Choosing to SEE

Most of you already know the story of the Chapman family.  Mary Beth Chapman wrote a book chronicling their journey of grief.  I followed Mary Beth's blog for a year or so after Maria's death and felt that I could not read the book when it was released.  The death of a child is one of the most unbearable things anyone can imagine, and I knew from the blog just how much this family hurt over this devastating loss. When the book was released, Mom was sick, and there was no way I could read through this awful journey. 

However, I finally read the book, and I can only say "Wow!"  I saw Mary Beth speak a few months ago and knew from her blog posts that her sense of humor is quite nutty and endearing.  She is much funnier in person. In her book she shares from the raw journey of unbearable loss and with complete openness about her own struggles.  She also leaves the reader laughing out loud.  This is the kind of book that anyone can read, a book that will make you laugh and cry and most of all fall in love with this zany family where one silly little girl landed and then left much too soon.

Picturing October with the Pages

Lots of pictures for this post (36- that's a roll of film!), but I will start with the news.

Mom is home from the hospital. YAY!  She arrived at home on Thursday evening.  I have not seen her all week because I have been fighting a vicious cold and going to bed after work everyday.  She does, however, sound much better today. When I talked with her on Wednesday, she sounded like she was half asleep and told me that her medication made it appear that the walls were closing in and that she felt like she could put her arm right through a print on the wall in front of her. I teased about the 60's style hallucinogens she was taking. You have to laugh, right?

I have torn through two books in the last couple of weeks.  Bound by Love by Sharon Droeger tells the story of Lily Nie.  Lily founded the agency we used to adopt Wyatt and Julia and grew up during the cultural revolution in China.  The book is a compelling page turner, and Wyatt and Julia are listed among the children in the back.  They were quite excited to find their names in a published book.  If you should read this book and look for their names, you will find Julia in group 777 and Wyatt in group 1362.
One thing that was striking about this book was that Lily kept saying, "we will do everything we can and then leave it up to God."  As I recall that was my motto during Wyatt's grueling adoption process.

I also finished The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.  Another page turner, this memoir reveals the bizarre situation in which Jeannette and her siblings grew up.  With an alcoholic dad and a mom who tried to make them believe that starving and living without indoor heat or plumbing was an adventure, the story unfolds to reveal determination to triumph over such a difficult (big understatement) childhood.

The pictures share the rest of October to this point.
1. Homecoming came on a beautiful day.  Zach does not usually get to bring home any of his football uniform, but they had the jerseys for school that day.

2. Andy arrived home from Alaska just in time (literally) for a field trip to the pumpkin patch with Julia.  She and her best friend Larissa left little time to hang out with the parents, but we enjoyed chatting with Larissa's parents...must have a play date soon.

3.  The third time is the charm in choosing the pumpkin.

4. Julia and me

 5. Homecoming that night was a big improvement over last year when it poured.  It was beautiful this year. Savannah's field hockey team was ready for the parade.

6.  Wyatt awaited the parade with some of Julia's friends.  Julia missed the parade for gymnastics and joined us later in the game.

7. The seniors did the best float - loved the Up theme.

8.Zach after the game.  He did not get to play in the homecoming game but did make it into three varsity games this season.

 9.  Wyatt had hill billy night at AWANA and came up with his costume himself for the most part.

 10.  We saw baby Regan get dedicated at church, and she behaved nicely for the event.

11.  Everyone except Zachary enjoyed Halloween at the zoo.  Wyatt dressed as Dan from Bakugan, and Julia was Silvermist from Tinkerbell.

12.  My favorite characters at the zoo.

13.  We took the kids for a family day at the pumpkin patch on Zach's birthday.  It was hot and crowded and not exactly fun, but we did bring home a pumpkin.

14. silliness at the pumpkin patch

15. When we celebrated Zach's birthday, Tara and I got photographic proof that we can touch our noses with our tongues...well, the photographer must have missed my talent in this one.

