I Love You More Than Cheese

"Mommy, Daddy, can you come here!?"

This happens half a dozen times a night after we read and said prayers and blessings and gotten water and tucked in and turned the music on.

But last week, Jackson pleas were a little different. 

After realizing that he wasn't going to give up, we called Jackson into the kitchen to see what was up. He came in, carrying a Sandra Boynton Song Book (a popular children's author who is endeared in our home for her silly books and songs). Within seconds, he had a quivering lip and big crocodile tears. He shared that he was upset after listening to a song about a dog who left his home to go on an adventure. It took Jamy a good 20 minutes to talk with Jackson, help him work through his feelings (assuring him that he wouldn't need to leave home anytime soon), and get him back to bed.

About 10 minutes go by and we hear another, "Mommy, Daddy, can you come here?"

Now, knowing our son is emotionally fragile, we rush to the room. And we find him in tears. Again.

"Mommy, Daddy, some songs make me cry because they make me sad and some songs make me cry because they make me happy.  I listened to this song and it made me think of how muchly you love me." 

Of course, my heart exploded right there.

Then he showed us the song he had been listening to: "I Love You More Than Cheese." 

Picture the scenes on the Cosby Show of an old woman in a night club singing for the cheese song genre. You can get a taste here. 

THEN, he asked us to listen to the song as a family. At this point, I'm already stiffling giggles. And I can tell from the corner of my eye Jamy is trying to make eye contact. I refuse knowing I'll totally break down and ruin the "moment" for our son. 

We're learning how tender Jackson's heart is. He's just beginning to holler, "I love you, Mom!" without me saying it first as he runs out the door, still loves giving hugs and kisses, and comforts his sister when she's sad. His sensitivity to Disney villains is staggering. We're praying he continues to have a heart that is both soft and strong, tender and brave.

But last night, I banned the Boynton Song Book after he wept over lonely peas.

Jamy VanSyckle

Who knew that the kid's author Sandra boyton would create such turmoil in my son's night time routine. He is weeping over lonely peas.

P.S. I'm sorry in advance Jackson if your high school buddies find this before you do. But I'm pretty sure this will go down as a classic family story and I had to get it down.

Congratulations Sam and Lesly

This sweet girl will have an amazing story to tell someday about her life. I'll leave all of the details and miracles for her and her family to share in their time, but for now, I can tell you the beginning...

Sam and Lesly began working with me in March of this year. Throughout the summer they were presented several different times to several different birth moms, but none seemed to be the perfect match. In mid-July, I sent them the story of a young birth mama in need of an adoptive family. (To be honest, it's the kind of story I won't forget.) When I emailed Lesly that day, I admitted that I knew some of the logistics might not be a fit for them, but I felt strongly that I was supposed to let them know about this birth mother. With the details being a real issue, Sam and Lesly decided not to be presented but committed to praying for this sweet birth mama and her baby.

Several weeks went by and I got an email from the agency that the same birth mama was still in need of a family. Still feeling strongly that this might be Sam and Lesly's baby and knowing that they had been praying, I emailed Lesly again. This time, she called me within minutes.

"Susan, we've been praying for this birth mama and her little one since you emailed us the first time. Sam feels like this is our daughter. We're in!"  Lesly shared that they hadn't been able to think of much else the past several weeks. 

This time, logistics took a back seat, and they moved forward with confidence and faith that God was doing something bigger than their finances or their fears.

And he was doing something amazing.

In the coming days Sam and Lesly were chosen by this birth mama and developed a beautiful relationship with her. They have been able to offer her hope, encouragement, and healing. 

And last week, their precious daughter was born.

I've loved getting pictures, calls, and text updates from Lesly who is reveling in the goodness of God that this is their story.

And it's just the beginning of the story for their daughter. The beautiful girl with soft brown curls and big brown eyes who will someday hear how she came to be in her forever family. About her birth mother who lived a tremendous amount of life in a few short years and is a picture of strength, courage, and determination. About her parents who were chosen before they even knew of her to be her mommy and daddy. 

And about a God who sovereignly put all of the pieces together to create a beautiful picture of hope and redemption.  

Isabelle and Jillian's Birthday Art Expo

This year, Isabelle and her bestie, Jillian, decided to do a joint birthday party since their birthdays are 3 days apart. Since they are smitten with the American Girl, Saige and all things art, we decided to throw them their own Birthday Art Expo in honor of turning 8. 

I'm honestly not sure who had more fun, the girls at the party or the mamas in planning it. God bless Pinterest and Gretchen for her spiritual gift of party planning.

The main event of the art expo was an art class. In the movie, Saige's grandmother, Mimi, is an artist and teaches her to paint. We were blessed to have Jillian's Mimi, an artist, come and teach the girls to paint on canvas. They soaked it up AND there were no tears. Win.

The menu? Art pallet cookies (the paint being M&Ms), rainbow fruit cabobs, pretzel "paint brushes" (dipped in colored chocolate), and Saige's "balloons"; Babybel and sharp cheddar cheese.

The girls even designed their cake with their own artwork!

The girls brought their American Girl dolls (yes, there's Jack's pirate Lalaloopsy Doll in there too). The dolls had a tea party while the girls partied.

We set up a hot air balloon photo booth where we took all the girls pics individually that they were able to go home with. Along with their favor of a paint can filled with mini paints and other art supplies. One of the girls sweet friends designed and made each of the girls a "genuine" Saige outfit. There was much celebration (jumping and squealing) when they opened that gift.

In the end we created some artwork, ate yummy snacks, and made lots of sweet memories.

Also, I have no idea how we're topping it next year.

#birthdayweekendextravaganza

This was my hash tag last weekend.

