The Art of Distraction

Li'l Empress very often struggles to express difficult or negative emotions with her words, resorting instead to copious amounts of tears, feelings of anxiety and rejection, and a bit of a "poor me" complex. We've been getting some great help and tools to equip her to grow in this area of her emotional development. And in the process, I have realized that some of my parenting tools are a tad stale. I also have discovered that I don't use "distraction" as a tool often enough. 

Earlier this week, she had come to The Boss and I with a very minor offense and was on the cusp of turning it into a full-blown melt down in which she was being wronged in the very wrongest possible way, from which she would likely never, ever, ever recover. Ever.

Ummm. Yeah. Okay. Really?

In a flash of brilliance that I can ONLY attribute to the grace of the LORD ALMIGHTY (Cuz I was feeling far less than brilliant. Ya feel me?) I asked The Boss to stop his job hunting for a moment and do an image search for the infamous Grumpy Cat. Just that quick change of focus and the resulting images was enough to completely overcome any offense she was nursing.

So I had her pick her favorite, grumpiest face. I explained that she spends too much of her day looking like that over the littlest stuff. That THAT face should be reserved for really big stuff. We went on to have a fairly hilarious discussion of what things warrant THAT face. And I had The Boss print her favorite picture of the crabby kitty.

Then I cut apart the pizza box from dinner.

(Don't judge. I ran errands and grocery shopped all afternoon.

You want that I should cook TOO?)

I pulled out the markers, the glue, and the scissors.

There was cutting, gluing, and affixing to an old paint stick.

Took me five minutes.

credit: found on the internet

This side says, "A little LESS of THIS, PLEASE."

And this side says, "A little MORE of THIS, PLEASE."

I've used our new sign about four times in the last two days. She might have to work really hard to fight the smile that the feline provokes in her. But at least she's not fighting with her sister. Or fighting more tears. Oh, thankyoujesus.

So what funny or distracting parenting tool have you found to change the mood in your home? Fill me in here in the comments or write your own story of summer drama and creative interventions and share the link. I'll be sure to come by and learn from your flashes of brilliance, too!

DIY: Shabby Chic Photo Gallery

LadyBug and I have been working (albeit at a decrepit, arthritic snail's pace, I admit) on some inexpensive re-do's in her room to update it and to reflect more of her love of all things vintage. Last fall, she and The Boss turned a solid white, kind of boring bookshelf into great multi-purpose storage for her room.

The first pass of sanding it down.

The finished product.

Pretty, functional and a loooong way toward finishing off her desired look. But we both knew we just weren't done yet. Curtains to replace her former little-girl-esque sheers are STILL not hung. Updated wall hangings have been added slowly over the last 8 months. Storage that is both pretty and functional had already been tackled last summer. I love watching her sense of style unfold and taking our time with this room is proving to be a great way to get to know her better.

There was a huge blank space on the wall above her bed that we just kept meaning to get to. Now that summer is here and both she and The Boss have some extra time on their hands, I put an idea out there for her to consider. She got on board really quickly and we got down to it. I had first seen a similar project using big huge French doors and black and white photos in a DIY design magazines and used the idea of it to inspire LadyBug's creativity after she and I saw something similar on our new favorite DIY show.

My great friend came through with FREE frames to get us going.

What a cutie pie!!!!

After The Boss safely removed all the glass and cleaned up the splinters,

LadyBug painted them both with a light coat of creamy off-white latex

that we already had in storage.

Then LadyBug sanded very strategically and sparingly

to achieve that vintage look she loves.

Shaggy's girlfriend came up for the afternoon

to join in the creative process.

Incidentally, she has her own blog. You should check it out!

Your tummy will thank me, I promise.

The girls flipped the dried and sanded frames over

and used a staple gun to attach chicken wire to the back.

Even BabyBlue Eyes got in on the action.

They used hammers to sink a few of the stubborn staples

and to nestle the ends of the wire more tightly against the frames.

These girls aren't just a pair of pretty faces, my friends!

The Boss hung the frames on the empty wall.

And LadyBug got busy with the clothespins

and cute pics of her BFF's that she's been saving for a while now.

Once she's home from her youth retreat, I'm pretty sure that space

will fill up fast with quotes, more pictures, and other momentos.

I can't wait!

I love the finished look.

It completes that space so perfectly

and is so complementary to the already-existing

cottage-y feel her room has.

BEST of all? This great project only cost us

LESS THAN $20 with materials to spare!!

Now if I could just figure out the curtain dilemma.
But that's another post for another day, my friends.

SO. What crafty things are you doing this summer? I'd love to hear about it in the comments. Feel free to even leave a link and I'll come on by.

Red Skies by Kay Bratt

I've just finished a third novel from Kay Bratt's series called Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters. This particular story is a "stand alone" meant to be read with or without connecting to the whole series. But I promise you, once you delve into the life of Benfu and his unique little family, you will WANT to read the whole series.

