There are only three days left. Three very short days. On the fourth day, I will put Soccer Boy on a plane back to his country, perhaps never to see him again. I pray that I will, but I might not. And that’s okay. It takes my breath with pain. But it’s okay. Because it’s…
Monthly Archives: July 2013
Family Visits
This week I had the joy of introducing my best friend Jocelyn to Soccer Boy. It was a sacrifice in many ways, as her grandfather passed away suddenly a week ago, and this trip had to be squeezed in between two other ones. But it was so important to me. You see, this friend isn’t…
Photographing History
I’ve taken a few days off of blogging to prioritize a few things that needed to be completed in the waning days of Soccer Boy’s time with us. Selecting clothes, buying gifts for his friends and caretakers, organizing pictures. So many pictures. Almost 2000 of them. I really do hope that each one is worth…
Losing the Loops
The boys have both realized that this time is almost over. For both of them, it was seeing the affirmation paper chain, once strung so gaily from one bedpost to the other, now hanging forlornly straight down. They count the loops each day. Taking one off becomes a slower process. We all count our moments…
Wordless Families
In the past three weeks, a family has been created. But it’s not the one I expected. I have been so small-minded in my definitions and my options. I thought that this would be an either-or choice: either Soccer Boy is my son, or he is a host child I was called to minister to…
Reorienting the World
I just spent three wonderful days away in a little bubble. No technology, no responsibilities, no distractions. Just me, my friend Stephanie, our three boys, and a campsite. No plans besides feeding hungry bellies when they grumbled. We knit. We talked. We watched boys be boys. The hatchet was overused and the dirt was ever-present,…
The Things I Know
This last week has been difficult. A different difficult from the first week. Still the testing. But a settled-in, testing-of-weak-spots testing. And mostly a testing of Little Man. Settling in means sibling bickering and hitting and sticking out of tongues and all sorts of nine year old drama. But there has also been rich reward. …
Happy Birthday, Little Man
Little Man’s birthday was today. He turned nine. I know that’s not a “big” birthday to most people, but to me it was huge. For the past several years, I’ve been struggling with the fear that my son would not be here for his ninth birthday. I don’t have any specific reason I felt that…
Stranger Sense of Belonging
The last two days, I’ve gotten little tastes of what it might be like to see the world from Soccer Boy’s perspective. Yesterday, we spent some time with some chaperones and today we had a picnic for several hosting families. In both places, there was a lot of foreign language flying around. I felt out…
We Belong in a Zoo!!
Today, we went to the zoo! We were blessed with some free passes and were able to bring some friends. My dear friend Stephanie and her two children (plus one extra friend) all headed out on a stormy day to see some animals. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and Soccer Boy was…