Last week was insanity. A consignment sale I prepped for. Two of my adoptive families matched with birth families. Two of my adoptive families had babies. One family visiting their birth mama for the first time. And a weekend full of fun chaos.

We celebrated birthdays over the weekend. Isabelle and her BFF, Jillian were turning 8. And Jillian's mama (my BFF) was celebrating a birthday too (a few more than 8). So our families decided to celebrate with a birthday weekend extravaganza.

It began with Gretchen and I picking up the girls from school for a surprise trip to the American Girl store. Both of them have been dreaming and wishing for Saige, and when we pulled into the parking lot, there was MUCH celebration (the screaming and shrieking kind). We had a personal shopper at American Girl who helped the girls pick out their dolls, had them try on Saige's outfits, and tour the store.

After shopping, both families loaded the mini vans and drove to Lawrence.  Gretchen and I had plans to run the Color Run the next morning. We spent the evening wrangling all six of the kids for dinner and swimming at the hotel.

The next morning, G and I got up at the break of dawn to run with thousands of KU students in the Color Run. Best. 5K. Ever. (And I should know now that I've run TWO.)

It really does live up to it's name: The Happiest 5K on the Planet. The Color Run is 5K meets dance party meets rainbows and unicorns. (Literally - the mascot is a unicorn). The rules are you wear white the the startling line and finish plastered in color. Afterwards there's a huge finish festival with more color. The kids loved it and you should have seen our no-longer-white bathrooms back at the hotel afterwards making attempts to clean up.

Did I mention we wore fun socks?

We topped off the weekend craziness with lunch at the local brewery, a trip to the Natural History Museum, and a birthday Art Expo birthday party for Isabelle and Jillian on Sunday (which deserves an entire blog of it's own).

The adults decided we really are good friends since we all still liked each other after all of the togetherness.  And the kids act more like siblings than friends anyway.

Overall, it was a huge win for the #birthdayweekendextravaganza. And this week, I sleep.

Celebrating 8

This morning (just after midnight) marks 8 years of Isabelle's life.

8 years of her giggles.

8 years of her spunk.

8 years of crazy questions (see below).

And several years of witty sarcasm (thank you, Daddy).

We've had a week long of celebrations. A trip to the American Girl store and an Art Expo party with her BFF (more on the blog later). This morning she leapt out of bed, onto her balloon strewn floor, singing, "It's my birthdaaaaaay!" I got a little teary as we sang to her over her requested pink sprinkle pancakes with a candle.

It's been such an honor being this girls mama. It's been crazy and tiring and joy-filled and challenging and wonderful. We're far away from sleepless nights and potty training, but we're into the hard conversations, homework, and the d-r-a-m-a.

This week Isabelle started gymnastics. As I watched her on her first time on the beam, I noticed she no longer had the chubby little legs with rolls. She's now long and lean. And graceful. She's slowly growing up and if I'm honest it scares me. Do I have what it takes to be her mom? To shepherd her heart? To teach her all it means to be a woman in this world? To share the gospel with her so that she'll know what a treasure it is?

I'm thankful I don't have to be enough for my daughter. That in the midst of my trying to be all I can for her that Jesus is enough. 

That is my prayer for Isabelle. That Jesus will be enough for her at 8. And 18. And 80.

Happy Birthday, Bella. You're my favorite girl.

Congratulations Sam and Sophia

Sam and Sophia began the journey to grow their family almost two years ago. It was born in their hearts early on to adopt and they began the process for international adoption. But this spring, it looked like God was rerouting them to domestic adoption. After much prayer and consideration, they called me in June. I remember surprising Sophia when I told her how quickly the process could move. It took a few weeks for Sam and Sophia to change course in their adoption plans and begin a different path than they had planned.

But the whole time, God knew what he was doing. And his timing was perfect.

Sam and Sophia began with Christian Adoption Consultants in July and in 2 months, were matched with a birth family. Just days later, they were hopping a flight to be there for delivery.

Last week Sam and Sophia became a family of three and added this sweet girl to their family.

Of course, just like every family's story, there is much that happened in the in between. In the waiting, the praying, the dreaming, and the hoping. Their daughter's story is a good one.

It's a story of answered prayers.

Of courage displayed.

Of hopes fulfilled.

Of worthwhile waiting.

And God's great redemption story on display.

Congrats Sam and Sophia. It's been a joy to pray and wait with you. 

Congratulations Jamie and Sarah

Jamie and Sarah's story to get to their sweet baby girl has been a good one. A hard one. A long one. And one with God's fingerprints all over it.

I often have the conversation with my families who tell me adoption has one of the greatest impacts on their faith than anything else they've been through in life. For Jamie and Sarah it was no different.

When they began this journey about a year ago, none of us could have anticipated the hard decisions they would face in the midst of waiting on God to grow their family through adoption. In the midst of it, there was never a "no" in their hearts.

Their full and complete "yes" was always on the table for God to do with what he wanted.

Yes - we will step into the unknown.

Yes - we will take the risks involved.

Yes - we will love without reservation when we don't know the outcome.

God answered their "yes" in powerful ways throughout their entire adoption journey. And two days ago, their daughter was born.

Her name means "God has answered."  Sarah explained to me today: 

When we asked the Lord whether this is what he had called us to, he has answered.

When we asked him for help, he answered.

When we asked for clarity and discernment, he answered.

Not because he said yes, but because he is enough.

And he answered that he will always be enough for her.

It's been an honor to walk with this family. To watch as they waited for God's perfect timing. To pray with them as they agonized through tough decisions. To listen as they taught their boys the beauty of adoption. To admire the way they honored their birth mama.

And especially to celebrate the birth of their daughter with them.

I'm thankful God can take our small "yeses" and do miracles like this with them.

And I'm so thankful he always answers.