Merry Christmas Eve

We hope you find yourself with your loved ones today and tomorrow. And if your most beloved is still overseas in an orphanage, trust me, we know how it feels. We wish you peace and joy as you experience the anticipation of your child's arrival. We pray for those children, their nannies, birth families and you, the prospective adoptive parents. We also pray for the parentless children who will never be adopted, that they will be nurtured and loved as they grow up. For those whose babies are home for their first Christmas--savor every second of this blessed season. Zeke has been delighted to meet family and friends. He is surely surrounded by love.

During this time, we also think of Zeke's birthmother. We mailed her a photo album full of photos of Zeke's first few months with us. Her address is very general (no street or house number) and so we pray that the package makes its way into her hands. We want her to know that Zeke is happy and healthy.

Here are some more photos of Zeke's Tennessee visit.

In Tennessee

We've had a lovely time in Tennessee so far. Zeke had a personal, one-on-one meeting with Santa last night. I was at a Christmas concert with my mom and sis so I missed the big meeting BUT I saw the video. Zeke was clearly enchanted with Santa and was delighted that Santa brought him a fire truck! The real joy of being home is seeing Zeke meet and interact with our family:

A napping Zeke meets his great grandfather (Brad's maternal grandfather).
Still napping, Zeke meets his great grandmother (Brad's maternal grandmother).
Zeke delights in a pint-sized piano at his great grandparents' house.

Zeke and his great grandmother (Missy's maternal grandmother).
Zeke and Uncle Quinn (Missy's brother).
Zeke and his great great Aunt Teenie (Brad's great aunt).

Zeke investigates the goodies Grandma Lolo has set out.

Zeke and Grandpa Ron

Home for the Holidays

We made it to Tennessee yesterday! Praise the Lord for Zeke's excellent behavior during the very long drive. There were no meltdowns. He was so easy going about the whole trip. He even slept well Wednesday night in the hotel and then last night at my parents' house. Yesterday, he met his great-grandmother and Uncle Trav and Aunt Mel for the first time. Needless to say, he crashed early last night! Speaking of Uncle Trav...we want to give him a big shout out because he's graduating today from Virginia Tech with his PhD. We're so proud of you, Dr. Travis!!

Early Christmas

We let Zeke open some early Christmas presents from friends. We did this because our car is going to be SO FULL going to Tennessee that we are only taking a handful of gifts for each other. Brad has given me virtually all my gifts already. So, instead of loading up these gifts, we let Zeke have at it. He is slowly catching on to the fact that he can rip the paper. He very much enjoyed his gifts. Thank you!!

Good-bye Karin

Our fellow adoptive mom Karin passed away last night. She was strong in her Christian faith and her family takes great comfort in that--knowing she's in a better place where there is no pain. For those who didn't know Karin, she was merely 34 years old and found out only in September that she had kidney cancer. For those of us on the Lang Son adoption yahoo group, we knew Karin as a positive and patient person. We all learned from her endurance as she waited month after month for approval to bring her son and then her daughter home from Vietnam. Her daughter arrived only a few weeks ago. Karin was so kind to answer many emails I sent her back in the summer about DNA testing. She always took the time to send me detailed replies that eased my mind and helped me know that things were going to be just fine with our adoption. It's hard to understand why these things happen--why a good person who was just getting to know her babies would have to endure such physical pain and would not recover. All I can say is that I pray for her family and wish them peace and comfort in the days and months ahead.

Update on Karin

The adoptive mother I told you about, Karin who was so near death yesterday has in fact shown some improvement (miracle of miracles!). This is quite the roller coaster ride for her and her family. After taking her off life support, she was breathing on her own and her vitals looked good. Now, they are resuming some supportive measures to see how much she rallies. So, please keep them all in your prayers. Karin has been a reader of this blog for a long time and we wish her and her family peace and healing as they face the hours and days ahead.

A Loss in the Adoption Community

This precious family adopted two babies from Zeke's orphanage (one baby came home in the summer, the other just weeks ago). Tonight, the mom is off life support and her husband and children are saying their goodbyes. She found out only in September that she had cancer. She was a part of our small online group of people who have adopted or are adopting from the Lang Son orphanage. Besides her two children from Lang Son, she also had an adopted son from Russia. I cannot imagine what this family is going through. Please pray for them in this time of sorrow.

