BesoMami

Sometimes I find myself complaining about the church. Sometimes I find myself profoundly grateful for our church family. Tonight was a night for gratitude.

We just got home from Big Church's Annual Spaghetti Dinner and Talent Show. The acts were all very good -- mostly teen and preteen rock stars, along with my favorite 80ish woman who played some old ragtime piano music and the Budweiser Beer song. She must have been a fun gal when she was younger. Heck, she's a fun gal right now.

One little girl got up to sing, but quickly became too nervous. Her dad was emceeing the show, so she hid behind his back and cried. She left the stage. Her father announced that she would try again later in the show. After the other acts had gone, she tried again. Half laughing, half crying, no sound came out as she tried to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Slowly, the two hundred voices gathered around banquet tables in the church gym began to sing. We all sang. Slowly, our little singer found her voice and two hundred and one voices finished, "If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why, oh why can't I?" I couldn't help but cry with joy. I wasn't the only one.

We had fun tonight. Thomas ate about two pounds of spaghetti. Lily danced around the edges of the church gym. David received kisses and hugs from his many aunties. I am so grateful that my kids are growing up in this congregation.

Today was scheduled to be a family field trip for Lily's school -- picking pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. They canceled it due to the rain. But it is not raining.

They've rescheduled it for next Wednesday, which does not work well for our schedule. Since it is a family field trip, the school is closed. So my choices are these: 1) go on a field trip, which I don't have time for on Wednesdays, OR 2) have Lily with me all day on Wednesday, because the school is closed.

Did I mention that this is the public school? Grrrr. My tax dollars at work.

GGF -- wanna go to the pumpkin patch next Wednesday? Brett -- wanna have your daughter 'help' you teach your two classes at the seminary on Wednesday?

So I dreamed last night that we had another baby. In my dream, I received a call from the director of the international adoption agency that we used for our first two adoptions. She said, "Your pink slip arrived. You need to be in Guatemala by Monday to bring home your new daughter. Her name is Honey." A pink slip is the document issued by the U.S. Embassy which officially summons you to a non-negotiable appointment to have your child's Visa issued, so they can emigrate from their birth country. I didn't know what to think, because I was unaware that we were in the adoption process for another baby. But the agency director assured me that the birth certificate had been issued with our names on it and the little girl was legally our daughter. Oh, and the baby was just three days younger than David.

I've been ruminating on this dream all day. I think I need a good night's sleep.

Our little bundle of love turned 10 months old yesterday...