I'll be digging in to book three, Bitter Winds, this weekend as part of the Advanced Reader team and I can't wait. The kids might have to fend for themselves while I visit with Benfu and Callie and The Boss snores off the remainder of his jet lag (more on that next week!)

Here's what I had to say about Red Skies (which is currently only available in e-reader form - click on the title link). I could have said so much more, but I can't and won't spoil it for anyone else. Trust me - you really need to read this book!

The Scavenger's Daughters series has completely captivated me. I have just finished Red Skies and I think Mari is my favorite of all of Benfu's girls (at least until I read the next one!). Her strength, her determination, her ability to see with her heart and not just her eyes - all of it made for a fabulous story of a young woman overcoming what Chinese society would have branded a permanent disability (that being the condition of being an orphan). The parallel story of An Ni and Mei's journey to each other and then to their point of intersecting with Mari was both devastating and yet incredibly hopeful all at the same time.

I think Kay did a really great job making Beijing teem with life and with building such believable personality and depth of character into the main characters. My favorite scene was when Benfu and Calla Lilly arrived in the midst of Mari's distress. It made me sigh with relief, almost as if I was with Mari in that little apartment, waiting for their rock-solid support and age-old wisdom. That's how believable these story lines are. 

As a momma to a former orphan of Beijing, I was cheering Mari, An Ni, and Mei on in my heart - it's only too easy to recognize that "there but for the Grace of God" could have been my child. My prayer is that Kay's books go far and wide toward raising awareness of the very difficult issues of orphan care in China and the often-forgotten crisis of street children. 

**I received this book in exchange for an honest review

Come on back later for my review on Bitter Winds, and for some pretty awesome KIDS' books that I've had the privilege of reviewing recently. There's even a sweet give-away for one of them!!

Leftovers and the Frugal Re-do

I love to cook. I've shared tons of great recipes here that I've gleaned from friends, family, and other sources. You've shared some of your favorites with me. But one thing about cooking that I haven't tackled much here on the blog is the topic of leftovers. It seems to me that the word brings up a "love them" or "hate them response" among my friends. I'm in the "love them" camp. Because, really, as much as I love to cook, I don't love to do it from scratch every single night. Nor do I really have the time in our busy calendar to do so. To help keep things fresh and interesting, I have a couple ways I like to deal with leftovers.

One of the best things we do here at The Gang's house is our "Leftover Smorgasbord." It's exactly what it sounds like. I empty the fridge (and sometimes the freezer) of the smidges of this and the dribs and drabs of that. I put them all out on the counter and the gang lines up to pick a couple portions to fill their plates. It's kind of a "First come, first served" night and the slowpokes around here have learned that sometimes it's a good thing to live life at a slightly faster pace. Heh.

But the other thing I love about leftovers is a challenge of a complete re-do. I enjoy taking what I have, be it from the fridge, the freezer or some additions from the pantry to make a whole new meal that fills The Gang's bellies and makes them all sigh in satisfaction. This post is to walk you through the most recent, most successful re-do that I did this week.

I made a simple, but amazing pork roast a couple Sundays ago. Man, it was juicy, tender, and full of flavor. Literally ALL I did to prep it was lay it on a bed of thick cut onion chunks in a well-sprayed crock pot. Then I sprinkled the top with garlic powder and pepper. That's IT. This thing was HUGE, so while it was slow-cooking, I was already starting to dream up meals to make with the leftover meat. The pleasant surprise was that I also had at least 4 cups of thick, flavorful pork broth to use. I asked around on F@cebook and got some good ideas for using the broth. Here's what I settled on!

I started by thawing out the 4 c. of rich broth.

To that, I added 4 c. of water, a touch of salt and some olive oil.

(That's my new thing, olive oil in my rice water instead of butter.

Gotta get my healthy fats where I can!)

To the boiling broth & water, I added 2 c. white rice

and 2 c. brown rice. I let it simmer low and slow

until all the liquid was absorbed and the rice

was light and fluffy.

(Truthfully, I could have left it on a tad longer

as some of the brown rice was a little tough.)

Once the rice was up and running, I started a big bowl of these.

You don't HAVE to buy the fancy kind.

But that's how we roll in my kitchen!

Ha.

As the rice cooked and my fancy veggies steamed,

I chopped the freshly thawed leftover pork.

It was really cold but my new Tigger mug

kept my fingers from suffering too much.

The awesome thing about this meal, which by now I think you might have guessed to be Pork Fried Rice, is that I prepped all the ingredients early in the morning while we watched Fox News and hung out in our jammies with our coffee and pancakes.

   

Later, when it was time to assemble the whole kit and kaboodle,

I made sure my griddles were well prepared with this.

I have found this little bottle to be my secret

weapon for AWESOME fried rice.

I forgot to get pics of the assembling,

as there was SO much going on in the kitchen

& immediate surrounding areas at that moment.

Shaggy decided to go from THIS

to THIS!

