Ordinary Time

[E] Friday morning we received the unexpected phone call from our adoption agency telling us that TM's dossier has been approved. This was two weeks earlier than we were anticipating. We should hear in another month that we have travel approval. It is such a relief to have a somewhat definite timeline and to be able to do a little planning for summer. But mostly it is exciting that we will get to meet our new son in approximately six weeks.

[E & J] This is something we wrote in answer to Chicago Parent magazine's question, "How do you cope with a large family?" Perhaps the question ought to be: “How do you cope without a large family?” Oh, sure, the natural assumption is that if 1 kid = X work, then 5 kids ought to equal 5X work (or maybe X to the 5th work, on a bad day). But, fortunately, that’s not accurate. We do have five children, and we’re pursuing options for adoption (yes, of more children), but we do not feel as if our family is “large.” It’s just the right size for… making sure that there’s always someone to play with… sharing games… sharing chores… passing down book recommendations… passing down clothes… providing older children to entertain younger children… ensuring that an infant or toddler is always handy to cuddle or snuggle… ensuring that an older child is always handy for company and conversation… and providing an audience for siblings’ antics. Maybe a large family is a bit more work, b...

[E] We are operating under the belief that Vietnam was chosen for us. I've always been interested in adoption. After the birth of our second son, I even wrote for information from various adoption agencies. But it wasn't until three babies later tha we seriously began pursuing adoption. I was done being pregnant, but we were not done having children. We were drawn to Asia, but most Asian countries limit the sizes of adopting families, and we already had too many children, according to their limits. Vietnam, though, had slightly higher family size limits that did not exclude us. But Vietnam had also been closed to international adoption for two years. Since our youngest was just a baby, we decided that we had time to wait and see if anything might change. At this point, I prayed. If we had any hope of pursuing adoption along this path, there were some significant hurdles that God would have to help us over. The list was daunting: (1) Vietnam and the US had to sign a Memo of Unde...

[E] A parent's life is often buried in the ordinary. Fixing meals, doing laundry, picking up, buying groceries... the mundane... the repetitive... maintaining the status quo... fighting entropy (which is, of course, destined to win). Sometimes it seems as if the only break in the routine involves leakage--either a child's or a machine's. (Note: The only leakage today was from the hypersensitive tear ducts of overtired children. Sleepovers are fine and glorious things, but there's a piper to pay the next day. The children stay up late and the parent gets the hangover.) Why, I ask myself, am I doing this? Can there possibly be meaning or significance in the daily slog? I'm not unintelligent; I have a seminary degree. Surely I could be doing something else to serve the Lord. But I am reminded that not every day is a feast day. In the liturgical calendar, ordinary time names those seasons around the edges of the highest holy days. And ordinary time does not mean dull ...

We begin in the middle of our wait for Thanh Minh Matthias Curry, who makes eight.