Something Beautiful for God

Recently the girls and I read a book about Mother Teresa. She didn't like interviews, public speaking, or being filmed. She felt those things took too much time away from the work she was doing. However, at one point she consented to doing a documentary. During the negotiations she wrote in a letter to the producer, "Let us do something beautiful for God."

Little Sister's Valentine's Day rose from her Daddy

I am certainly no Mother Teresa, but her words have stuck with me.

All adoption starts from a place of loss. For our daughters it is the loss of birth family, culture, country, and language just to name a few. However, there is redemption in adoption. There is the gain of forever family, new culture, country, language and religion.

God is in the business of making beauty from ashes. Of creating something lovely out of what could be filled with just pain. This Gungor song always makes me think of what God does in each of our lives if we allow Him to work.

It is my hope that our fundraiser to help bring home sister six will be exactly this. "Something beautiful for God". Yes, we would like to raise some money to help offset the costs of adoption. However, we want more than anything for the hearts and minds of our fellow believers to be encouraged. We want others to attempt, in their own ways, to do something beautiful for God. We all know that God does not need our help to create beauty from ashes. But if we allow it, he certainly would like us to be involved and to be part of the story.

I hope that non-believers will see what is happening in our lives and be curious. I hope they will see that there is something different about our family (and not just that we're weird) but that they will see us as Matthew 5:14-16 describes what others should see when they see us.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

This is what we want. We want others to see God and glorify him.

While I'm writing about adoption I wanted to give a brief update on where we're at in the process. You may remember our dossier went to China in November, 2018. We have been waiting for our match for three months now. We are hopeful that we will be matched soon, but are trusting God for His perfect timing and Providence over this wait and our match. This part of the process is always the most difficult as I'm a person of action and there is no action I can take. And yet, prayer is powerful and I can do that! Our daughter is never far from our minds. The other day Ruth was talking about her and said, "I miss little sister." And I think that's true. We don't know who she is yet, but our hearts miss her and long for the day we can all be together. We would certainly appreciate your prayers as we continue to wait.

Nothing would give me greater joy than to be matched and able to share a photo of her at our event on March 16. We continue to be grateful for the generosity shown by all of you to our family. We hope to see many of you on the 16th for a hug, a prayer, and a fun evening of fellowship.

Caroline is Five!

Five days before Christmas, our sweet Caroline turned five. A whole hand!

PC: Stacy Parmarter Photography

We don't do big birthday parties every year for our kids because 1. it's too expensive, 2. we have a lot of kids, 3. I personally prefer small gatherings. 

When we do have a party I try to make them extra special and memorable by having their favorite people and their favorite foods. We have chosen special years for parties; so far it has been 1st birthday, fifth birthday, and 10th birthday. I guess we'll have to figure out what year beyond 10 to celebrate, maybe 13 and 16. 

For Caroline's fifth birthday she knew just what she wanted. She wanted her favorite people (family, of course) but also her friend, Eliana (who happens to be her 3rd cousin), Matteo (who happens to be her cousin), and her friend Caden (who happens to be Matteo's nephew). Everyone would come and make Gingerbread Houses.

Friends!

Carrie's Gingerbread House

She wanted her favorite foods. My sweet Caroline loves spicy foods. She wanted Jalapeño Chips, Chili (which she calls "cold". Get it? Chilly = Cold), chocolate cake with white icing, purple roses (Rose is her middle name and purple is her favorite color) with writing that says "Happy 5th Birthday Caroline Rose". There were some other assorted foods that she enjoys, like spicy cheese, regular cheddar, crackers and things like that. 

Love Shady Maple's bakery at Fergies!

Caroline is genuinely the sweetest child I have had the joy of raising. Not that my other kids aren't sweet, but do you know how some people are so nice you feel like they can't possibly be genuine? Then you get to know them better and you realize that, while they aren't perfect, they are truly super super super nice. That's Caroline. She wanted our word for the year to be "Niceness". 

Isn't this the sweetest face?

Her generous nature is what has forged the deep bond she shares with Ruthie. When Ruthie came home from China I joked that they were like hens, and it took about a month for them to establish their pecking order. Ruth came out on top. But in all seriousness, I think it took Ruth about a month to realize that Caroline isn't going to fight her and they settled into an easy rhythm of love and friendship. They do occasionally have their spats but they make up with alarming speed. They can be fighting like cats and dogs, screaming and crying, then three minutes later they are holding hands and dancing. 

Snow Bunnies

Caroline started life a tiny newborn, 4 pounds 14 ounces, had a collapsed lung at two days old and spent a total of ten days in the NICU. She has rarely been sick since she came home from the hospital, with the exception of needing tubes in her ears last year (which worked wonders for her hearing!). She still isn't very big for a 5-year-old, just 31 pounds, but size isn't everything. 

Cutest overbite

 When asked, Caroline says she loves: music, Ruthie, babies, chocolate, rice, chocolate milk, bubble gum, catching butterflies, zinnias (which she pronounces zingias), the time when we can grow zinnias, riding my bike, baby bunnies, sledding, eating ice pops outside, Chinese food, swimming lessons, and playing in the bath.

These girls LOVE to wear matching outfits. They would dress alike everyday if they had enough matching clothes.

Caroline does not like: horses, goats, bees, big dogs, at night when I think a tarantula is going to come up the wall and bite me, lima beans, tuna noodle casserole, and fire ants.

When Carrie gets older she wants to be a mom to eleven kids. Because Annie is eleven and eleven is a big number. 

We can't imagine our lives without Carrie in it. She is really smart and excited to start Kindergarten in the fall. She is already starting to read on her own and I know that she will do great with a little bit more structure than what we have done for her early years of learning. She prays everyday for her little sister still in China. Like I said, a sweetheart. 

Happy (belated) fifth birthday, Caroline Rose! We love you!