At the very same time that The Boss and I

were warming the meat on one griddle,

stir-frying the rice on another, and warming the veggies in the microwave.

When everything was sufficiently heated through and blended well 

on our huge griddle and Shaggy was all cleaned up from The Big Shaving,

 I made two wells in the rice and poured in 6 eggs that I'd scrambled lightly.

We let the eggs set up and didn't incorporate them into the rice

until they were almost cooked through.

The Boss gave the whole batch one more big toss around

and brought it to the table. Doesn't that look YUMMY?! 

Everyone had a ball trying the chopsticks that Shaggy

brought home from his trip to Cambodia.

By the end of the meal, both Li'l Empress

and Mei Mei were quite proficient.

But everyone decided that the Congo Bars for dessert

were best eaten with our fingers! YUM.

So, let's make this interactive! You leave a comment with your favorite or most recent leftover re-do. Or with a link to your own blog post like this, sharing a leftover re-do. I'll come by and visit. If you aren't a blogger, share this link on Facebook and tag me with your recipe. Let's share our creativity to help beat the winter dinner rut that so many of us battle. If nothing else, you'll have some fun new reading material for the big snow day that most of the East Coast is bound to have tomorrow.

Can't wait to hear from you all!

Miraculous

Like most of the adoption community, I've had the privilege over the last week or so to be praying for little Teresa Bartilinski and her family. It's been a lot of waiting, for them, for those of us loosely connected to them through the red threads of adoption, and for the world who is now watching. The waiting has given me much time to think while praying. Little Teresa's journey to her forever family is miraculous.

Her life since coming home, battle after battle to get some weight on her, to keep her levels stable, to keep her healthy and virus free, to live a normal childhood in the midst of it all. It's all miraculous.

In the midst of it all, our own family was doing some waiting last week. My sweet little nephew, Kilian Edward, was due to make an appearance and when we got the news that labor had begun, the waiting felt intensely difficult. Hours dragged by and I swear that June 19th was the.longest.day.EVER. I was praying and checking my phone incessantly, waiting for something! anything! that would let me know he had safely arrived and that my sister-in-law was recovering well.

The call finally came and the details were sparse at first but really, who cares about details when there's THIS FACE to gaze at instead?!

Later in the week, I finally snuck some time away to talk with my brother and hear all the details that I'd been  wanting to know. And as my brother told Kilian's birth story, I was consumed with gratitude. His entry to our world, to our family, was challenging. Even slightly traumatic - especially for my brother and my sister-in-law. His arrival is miraculous.

Something the doctor said to us early in the process of studying Mei Mei's needs came to mind while my brother was sharing.... the interventions in the early two or three days of Mei Mei's life, before she even made it to the orphanage likely saved her life. Her arrival at the orphanage, her survival despite the harsh conditions under which she spent her first two weeks of life, her overall general good health while we waited to get to her and bring her home. It's all miraculous.

Every single one of these children are such miracles. No matter their birth story. No matter their journey to our homes. No matter the normalcy of their arrivals. Or the trauma they have endured in the getting here. They each are miraculous.

I'm certain that I'm not the only one guilty of forgetting the magnitude of these tiny (and not so tiny!) miracles that walk around our homes, begging for more popsicles, poking their siblings, and leaving dirty socks on the floor. I'm sure that the busy-ness of regular life takes over for all of you as it does for me. And the glory of this calling of parenthood is lost in the grime and the guts of the job. The demands of the daily-ness of it all cloud my vision all too often. The events of this past week have lifted my head and slowed my pace. I'm drinking in these moments more than I did last week. Are you?

While you are joining the rest of us in praying for yet another miracle for sweet little Teresa, stop for a moment and intentionally enjoy the awe of the little miracles in your own home. However they got to your arms, it's miraculous. They are miraculous.

To "csmith"

Thank you for reading and commenting, "csmith." I have no other way to connect with you, as your profile shares no contact information or email address for a more private conversation. So I'm going to address your valid concerns and questions here. The questions you pose are too important to not address, as I do feel very strongly about attachment and bonding and how we choose to facilitate healthy adjustment. Hopefully other readers will also glean from the conversation (albeit a fairly one-sided conversation).

First, I appreciate you reading and following along. I appreciate that you are interested in learning and growing and preparing for your own adoption journey. I hope you have a great community of adoptive parents similar to what I am blessed to have. The sharing and learning that I've enjoyed with those folks has equipped me and encouraged me more than I will ever be able to articulate.

Second, with regard to your inquiry about our homecoming and settling in: I didn't take offense, nor did I receive it as criticism. But I do think you are only seeing a tiny glimpse of our life, the tiny portion that I choose to reveal and highlight for the sake of sharing our journey. I would caution you to remember that when reading any blog, there's huge parts of back-story that you aren't reading or may never fully grasp. In light of that, I've been writing here about adoption for a long time now, and I have many, many times addressed the very issues which you are questioning. Both in my own thoughts and in sharing links and writings of other adopters I read and follow.