16. Savannah enjoyed her field hockey banquet.  She received a very nice jacket with her name embroidered on it for her participation.  Wyatt went through a $10.00 game card in no time.  Wyatt!!

17.  We spent a family day at the park where I attempted to get good pictures of the kids since I no longer buy school pictures...thinking Christmas cards here.  Andy declared it the best thing we've done as a family in a long time.

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20. Andy jumped out of a tree and then this happened.  It is a good thing he has a sense of humor and didn't get hurt.  (later, he ran down a hill with the kids, and his knee was not at all pleased about that)

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23.  Zach was less than cooperative, so we will be seeing a professional photographer soon.

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27.  loved this shot

28. He belongs in a movie, don't you think?

29.  Julia let me put her hair in ponytails...may be the last time as she is pretty adamant about doing her hair herself.

30. We went to a fall festival at the church where Wyatt attends AWANA, and Julia ran into some friends.

31. We saw Scooby Doo and enjoyed a hayride through the woods.

32.  more football -Zach was one of the two captians chosen for the last freshman football game.  He is respected by his coaches and teamates and a great encourager.

33.  Andy and I both made it to Wyatt's Halloween pirate-themed Halloween party at school.

34.  They played a game where they wrapped each other up as mummies.  The toilet paper kept breaking, so none were very successful.

35. I've never seen kids so anxious to clean up.

36.  Wyatt and his teacher -aren't they cute?

Summer Fun

Julia won the crazy hair contest last week at gymnastics with her orange hair spray and crazy ponytails (her idea).  She got to choose this week's contest and decided on crazy toenails.  If you click on the picture, you might be able to see that her name is spelled out on the toes of her right foot.

In other news we caved and have someone coming to look at the dishwasher next week.  Since we have no idea how old the dishwasher is, we are hoping it is worth repairing.

While we could use some appliance mercy here, one thing I have been doing avidly this summer is reading.  If you have a heart for orphans, or if you need a heart, I highly recommend The Boy from Baby House 10.  It tells the story of a boy who almost got lost in unthinkable circumstances in Russian institutions.

If you are fan of Little Women, I recommend the new biography on Louisa May Alcott written by Harriet Riesen.  It is well-written and well-researched, and for an English major like myself the added bonus of learning more about Emerson, Hawthorne and Thoreau in regard to their relationships with the Alcott family is worth exploring. 

Burned Alive is a harrowing true story of a woman whose brother in law poured gasoline over her and set her on fire.  It was to be an honor killing for her family, but she survived.  Her story is amazing and a glimpse into a culture we can't begin to understand. 

Three Names of Me - a book review

Summertime at our house includes trips to the library, and the kids were quick to get that started this year.  We do not let them visit the public library during the school year because it just gets too confusing with school library books and everything else we have to do.  However, Julia's school requires a very intense summer reading program (70 hours), so the library in the summer is a must!

Even though it is not yet summer for me, we did visit the library last night, and I just happened to find this book -Three Names of Me by Mary Cummings and illustrated by Lin Wang.  The book is written from the perspective of a child who was adopted from China.  She talks about her three names, the name she does not remember whispered to her by the mother she can't remember, the name given to her by her nannies, and the name she received from her American parents.  I actually read the book in the library before bringing it home and was a little nervous about sharing it with Wyatt and Julia.  I thought it might provoke some questions or discomfort in them as they would come face to face with the fact that they have a history that none of us knows.  However, Julia loved the book and wanted it read again (she did not want to read it initially).  Wyatt seemed rather unimpressed - no robots, fast cars, or battles - ah, boys.  I loved the book and thought the simple text explored family, heritage, and the simple things in life quite eloquently, and I found the illustrations to be striking as well.  I know that some of my faithful blogging friends are the parents of Chinese children, so I felt compelled to share this little jewel of a book  - very simple and yet poignant.

This reminds me of how I tore through Amy Tan's works before traveling to China for Julia.  She is an impressive author, and I hope to revisit her works this summer.  Andy gets to travel to China this summer...how I wish the rest of us could go too.