It seems there is a cacophany of stories we could tell of what it is like to have 10 children, with 4 recently adopted from a foreign country. Some stories are funny, some interesting, and some hearbreaking. In fact so many interesting statements come out of the mouths of the twelve of us that we have created a quote book to capture them. Interestingly enough, the funniest tend to eminate from Chandra or me. Here are some classics.
Chandra-- "Worth, no. Don't touch your brother's bottom."
Graham, on Thanksgiving-- "Why do I have food in my crotch!?"
Aubrey-- "Graham, do what the microwave tells you."
Lee, when buying orange juice-- "Look, mom. Orange milk!"
Levi, after Chandra explained that snow was falling from the sky and we could build a snowman-- "Look mom, the snowman is falling"
Chandra, after a short wedgie fest with Dad and the boys-- "We don't give a wedgie to someone unless they want one." Surely prompted by vision of our children giving wedgies to random people at Church or in Wal-mart.
Christmas is huge in our house as evidenced by the speakers bellowing out Christmas anthems as October rolls around. As we have gone throughout the season, we discovered the fource had never experienced or heard of Christmas. We would ask questions like do you know Mary, baby Jesus, Christmas trees, Santa, etc. The answer would always be, "I don't know." While we expected this, it was also a reality check. Five months ago our lives were so different.
While there are definately some hilarious times there are also heavy challenges. For the very few of you who aren't aware, we have had 2 visits from the police, one televised. The first episode occurred in Springfield after our son had tried to run away out of frustration of sharing. In Ethiopia there is no unsafe place-- kids run on the streets, cars stop, and life continues. When you are frustrated you get away as fast as you can. Not so, in America. As I was attempting to calm him down, observed by oncoming traffic and small businesses, up pulls the Springfield police department. Forty-five minutes later they understood I wasn't abusing him.
Episode #2, or the televised episode, was a similar "running" episode and occurred at home. It involved friends, our social worker, the Greene County Police Department, approximately 12 officers, the canine unit, the Missouri State Troopers, a helicopter, and two television trucks. The helicopter was the winner and found our son 3 1/2 hours after he ran to get some space.
The harsh truth is that this work we have been called to is very hard. Friends and family have seen this first hand, and without them I know we wouldn't be standing here. Just yesterday after a very difficult time Chandra said, "This can't be what we were called to." And yet we both know in the essence of our being the truth. But, in desperate times we say desperate things. It reminds me of a quote from an associate of Mother Teresa, "She is free to be nothing; thefore God can use her for anything." Unlike Mother Teresa this characteristic doesn't come naturally to us, we have to be taught the beauty of nothingness.
As I was driving home a few days ago I listened to an old Mat Kearney song called What's a Boy to Do. The song is about a boy who has no father and it follows him throughout his life. It is not a traditional or flashy song and doesn't follow the typical verse, chorus, verse, bridge pattern. It takes time to digest because at the end of each stanza is a phrase that flows into the next end of stanza phrase. Let me put them together...
What's a boy to do who knows no man now?
What's a boy to do when there's no man at home?
What's a boy to do with no man in his heart?
What's the Son of Man and a boy to do?
What's the Son of Man and this boy to you?
Do you see the progression? No parent, no grounding, no example, no understanding of our Father, no hope, and we find out in the end, death. This world will chew us up and spit us out without a second thought. Why should we expect any other outcome? So we remember 1 Corinthians 10:13 "He will not give us more than we can bear..." and we persevere.
So we write quotes in a quote book to laugh, endure our visits with the police, and cry when we need to remembering, all the time holding fast to His promise of finishing this good work He has started.