So let me get to the heart of your inquiry, in my view. You said that the traditional wisdom you've been hearing is to:

"avoid crowds, not let others hold them or feed them, stay home as much as possible, in order to create really good bonding and establish you as the primary caretaker. You guys seem to be out and about a lot, sharing her with others (not that I blame you)."

Let me assure you, with the exception of the very important family day on Sunday that was planned far in advance of our travel plans, we have done just that. I mean, we can't avoid the crowd that IS our gang, but we have been very intentional to pull away, hibernate, and "shrink our world." If you follow either of the links I've just highlighted, you'll see what I'm talking about. Further, if you search the label "attachment" (see the "cloud" on my left sidebar) you will find lots of similar conversations I have had over the years since our wait for Li'l Empress.

By "out and about" I can only assume that you mean our "on the go" day this past Sunday, after only being home for 24 hours. (I'm assuming you cannot mean the actual trip time in China, as staying in the hotel room for hours on end is not a good plan for anyone.)

In point of fact, attending Sunday's events was a calculated risk that we knew would potentially have some hard consequences (and indeed, the fussy cranky baby and grumpy momma were not pleasant the next day!). But we also knew that Sunday was about more than just "The Gang" and our journey. The day was about honoring what God is doing in and through my brother, his wife, and their ministry. In a family as big and busy as ours (both immediate and extended), we often choose the bigger picture of the "wholeness" of family over the immediate of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. This was one of those choices, and I'd make it again.

In the midst of that choice, no one but The Boss and I (with some occasional help from LadyBug) held her or fed her all day long, not even my siblings or my parents. We are very intentional that right now, even the kids are barely participating in her physical care. We let them offer her finger foods and sit with her while she eats but they aren't giving her bottles or spoon-feeding her. It would be a lot easier for sure, especially since she is in "adoration of big sister mode" right now. But we know the link between providing for that basic need and establishing trust and confidence in our ability to meet that need for her so we are soldiering through.... though I must admit, yesterday's dish of yogurt was offered with drooping eyes and very little meaningful interaction on my part. I could.not.wake.up!

To your point that we seem to be "out and about alot," we've actually done no other socializing. We are in full hibernation mode (as we did in the fall of '08 for our first adoption). Yes, we step out to pick up Li'l Empress from school. To run to the grocery store. To get the banking done. And {sob, sigh}to say good-bye to my brother and his family as they load the truck for the big move. But it's limited. It's guarded carefully. For just short trips. And we make a big deal about coming "HOME."

And frankly, I'm loving it! I'm puttering in my kitchen, hanging out on the floor with my baby, folding laundry, and enjoying the absence of regular responsibilities. It's a short season of our life, and I fully intend to enjoy it while I have it.

Except for the necessities of school for four of the kiddoes, work for The Boss, and the older kids' events (to which they drive each other and themselves), we are pulling away from the world for the foreseeable future. It's a little pathetic how much fun I have saying "No" to requests for help or involvement and definitely a little sick how much joy I had on Sunday night when filling out our weekly family calendar. It was so empty! And it is likely to remain so for the rest of the school year.

If I thought I could get away with it longer than that, you can bet your bippy I'd sure try! So, thanks for your inquiry. I hope that you continue to learn and grow in your journey to your child. And I hope that you continue reading here... I'm going to continue to share snippets of our life together and be real about our journey. I hope that you do the same for your own journey.

That's A Wrap!

As the day for our departure to China draws near, I wanted to let you know that our fundraising effort with Wild Olive Tees  will end on Monday, March 25th. That will be the last day that you can purchase a tee, using our family code (WHITNEY407) at the check-out page, as a coupon code in order to  count it toward our total percentage earned for travel expenses.

If you feel led to give one last big shout out (on F@cebook, on your blog, in your networks of friends or among family), you should feel free to do so! It's not too late. You can share the link to our blog, give out our contact info, whatever. If you have questions, please contact me by email or by private message on F@cebook. Just be sure that they note our family code (WHITNEY407)  for the check-out process if they share the info or if they purchase.

We are greatly humbled and appreciative of the many, many folks who have helped us get the word out about these tees and the purposes behind them. We have been huge supporters of the team there at Wild Olive Tees from their inception. We believe in their mission and in their methods, not just for our family but for the amazing ministries that they support and the many, many people that they have helped in the efforts to build strong families. I can promise you, once we are home and find out about friends who are fundraising with them in the future, The Gang will be sportin' the tees!

As we get ready to wrap up this part of our adoption journey, it's really important that you all know how much we appreciate YOU. Your support of this effort, your kindness in sharing the project, and your purchases have NOT gone unnoticed. There's no way that I can posssibly thank each one of you in person, as it turns out that I don't even know some of you. But you came alongside us, heard our hearts, and rolled up your sleeves to help. Thank you for that.

