My Overthinking

Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption

Links Worth Lingering On

Since I know not all ya’ll track my postings on Facebook (though you should since I advocate there for some super precious kiddos and share some nonsense sprinkled in with a few good links and such), thought I’d devote a whole post to some links I’ve shared that are worth checking out…or lingering on for the purpose of alliteration.
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As someone who often hears, “Wow! You have your hands full!” This article “To the Mother With Only One Child” is well worth the read. One or Ten, mothering is not easy.

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This article in China Daily starts off with this:

An ancient Chinese philosopher described the perfect society as “living in harmony, treating others as family… there is love and caring for the elderly … nourishment and education for children … kindness and compassion for widows, orphans, the disabled and the sick”. Historically, such harmony is the standard of happiness. But now, after vast economic development, are the Chinese people happy?

Read about the Chinese’s 4 most pressing social concerns.

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Patty Chang Anker reads her manuscript “The Cookie Jar” at NYC’s Listen to Your Mother. Lovin’ her quote from one of her daughters – “Forever mom is forever. That’s her job.”

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Matthew Salesses, adult adoptee, shares his thoughts about building a family when you were adopted yourself.
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A beautiful post from Sara Hagerty pointing us to the God who remembers. Grab a cup of pumpkin latte and sit down for a read and a challenge.
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Got a link worth sharing? Feel free to link it up. I’m always game for a good read–especially if I’ve got a pumpkin latte in hand.

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This is our everyday

“Is she from China or Japan?”

That was the question I heard a boy ask Ashlyn this morning as waited for the school doors to open.

“She’s from China.” That’s all she said. No bells and whistles, just a simple answer for what she sees as something quite simple. She’s her sister. She was adopted from China. And, yes, she’s a monkey. That’s pretty much how Ashlyn sees it.

I guest posted today over on Shawn Smucker’s blog about a conversation I had with Ashlyn on Wednesday morning in the same place we stood today. I have a feeling those 10 minutes everyday standing outside Barkley School this year will become moments I remember. Maybe she will too.

From Wednesday….

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Just another morning. We were leaning against the warm brick wall of the school, feeling the morning sun on our legs. Kids were filing into the school yard and filling the blacktop with color and conversation as we waited for the doors to open and another day of school to start.

Lydia poked at a dead bug on the ground with a stick, drawing lots of attention from curious kids who gathered around her and bent down to see the ickyness. We smiled while we watched her enjoy the bug and all the reactions of the big kids.

“Everybody in my class loves Lydia,” Ashlyn told me.

“Yeah, big kids usually like little kids like that,” I said, picturing many class parties we had been to with kids all fighting to get close to Lydia.

“They ask me a lot of questions about her.”

“They do? Like what?”

“Mostly questions about China.”

“Yeah? What kinds of questions?”

“Like what a orphanage is like, if there are any other orphans in China….”

“Hmm. Do you tell them there are millions of orphans in China?”

“Yeah.” She said quietly. “Why aren’t there orphanages here?”

“You know, babe. We don’t have orphanages here for kids really anymore. We have foster care where kids who don’t have parents or kids who need homes live with families and then some get adopted. You know, like your cousin. He was adopted from foster care.”

“He was?”

“Yeah, remember? He doesn’t look different, and he was born right around here. But, he was adopted.”

“Oh…cool.”

The doors opened. I got waves from all and a hug from one at least as they rushed to get in the doors. “Have a good day – I love you,” I called out to Ashlyn still in earshot.

“I love you too. Lydia, Lydia, bye, I love you!”

“Bye!” she yells as she breaks from her science lab on the blacktop. And, then I scooped her up and walked home. Just another morning.

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China’s Left Behind Children

I saw this image today and it made me catch my breath. The image is one in a series that has been titled “Little brother wants to sleep.” The image caused such a stir that the phrase “little brother wants to sleep” can no longer yield results in the major Chinese online search engines; discussions around the images got too political.

The little girl is Long Zhanghuan, a 10 year old girl from a small village in Fenghuang county in Central China’s Hunan Province. She is holding her 2 year old brother Zhang Junjie. Everyday, she somehow manages to walk for 40 minutes to go to school for the day with her baby brother in tow.

She and her brother and her cousins being raised by their grandparents are 8 of the 58 million children left behind in China, children left with relatives or left alone as their parents go look for work in cities so they can provide for their families.

58 million children like Zhanghuan. That’s 2/3 the number of total children in the United States.

I’m encouraged to read that some Chinese nationals have seen the need and are rising up to action. In some areas, migrant workers-turned leaders have developed grassroots worker-support centers in the heart of migrant worker neighborhoods that help workers maintain relationships with their children left behind in addition to serving them in other ways.

I just keep replaying the number in my head – 2/3 of the total number of children in all of the United States. I ache for them tonight. I wish I could pray for them each by name. Even if I could mention 25 names in prayer a minute and did that for 8 hours straight everyday, it would take about 13 years to pray for every child once. It’s that many children.

I just tucked my children into bed. Made sure their teeth were brushed. Heard about the book one chose from the school library today. Heard about the game they will play together tomorrow. Prayed with each one. Laid out their clothes for tomorrow morning. And packed their lunches and morning snacks.

58 million children left behind in China while their parents strive to do all they can to provide for them.

So thankful that He knows the name of every one of them and the parents who are giving everything to try to do right for them so they can have a future better than the one they had.

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Together for Adoption 2012

All cozied up in bed, it’s a little crazy to think that it was only earlier today (okay…way earlier since we woke at 5am to get to the airport) that we were in Atlanta.

2 full days at the Together for Adoption conference. And, I mean full. 
Breakout sessions rich with encouragement for families and a challenge for those who serve families. I’m still mulling over the session we went to on transracial adoption. 
Lots of connecting–meeting some new friends (like sweet Meredith with a heart bursting for orphans in China and Samantha with such a generous and willing servant heart), reconnecting with friends I’d like to meet for coffee once a week (Ashley and Stefanie, we could totally meet half way), and having the opportunity to talk ministry and how to serve and live out that love we got in so many different ways. I am amazed at how people can so creatively use their giftedness to serve. 
6 main sessions chock full of gospel truth. Hundreds of people in that sanctuary, and I’m convinced each one left that room after each session with a deeper understanding of what it means to be a son and daughter of God. They had to. They brought it on–gospel and more gospel. And, I’m so thankful that never gets old. 
We were there–in a suite, mind you–because of some serious cheerleaders and efforts to vote for us. And, as silly as those contests are, we’re so grateful because it was such a great weekend. Being there together as a couple…what a privilege.
I started to write out more about things I keep coming back to in my head and heart from the words shared these last few days, but I just deleted them all away. I don’t need to spell it out here in list form–it’s going to impact my life and what I choose to put out here publicly going forward. 
Until then, I’m surrendering to the Temperpedic.

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