A Visit with St. Nick

Zeke, meet Santa. Santa, this is Zeke.

Fun with Photos

Obviously, I've been having too much fun with PikiPimp the last couple of days. It's too funny!

Here are some recent (unpimped) photos...Enjoy!!





(Waking up from nap time is hard to do.)

Zeke and Auntie Weed

Just another night at our house

Peace Child

Sunday was the second Sunday of Advent, a time to focus on peace. Our pastor told the story of a missionary who found a unique way to explain Jesus to a tribe in Dutch New Guinea. Here's some of the story taken from Wiki:

In 1962, Don Richardson and his wife Carol and their seven-month-old baby went to work among the Sawi tribe. The Sawi were known to be cannibalistic headhunters.

Richardson labored to show the villagers a way that they could comprehend Jesus from the Bible, but the cultural barriers to understanding and accepting this teaching seemed impossible until an unlikely event brought Jesus into immediate relevance for the Sawi.

Missionary historian Ruth A. Tucker writes:

As he learned the language and lived with the people, he became more aware of the gulf that separated his Christian worldview from the worldview of the Sawi: "In their eyes, Judas, not Jesus, was the hero of the Gospels, Jesus was just the dupe to be laughed at." Eventually Richardson discovered what he referred to as a Redemptive Analogy that pointed to the Incarnate Christ far more clearly than any biblical passage alone could have done. What he discovered was the Sawi concept of the Peace Child.

Three tribal villages were in constant battle at this time. The Richardsons were considering leaving the area, so to keep them there, the Sawi people in the embattled villages came together and decided that they would make peace with their hated enemies. Ceremonies commenced that saw young children being exchanged between opposing villages. One man in particular ran toward his enemy's camp and literally gave his son to his hated foe. Observing this, Richardson wrote: "if a man would actually give his own son to his enemies, that man could be trusted!" From this rare picture came the analogy of God's sacrifice of his own Son. The Sawi began to understand the teaching of the incarnation of Christ in the Gospel after Richardson explained God to them in this way.

Following this event many villagers converted to Christianity, a translation of the New Testament in Sawi was published, and nearly 2,500 Sawi patients were treated by Carol.
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I love to think of this season as a time when we anticipate the coming of the Peace Child. How can I bring the spirit of the Peace Child to those around me each day? Definitely something to ponder.

First Vietnamese-American elected to US House

It's very cool that this happened the same year that we brought Zeke home. Also cool? The fact that this new representative and Zeke share a name: Anh. Click here to read the article.

Pappy hats, movies, etc.

So, we got this cute photo of Zeke in a hat from Children's Place today at the mall. I was getting ready to check out and wanted to make sure the hat would fit. While he was trying it on, Brad took this photo. It's a long story but I ended up not buying this hat and now I regret it. I'm going back to the store this coming week to get it.

With relatives visiting, we've had the chance to sneak off to a few movies lately. We saw Burn After Reading, a Coen Brothers film. It was ok, definitely more like Fargo and less like O Brother. We saw W back in October. Josh Brolin was good but everyone was just a caricature of the people they were playing. And I've seen Twilight. Twice. Fortunately, I had read lots of reviews, mostly reviews that were fairly negative. So, my expectations were super low. But I thought it was great!!! Loved it! In fact, I want to see it again! I'm finishing up the third book in the series and can't wait to devour Breaking Dawn. If you haven't started reading Twilight yet, you're really missing out. My sister went to see the movie with me and I was really thinking she might not like the film or even the story (this is not her usual cup of tea) but SHE DID!! She liked it quite a lot and is planning to read the book. Brad also went with me to see it and HE liked it. He summed it up this way: Everyone wants to love and be loved in such a passionate way. Right on. So, check it out.

More winter pics and a new family member!

First, the new family member: Maybelle. She's my sister's new pug. What a cutie pie!


More recent Zeke cuteness:

Les images d'hiver, chez nous (Images of winter at our house)

Weed's visit, Thanksgiving and Other Photos