I pray, for each of you that shared the fundraising links, purchased a tee or gave a gift beyond that, that the Lord show Himself richly to you in ways that minister to the needs in your own life. That He uniquely come down and fill the tender places of your heart with His Spirit and flood you with His love and His mercy. For that is surely what you have shown to our family. May His generosity and compassion return your gift to you one thousand times over, as only He can do.

What's a Girl to Do?

It's likely because of the cold weather and biting winds we've had lately but this momma has been CUH.RAY.VING. some good old fashioned comfort food. In particular, as I was compiling my grocery list Tuesday night, I was craving a heaping dish of The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti. But my frugal side could not bring myself to actually fork over the money at my nearby grocery store for such recipe specific ingredients when I wasn't at my normal "discount" store. It was meant to be a quick run out for just the immediate needs. But the craving would not go away.

**Side note - I've let this month's meal planning and regular grocery shopping slide far too long with the crazy grumpy weather we've had so it's my own darned fault, I know. I'm sorry. Moving on.**

When I got home from the quick run, I took stock of the pantry and left-overs to plan Wednesday's dinner

What's a girl to do when she has a big batch of left-over shredded BBQ Chicken and can't face eating one more sandwich from it?

What's a girl to do when she finds a huge R*bberm@id container of whole wheat spaghetti left from Monday night's family feast? (Shaggy has been gone since September and I'm still making spaghetti portions like his carb lovin' self is at the table every time! Oh well. He's coming home Saturday so why bother adjusting portion sizes now?!)

(Yes! I said Saturday! Shaggy is coming home on SATURDAY!!!!!! 

Yay, Yay, YAY!!!!!)

Where was I?

Oh, yeah. The spaghetti. Lots of left over spaghetti.

Here. Right there. See?

Well, the girl gets inspired and turns on the Phillip Phillip tunes while she creates her own knock-off of a yummy family favorite! Who knows? Maybe the girl is about to stumble upon a brand. spankin'. new. family favorite? Crazier things have happened 'round these parts. Here's how it went down. In case you want to try such craziness in your own kitchen!

I warmed both containers up slightly, to loosen them up and make them easier to mix. Please. DON'T forget to cut up the spaghetti in smaller pieces once it's warmed... it'll be a lot easier to blend in with the other ingredients. NOT that that ever happened here. Heh. I'm just sharin' the benefit of my mistakes, er, wisdom.

I put all the meat and long stringy spaghetti in my largest mixing bowl and started adding the yumminess.

For my-sized crowd, I used about 2 cups of cheddar. 

If I'd had two cans of beans, I would have used both.

But one can, rinsed and drained well, went into the bowl.

Followed quickly by these little green bites of scrumptious,

drained lightly, of course.

It was a little thick and hard to mix thoroughly,

so I added a can of this. Low fat, low sodium.

Cuz that's how I roll with the cass-ah-rollz!

It looked like this while I was adding and mixing.

Poured it all into my trusty P@mpered Ch*f

9x13 deep baking dish.

Well-sprayed to avoid sticking and staining.

I slid it into the oven without covering it.

Voila! Dinner was done before 1:00 in the afternoon!

Do you use your timed cooking and delay start

options on your oven?

If you have them, you should use them.

I LOVE them. They have set me free from the madness

that is 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. 'round these parts.

Homework, lessons, chore charts, meltdowns, you know what I mean.

Back when the older kids were really little,

my mentor-mom-friend called them the "witching hours."

Cuz if a momma isn't careful, 

she can get pretty witchy-like.

Yeah. You know what I'm talkin' about!

Anyhoo..... back to our story.

As the madness subsided, I had Li'l Empress and Baby BlueEyes set the table.

LadyBug made the salad and all the fixin's for it.

All that was left was the eatin'. Mmmm, the eatin'.

Oh. Wait. Can't forget that once it cooked all it's yummy goodness

together for about 45 minutes, I added a little bit more of this on the top.

I cooked it for another 10 minutes or so

till it got to this stage of melty, ooey-goodness.

You can see, we almost forgot to snap a picture before digging in!

YUM!

You're welcome.

The Playlist of My Heart

I've mentioned several times in recent weeks that the Lord has been bringing songs to my heart as I've pressed in to pray for our Mei Mei. It was much the same in our journey to Li'l Empress. There are just songs that connect with my spirit in powerful ways and give me a platform from which to pray. I could never narrow the list down to "just" five when I was waiting for Li'l Empress but I did highlight many of the most meaningful songs in this post and again in this one. To this day, each of those songs brings me right back to the very moments that I keyed in on them - they remain weapons in the praying hands of this momma even now.

This journey to Mei Mei has similarly been shaped. The emerging theme of understanding and accepting HIS unconditional and unfailing love has been both humbling and empowering. Turning my understanding into prayers over my daughter has definitely eased the pain and the myopic focus of the wait for her to join our family. I'm excited to share these songs with you all - maybe when you hear one of them, you'll join me in praying for our girl?

