Happy Adoption Day

As I was looking on the internet for the lyrics to this song, I came across a review of it (or at least of the book depicting the song) that deemed it hokey and shallow. I suppose there may have been a day in my life when I shared that sentiment, but today is not that day.

I might quibble with ol' Mr. McCutcheon over a word here and there, if only for theological precision. But other than that, I think he hit it pretty well spot on.

Happy Adoption Day - words and music by John McCutcheon

Oh, who would have guessed, who could have seen
Who could have possibly known
All these roads we have traveled, the places we’ve been
Would have finally taken us home

And it's here’s to you, and three cheers to you
Let’s shout it, “Hip, hip, hip, hooray!”
For, out of a world so tattered and torn,
You came to our house on that wonderful morn
And all of a sudden this family was born
Oh, Happy Adoption Day!

There are those who think families happen by chance
A mystery their whole life through
But we had a voice and we* had a choice
We were working and waiting for you

So no matter the name, no matter the age
No matter how you came to be
No matter the skin, we are all of us kin
We are all of us one family


It is evidence either of my well-hidden softness or of my own parochial perspective that having made this last Friday night, I have already watched it dozens of times and still get a lump in my throat or a catch in my breath every time. I praise God that a world so tattered and torn could bring forth such a joyful event, a joyful soul.

Video: Josie in China

Kathleen had this idea to take a lot of pictures specifically of Josie on our trip, and then put them together to make a still-shot video. We didn't quite get the cacophonous, percussive effect we envisioned, in part due to Josie's preference for Chinese children's songs, but she likes it, and while didn't have the advanced technique to get the audio of Seth singing these songs, we do hear them periodically, especially the first one.

Open House

It's all about the cake. Well, maybe not, but that's where the good pictures are.

We haven't had rain in weeks, and then when you're having 60 people over, of course it rains! No big deal though; it was good to see people, some of whom were meeting Seth for the first time.

No, the kids didn't wear pajamas to the party, but the last picture seemed too cute not to share.

The First Visitors

My mom and sister came to visit over Labor Day weekend. We took a 6-person surrey (bike) ride at the downtown canal, complete with some wrong turns and dead ends. Trust me, that thing is hard to turn around. Our visitors also gave Kathleen and me the opportunity to go out to dinner (hey, grandma's not a baby-sitter!)

I think Seth has made a mental transition with regard to language. Twice in the last week, we have arranged opportunities for him to talk in Chinese to someone he knows - another child from his orphanage in fact. And both times - once in person and once on the phone - he has been quite uninterested. We met a family from Bloomington at a park last Saturday and had a picnic together. They brought their 6-year-old home a month earlier than we brought Seth. The two boys had a moment of recognition (we think!), but didn't seem to want to talk to each other. They played just fine on the playground together, along with each family's one older child, but didn't converse.

Then mid-week, we called another family from our travel group, who adopted a boy about a year older than Seth. The boys spent all 18 days we were traveling together, but again Seth wasn't chatty. So maybe I'm reading too much into that, but I wonder if he's thinking "hey, I thought I was supposed to be learning English - why are you trying to get me to go back to Chinese?" Not that developed a thought, obviously, but he seems conflicted.

On a related note, we're going through what we trust is a temporary mellowing of his personality. We don't get the dancing wiggle much right now, and the verbal expressiveness, although it was not understandable to us, is sadly rarer. But his understanding and responsiveness is clearly growing quickly; he responds to many directions now even without accompanying gestures from us, and now answers some questions rather than just repeats them back. He's also learned to say excuse me (which sounds like "Josie me") and I'm sorry, both of which are exceedingly good to hear!