced. Put a check next to "attend a wedding" on the list of family firsts.

The Sounds of Childhood

I picked Maryn up from school on Friday, and as the car door closed I heard, "Bubba gum, bubba gum dee wah dees, how many dees do you won?" Finally, she learned something at school that will stick with her for the rest of her life! She and I played many rounds of bubba gum throughout the weekend, and somehow I always seemed to be the one who was out, but, then, when you're playing while driving, it's not easy to see exactly where the finger is pointing when the chant ends. On Saturday evening Tom and I broadened her repetoire with Eenie Meenie, Johnny Lit the Match, One Potato Two Potato and Engine Engine Number Nine. She wasn't always the winner when we could keep our eyes on the game, but she handled it with a smile.

Friday night Maryn went to her first slumber party. Leading up to the event we discussed how we would miss each other, and it was nice to hear her say, "I know," when we told her we would miss her, but she always followed that by saying, "You miss me, I miss you." I made sure to give her a long hug and a few kisses before we left the house because I knew there would be no looking back when she hit the inside of the house for the party. She was no different than the rest of the kids as they were dropped off, and it was great to see. Tom and I lived it up by going to dinner at a restaurant where we talked loudly to hear each other then came home and fell asleep on the couch. You can really live it up when there is no one to tell "it's time to brush your teeth" or "flush the toilet" and "wash your hands" and then make sure it's done in that order.

Saturday morning was the annual pancake breakfast, Tom's big fundraising effort for the year, and this year he sold one more VIP ticket for the event as you can see by the smiling flower face. He works hard during the coldest time of the year selling tickets door to door, at church, and everywhere else in town. It makes you smile to see how many people turn out for the event and know how hard he and the rest of the volunteers work to make it a successful event. That golden sausage and pancake plaque looks pretty good in his closet, and it seems that he might be able to dust it off and have his name added one more time as the event's top ticket seller. Way to go, Tom!

I'm sorry to say that Saturday was also Maryn's last basketball game of the season. That was some great entertainment that we are going to miss. She may have inbounded every ball to the other team, provided the best defensive offense the game has ever seen, and spent more time fussing with her hair then actually getting close to the ball, but we'll miss seeing her running from one end of the court to the other in her shiney red shoes and long black shorts. She went from knowing absolutely nothing about basketball to knowing not much about basketball, but she was part of a team and she smiled at us from the floor and that's what counts. Her coaches were wonderful, and she would be lucky if she could learn from them again sometime. Sure hope to be able to convince her to give it another try next winter, but for now we'll move on to the joy of knowing absolutely nothing about soccer.

Why and The Y

There's a new word in the new English language, and it's "why?" Why? surfaced a few days ago, and it's making a regular appearance. I have officially crossed into an area in which I swore I would never cross as I find the words "because I said so" coming out of my mouth. We all know it's a lot easier than providing an answer that's only going to be followed by another "why?" and sometimes it's the only real good reason. Fortunately for me it's frequently followed by a cheerful, little "okay," but we'll see how long that lasts.

Swimming is Maryn's favorite pastime, and we try to get to the pool as often as we can. Swimming lessons will be on the schedule for as long as she's interested, and right now there's no end to that in sight. I'd love to be able to watch Maryn do the backstroke in competition someday so we need to work on that flutter kick. At this stage of the game it looks a little like she's pedaling a bike, but we've got time to get that corrected. As long as she loves it, we'll keep it going, and I'll continue to enjoy watching her point at me and then point at her eyes to signal me to watch. She has no idea that she doesn't need to tell me to watch because I don't want to miss a minute with our little fish.