Home by Phillip Phillips - From the moment I first heard this song on the American Idol stage, I knew it was going to be one that resonated with the nation. But I also knew that it was going to be a really important song to me while I waited for Mei Mei. I love this kid's style anyway, but man, oh man! The first couple times I played it on my iPod, I could barely see through my tears. I usually get really annoyed by "saturation" in pop-culture music but this one does.not.get.old. for me. It just keeps me trudging forward, focused on my mission to get Mei Mei "HOME!"

Your Love Never Fails by Jesus Culture AND by Newsboys - This is the song that led me to Mei Mei's life verse. The first couple times I heard it, on the Newsboys album, I found myself singing it over and over and when I was home, I'd just keep repeating it on the iPod. Then I got the Jesus Culture cd for Christmas and that whole cd became my soundtrack of January's season of prayer and fasting with our church. I soaked in these words like a sponge, praying for my own emerging understanding of His love and commissioning angel ministry to anoint my daughter's spirit with the sense of deep and unfailing love.

On a side note, in the bridge of this song, the words are "You make all things work together for my good." In the interest of being totally honest, I struggled with those words A.LOT. during this delay we've been working through. I didn't want to sing the words because they didn't "feel" true. I couldn't figure out how this whole thing was going to work to ANYONE's good. But as I was praying through it one afternoon, the Lord reminded me that while it's good and right to be singing these words out as a praise for the prior experiences of His good thus far in my life, it is also imperative that I speak them out as a declaration of truth over the current and coming circumstances I face. That I speak them as a statement of faith in His ability to continue to work all things for my good. And you know what? I don't yet understand what good has or will (or honestly could!) come out of getting to our girl six to 8 weeks later than the original time line. But I don't have to. I just have to trust that His Word is true and He is working it out. Simply cuz He says He is. That's your freebie for the day. You can thank me later.

Kicking and Screaming by Third Day - this is the acoustic version and I just love it!!! But it's no secret to those that know me that I love me some Third Day. A day can hardly go wrong when you've  got Mac Powell and friends crooning you through it! This song is from their recent Miracle album and upon first listen, I felt like it was a great word picture for how I was feeling about my girl. Even before we got the news of this paperwork tangle, when we were (not so patiently!) waiting for our very delayed Letter of Approval, this song was resonating with me. I was fighting for my girl and gearing up for whatever I had to do to get her home. Heh. I had no idea that the fight was about to kick into high gear just a few days later. Now, as I listen to it and the mission for my girl has unfolded more and more, I hear it from Jesus' own heart. This is how much HE loves her. And He's already been fighting for her since the day she was created. I can't even tell you how that makes my heart soar!!!!

Your Love Is Like a River also by Third Day - also from the Miracle album. This song has been a point of healing and refreshment for me for many weeks now. This acoustic version is new to me - I actually prefer the studio version on the album but I love that they did this right out on the streets of Atlanta. Proclaiming HIS Word and letting it take flight over the city. This song has soothed my ruffled feathers while acting as a beacon to point me to HIS purposes and HIS plans for this season of the journey. When I've felt wrangled and roughed up by the "process" or misunderstood by those around me, this song has lifted my eyes to the hills and reminded me that my help comes from HIM. Special thanks to my sister-in-law for the Christmas gift, despite my brother's disdain for my taste in music. What does he know anyway?

How Great Thou Art - the version by Carrie Underwood is on my iPod but I'm sharing the live version of her singing it with Vince Gill. It cannot be compared to any.other. live version. Any.Where. Seriously, it's simply amazing. This old hymn of adoration reminds me daily that I must decrease that He can increase in me and through me. I've always loved this hymn but in this season of my life, the comfort I derive from being reminded that it's not about me is astounding.

Similarly, Great Is Thy Faithfulness is a stand-by in my faith walk. I am sharing this version just because I love this guy's voice and heart of worship. No matter who is singing it, the anchor it provides for my heart to worship my God has stood up well in the long journey to Mei Mei. I fully expect that this and "How Great Thou Art" will again be the lullabies my baby girl hears as I rock her to sleep each night. It was and is perfect for settling the wounded and weary heart, isn't it?

These are only a few of the songs that are running on the playlist of my heart as we inch closer and closer to our girl. The Lord has always ministered to me through music, whether it's worship tunes, old hymns, or pop songs one can hear on the radio. And I'm soaking it all in that I might be full to overflow onto the little sponge of Mei Mei's heart when we finally get to hold her in our arms!

Wordless Wednesday {$1.99}

I think this is the best $1.99 I've spend all winter long.

She's barely taken it off since Saturday night!

It's been a long while since I joined in,

but  if you want more Wordless Wednesday fun,

click HERE and link up!

Sweet Give-Away Winner!!!

Good Morning all!  I'm excited to announce that Nicole from Living Out His Love is our randomly-selected winner of the Sweet Moon Baby book give-away. Her family's favorite adoption book is The Red Thread, by Grace Lin. That is a new title for me and one I'm sure I'll be checking out soon. Thanks, in fact, to everyone who shared their faves. I've got a whole list of recommendations to work with now as I build our family's library.

