My Overthinking

Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption

We Are Grafted In…Still

On August 13th of last year, I blogged about a new venture, a website we felt called to start. We bought the domain name and paid for 1 year of hosting in faith. 1 year. That’s all we could commit to. We wondered if it would catch on, hoped it would, and prayed it would somehow over cyberspace serve families considering adoption, in the process of adopting, parenting adopted children, interested in orphan care, or supporting others who have adopted. Families like us. I needed a place like We Are Grafted In.

We set out to post pieces from varied contributors from all different neighborhoods of the adoption community unified by the God-given purpose of sharing, encouraging, fellowshipping, preparing while being real. No sugar coating for sugar coating’s sake. Real. Honest. Vulnerable. With that commitment have come some pretty posts and some not-so-pretty posts. Some of the posts have made me laugh out loud with joy, and some have made my heart ache. But, in each, there is hope. Because as one author so poignantly put it, “I am selfish. He gives generously. I get agitated. He is slow to anger. I am confused and clueless. He is perfect wisdom. I make mistakes. His grace covers me. My love is weak. His love is oh-so-strong. And because I am His, I have access to all that He is.”

It’s work, a lot of work, work that I confess I sometimes do on late nights without joy, wondering why I’m doing this at all. But, I love WAGI. Working with Stephanie as we prayerfully consider posts and connecting with so many from the adoption community as we email back and forth with bios and pictures and permissions. Reading their words. Meeting their children. Encouraging families who are struggling. Helping a hurting mom know she is not alone. Hearing from an author that someone emailed her to tell her that because of her post, God moved in their hearts to pursue adoption. Celebrating new children being grafted into families. Loving what God loves. That’s joy.

We have committed to another year of WAGI, believing that God is blessing the ministry there–a ministry that exists online as a simple website that has grown into personal relationships and connections between authors and readers and families. But, I need to say now that I am prepared to let it go at any moment if it no longer brings glory to God or if God simply makes it clear that the season of that ministry is over. I am okay with that. I do not hold WAGI so close that the ministry itself has become greater than my Lord.

I’m thanking God for the ministry He has given to me right now, and we’re giving it to Him with our hands open to use it as He will.

Head on over to read the 1 year anniversary post on the We Are Grafted In site, a repost of my very first post, one that still gets me pretty excited when I read the words. And, also head on over to this post for a little giveaway. No birthdays are complete without a gift or two. And, keep your eyes open. The most read posts of the year may just be showing up again for a second showing.


wearegraftedin




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My eyes hurt

Mark’s sleeping in the backyard…in a tent…with 3 children…who will kick him and roll over him and wake him several times throughout the evening no doubt.

I’m inside and should be sleeping myself while the wee one is totally out and I’ve got a big ole temperpedic to myself. Instead, I’m sitting in front of my MacBook looking through thousands of pictures, looking for the perfect ones for Drew’s kindergarten book.

School is sneaking up on me here. I’ve gotta get on this. I did it for the older two, and I will not let it go for Drew. He’s getting this book if it means I’ve gotta pull some all nighters and pay 4x what I should for overnight shipping. He’s getting one. 

I’ve gone through pictures from his first year. Then, I started going backwards and worked my way back from present day. I’ve still got 3 years of pictures to go through. But, my eyes hurt now. And, all these pictures are starting to look the same…

I’m wondering how many goofy pictures I’ve taken of this kid.
Too many to get through tonight.

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Perhaps we need to talk a little more about things

Free family movies in the summer rule. But, $1 family movies are even better. It’s not that I’m wanting to spend $4 to see the same movies we could see for free. But, that $1 has kept the large groups of kids in matching tees who don’t have enough adults to chaperone them away. And, as much as I love kids, I confess that I’m glad to not have to do the “come-on-kids-hurry-up-we-gotta-get-a-seat!!!!” routine 30 minutes before the show. Instead, we arrive 10 minutes early, walk leisurely to the correct theater, and this mommy and her children are all very happy. We are so civilized thanks to those $1 tickets.

I’m giving a standing ovation to Ramona and Beezus which we saw this week–the best family movie I’ve seen in a long time. Genuinely entertaining and so many good things to talk about with the kids afterwards. And, I have the movie to thank for keeping my children busy this afternoon making the longest drawing ever. The super long drawing of a science museum being visited by Harry Potter with an aquarium with pixie hollow also secretly looking at the same tank of fish is a masterpiece.
Last night as we did the “come-on-kids-hurry-up-and-eat-we-gotta-get-Drew-to-his-swim-class” routine, Ashlyn asked me out of the blue, “What if our dad lost his job?” They gasped as I told them that he had lost his job 3 years ago but he quickly got another job. They went on to express their regrets that Daddy didn’t take the opportunity to get a “cool” job like a police officer, fireman, or mailman. Is it the uniform that makes them find these jobs cool? And, there I was, feeling like I had to defend my husband to…our children. “Well, guys, he has to work very hard to make enough money for us. You know, having 4 kids costs a lot of money!” At which point, Ashlyn looked straight into my eyes and said, “You had to pay for us too?”
And, I knew exactly what she was talking about. Somehow, my immediate response about how it takes a lot of money to pay for food and electricity and school supplies (anyone else feeling like they need to take out a home equity loan for school supplies?) and clothes, etc. just doesn’t seem enough.
Um…looks like we have some more talking to do about adoption. 

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Sunday Snapshot: {Reunion}

There’s something so fun about taking the girls away–just the 3 of us–to stay in a special room with two beds and our own bathroom (oh, and air conditioning too). That in an of itself would be enough. Add in a bunch of other families who have come together through this thing called adoption, and things just got sweeter.

While the Raudenbush boys hit Lost River Cavern and learned about stalagmites and did other boy stuff like a Lego store visit, a diner dinner, and get introduced to Harry Potter, the girls headed up North a bit with a bag of camp snacks (aka goldfish, poptarts, and M&Ms).
Apparently, my weather channel app was in the dark since the 30% chance of rain translated into total. complete. downpour. So, no pontoon boat rides. And, no bonfire. But, we managed to find things to keep us busy inside.

(some more creative than others)
But, rain was not surprising to the One who sent that rain. And, all afternoon, conversations were buzzing and connections were made and little dark haired children were running all over the place with some blondies like mine mixed in. And, it was pretty neat to watch.
(Bouncing balls through stair openings is oh-so-much-more fun when you can do it with one of your Baoji sisters.)
As Lydia slept in her little portable crib in the corner, I snuggled with Ashlyn in her bed and we read a chapter of her fairy chapter book by flashlight and ate M&Ms. 
“Can we come here again next year?” Ashlyn asked. “We’ll try, sure.” Pause for some crunching. “Do you ever feel strange that you are not Chinese like most of the kids here?” She thought a minute, “Sometimes, but it’s fun. I like it.” And, that was that. 
After some (wet) golfing this morning, we had a little devotional time together which started out with some piano playing by two of the Chinese girls. 
When everyone applauded for their second song, Ashlyn leaned over and whispered, “Their first song was SO good. Maybe next year, I can get up and do some Chinese dancing I learn in my class this year.” 

Sunday Snapshot

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