While I'm at it, if you haven't ever peeked over to my friend Nicole's blog, I highly recommend that you do so. She's a very gifted photographer and each time I visit her site, I'm amazed at the beautiful pictures she shares. She is also an adoptive momma who is home-schooling her three cutie pies, all while actively advocating for orphan care and supporting adoptive families in her network. I think you'll really enjoy cruisin' around her blog a little bit. Like she says, "grab a cup of coffee (or tea or whatever takes you to your happy place)...." and check it all out. For you readers who are local, you will especially want to look at her photography business. Tell her The Gang's Momma sent you to check things out!

Congratulations, Nicole!!!

I know you and your sweet little ones

will enjoy reading this tale together

for many years to come.

Love ya, girl!

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If you are interested in purchasing your own copy of Sweet Moon Baby, may I suggest  that you enter Amazon through my friend Robin's Amazon link. (Please click on that link to be taken there directly.) She's a fellow Living Hope momma and is sewing her way fast and furious to a darling little girl named Gabi Grace. Her partnership with Amazon benefits their adoption to this sweetie pie.

If you would like to connect with the author of Sweet Moon Baby and keep up on the success of this charming little book, you can "Like" their F@cebook page. Consider letting the author know what you think of the book once you've purchased it.

Sweet Give-Away!

In celebration of the last day of National Adoption Month, I am thrilled to share this review with you and to offer a sweet little give-away to go with it.

Sweet Moon Baby by Karen Henry Clark is a charming and imaginative tale of adoption. It weaves the fantastical story of a sweet little baby girl's journey to her waiting parents. And it does so in a lovely, captivating way that my girly-girls both instantly connected to when they read it - and read it they do! Even when LadyBug is not available to read the words to her, Li'l Empress pores over the pages and tries to re-tell the story on her own. She does a pretty good job of it, as I listen in on her narrative. While I'm certain that there are more "realistic" stories out there about the journey that both children and parents travel to be united through adoption, I'm equally certain that few are as tender and creative as this one. When I flip through the pages, reading of the rivers and roads the parents traverse to their Sweet Moon Baby, I can clearly identify with the imagery that those words evoke. There is great symbolism as I read of twisting waters and soaring hills. I would imagine, as Li'l Empress grows in the awareness of her own journey to our home, she will also come to see the metaphor this tale carries. As a lover of children's literature, the weaving of that metaphor alone would make me love this book. Books that make me and my children dig and connect beyond the surface of the words on the page are very important to me.

The beauty of the words and the depths of meaning that they carry are only one reason I love this book. As a bit of back-story, it's probably helpful to know that while I love meaningful children's lit, I don't often buy a book unless the art work in the book is just that: ART.  In fact, I have a whole collection of children's books that I have purchased over the years simply because the art within the pages moved me so much. I was first introduced to this book at an adoptive parents seminar last spring. At the intermission, I wandered up and down the product tables and kept coming back to this book. Each time I opened it up, I was delighted by the pictures and the expressions on the faces of each of the characters. I bought it immediately. Truthfully, I bought it before I even read it all the way through.

This book's amazing art work almost makes me want to buy a paperback copy just to be able to take the book apart and frame its pages. Really.

Except that I don't know if I could possibly buy a book just to dismantle it. As I used to tell the boys when they were little and in "destructo" stage: "Books are our friends. You need to treat them with respect. Be gentle with their pages and covers."  I know. I know. That's a little weird. Even for me.

Each page is sprinkled with lovely images that remind me of the children's books that my Grandma had stashed on the veranda for my cousins and I. They have an air of innocence and a sweetness to them that fits perfectly with the gentle rhythm of the story. The baby girl's face, in each of the different parts of her slumbering adventure radiates such peace. The settings are serene but still carry a touch of urgency. The parents are so earnest in their quest. It captures it all. And it does so with great beauty. Patrice Barton is a gifted artist, to have captured it all in the simple and stunning illustrations of this book.

I do really love this story. When the author contacted me and offered to send me a copy for my own library, I was more than happy to tell her that I already owned it. That we already loved it. When I suggested to her that instead I use her offered copy as a give-away in celebration of National Adoption Month, she graciously agreed and I'm so excited to share the beauty of this tale with one of you.

Here's how you can win

your very own signed copy of

Sweet Moon Baby by Karen Henry Clark:

1. A first entry can be earned by leaving a comment here on the blog about your favorite children's adoption book. If you don't yet have a favorite adoption book, please share a favorite childhood book with us instead.
2. Earn a second entry by sharing this post on your own blog. Please enter a separate comment back here and include the link to your blog post when you do so.
3. Earn a third entry by sharing this post on your F@cebook account. Please enter a separate comment back here and include the link in that comment. (Click on the time stamp of your shared link and copy the url to paste here in your comment.)  Please consider "liking" and then "tagging" Sweet Moon Baby's FB page when you do share, so that the author can see how folks are responding to her work. It's certainly not a requirement for this third entry but who doesn't love that kind of encouragement?
4. Comments will only be accepted till midnight on Wednesday, December 7th. FYI: Comments are set to blog-owner moderation (to protect from spammers), so yours might not appear immediately upon entering.

I encourage you, even if you own this story already, to enter and try to win. This book makes a lovely gift for any of the children in your life who have been touched by adoption. A winner will be drawn by random.org and announced on Friday, December 7th.

You can read a personal, stirring

guest post by Karen Henry Clark

on Shawn Smucker's blog for more

about Karen's own Sweet Moon Baby.

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As November's National Adoption Awareness campaign draws to a close, I would ask you to prayerfully consider how you can continue the efforts of increasing awareness by supporting adoptive families in your circle of friends and family. It might not be financially, but there are many other ways you can participate and honor the building of a family through adoption. I hope my posts throughout the month gave you a glimpse inside the life of this adoptive family. And that if you have particular questions about being an adoptive family, the process of adoption, or other conversations surrounding adoption, you know by now that I'd love to hear from you. If I don't know the answer to your questions, you can bet that I'll be digging up a resource for us both to investigate!

Winning!

Oh, shameful. I know. So sorry for the pop-culture, outdated Ch@rlie Sh**n reference. I couldn't help myself.

My thoughts have been consumed since about 5 a.m. with the fun of announcing the winners of the three great gifts to thank my readers for hanging around here for 1,000 posts. You are all such treasures to me and I'm very excited to have the chance to treat you!

And may I say, I'm also super excited that I chose to extend the give-away deadline. Not only did about 18 of you take advantage of the additional time, but I got a chance to lay down on the couch and rest. This cold has hit my sinuses and particularly my left eye pretty hard. Working on the computer with one eye closed is really hard on the already pounding head-ache. I'm feeling better today; or I should say, the head-ache is subsiding. The other symptoms are still a pain but I can get a ton more done without a thumping head-ache. Ya know?!

Without further ado, here are the three winners

of my 1,000th post give-away celebration:

Winning the $25 Mary Kay gift certificate is my dear friend, Emily (comment # 27). I'm especially excited about this treat for Emily. She just had another lovely little baby and could really use some pampering right now.  I've know Emily since she was a newly-wed. She married one of the young men that was in the youth group where The Boss and I served as volunteer leaders. It's so amazing to have the privilege of watching these young people grow up together and in Christ and begin raising little ones of their own. She's a great example of steadfast, diligent mothering over the treasures God has brought to their home and I LOVE that she is one of my very first readers here at The Gang's All Here! It's a fitting gift for her and for me to share this little bit of luxury with her.

The winner of the lovely Sparrow Fund necklace and earring set is known here as "Viking Clan En Mass" (comment #11). It's my very clever sister's user id - referring to their large, growing (1/2) Norwegian brood who used to live in Massachusetts. Cute, huh?! The first time she commented on the blog with that identity, I was in China for Li'l Empress's adoption trip. I was so jet lagged and wiped out that I had to read it twice or three times to figure out who was commenting. I'm excited to share this gift with my sister - she is a  creative and selfless momma to her clan and rarely buys "pretties" for herself. This set will look so great on her!

Finally, I'm thrilled to share that the $50 gift certificate to Wild Olive tees will be given to Jen (comment #26)! Jen is a brand new reader here at The Gang's All Here! She and I are part of a local on-line support group of adoptive moms in our region, and on some of the local yard-saling sites together also. Turns out as we got "chatting" via F@cebook one day that her sister used to work for my cousin in his restaurant in upstate NY. So her sister actually knows many of my cousins. Jen, her hubby, and their son are waiting to bring home a darling little guy from China. I KNOW she'll enjoy the tees she'll be able to get with this gift certificate!

I think it's kind of cool how the numbers came up for each winner. I love the wide range of experiences that brought each of these gals to The Gang's All Here! - it really is so representative of the "persona" of this blog. And each gift is such a perfect fit for these ladies.

Thank you, to all my readers, new and old. Your feedback and your support for all the crazy things I share here is so appreciated. YOU are to be celebrated, whether you won something here or not. Thank you. THANK YOU!!!!

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Before you go, here's a little housekeeping for you:

1. Please don't forget, if you are interested in purchasing any Mary Kay products, sweet Joslyn is offering an additional 10% off each order if you mention my name.
2. Wild Olive Tees are still available for our fundraising efforts by using WHITNEY407 in the coupon code at check out.
3. Our Holiday Open House is this Sunday, November 11th from 2-5 p.m. If you aren't local and want to participate, you can find the public event on F@cebook by clicking HERE or by contacting me by email! The on-line shows will close one week after the event.
4. Finally, if you won, contact me by email so that the necessary arrangements can be made to get your prize to you.