Cinderella

I wrote last week about the tragic death of Maria Sue Chapman. Her father, Christian singer and songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman, has just released a video of his new song "Cinderella." It's a beautiful song about treasuring moments with our children, made even more poignant with the news of Maria's passing.

Be sure to keep watching after the song is over for his story about how the song was inspired by Maria and her sister Stevey Joy.

(Warning: If you're at work and haven't seen this, you might want to wait until later, unless you have a private office and a big wad of tissues).




Now go dance with your daughters.

One reason we adore Dora

Too much gloom and doom here lately, so I'll tell you a story.

We were on board a flight to Nashville a couple of weeks ago and I broke out a new deck of "Go Fish" cards to amuse the 2-year-old.

"Eight!" Ting Ting said, holding up a card.

"That's right! That's an 8," I said. Then, looking for a way to keep the game interesting, I added, "Can you count the fish on that card?"

She bent her head down over the tray table and began saying something as she pointed to each fish, but it didn't sound like counting to me. I leaned closer just in time to hear her finish with "Siete, ocho!"

No, I didn't teach her to count in Spanish. Neither did her day care provider. Did you?

Then and now

Ting Ting, April 2007:


Ting Ting, April 2008:

No words

This is Maria Sue Chapman, 5-year-old daughter of Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth. She was killed Wednesday when she was struck by a vehicle in the driveway of their home. Compounding the tragedy was the fact that her teenaged brother was driving the car. It's simply too awful for words.

Many people were following this story all day, from fans of the singer to parents of children of all ages. But those of you who haven't adopted children might not be familiar with the Chapman family's strong support of international adoption. The Chapmans adopted three daughters from China and set up a foundation, Shaohanna's Hope, to help Christian families fund adoptions. According to the singer's website, more than 1,700 families have received grants in the five years the fund has been in operation.

Lance and I decided in the fall of 2004 that we wanted to adopt a daughter and began preparing our application. I went to Target one Saturday afternoon in November, not realizing it was Adoption Awareness Month, and innocently picked up a sweet little book called "Shaoey and Dot." It was a children's story about a baby found abandoned in China, taken to an orphanage and adopted by a family. The baby is accompanied by a ladybug, Dot, who tried to explain what was happening to Shaoey, telling her, in part:

"But, then, there's a cry that's the saddest of all.
In fact, it's unlike any other.
It comes from a deep, empty place in your heart
That can only be filled by a mother.

And after today, I will never again
Hear that sad song coming from you . . . "

The book was written by Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman.

I began crying, right there in Target. I bought the book. To this day I can't read that passage without tearing up.

Ting Ting has shelves full of books now. Some of them are about adoption, some are about China and some are about green eggs or brown bears. But Shaoey and Dot will always officially be The Very First Book I Ever Bought Specifically for my Daughter.

I said there were no words, but I seem to have written quite a few. You can visit a special blog the family set up in memory of Maria if you want to learn more or offer condolences.

But just in case you don't go, I wanted to share this video that's posted there:

Chinese wanting to adopt quake orphans?

I've been wondering about the children in orphanages in China, but the earthquake has created thousands more orphans. According to this article, the Chinese people are reaching out to bring these children into their homes. The story also talks about attitudes that previously kept the domestic adoption rate in China low. It's an interesting read.

Reflection

My heart has been breaking all week as I read the stories of the death and devastation in China.

Every day brings reports of more horrors, from the hundreds found dead in the rubble of schools or apartment buildings to the individual tragedies, such as those told in today's newspaper by my colleague, Evan Osnos. The ramifications of China's one-child policy have only added to the tragedy as parents and grandparents are left with no one to carry on the family name or to care for them in their old age.

Ting Ting is from a city called Yueyang, in the northern part of Hunan province, far from the epicenter of the earthquake. But Sichuan province is home to many social welfare institutes caring for other babies and children waiting for families. Our friend the Rumor Queen has been collecting information on those children and institutions; so far we've seen no major loss of life there, but information is not yet available on many of the SWIs closest to the epicenter. Some of the institutions have had to evacuate the children and need supplies like formula and diapers; some have lost their water supply or power.

China is a very old, beautiful, proud country that gave our family its greatest gift, and now the people there need our help. Please remember them in your prayers.

Happy Mother's Day

As I sat down to take a couple of minutes to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day, I found out through another blog that Teleflora apparently considers me a "non-Mom" -- or at least they did before all the angry phone calls and emails. Sheesh. Good for them I was too busy the last couple of days playing with my 2-year-old (who keeps throwing her arms around me and exclaiming happily, "MY mama!") to add my voice to the angry chorus. Instead, I'm simply going to do what I had planned to do today and post a link to this beautiful Mother's Day column.

Happy Mother's Day to all.

Sunday afternoon in the park

It was a little chilly last weekend, but we went to the park anyway. We were really tired of being cooped up inside!


Even though we had to wear jackets, it was worth it.

Ting Ting spent most of her time climbing fake rock walls and going down slides taller than me. I don't have photos of that, though, because I was too busy helping Lance supervise her so she wouldn't fall and crack her head open just because she insisted: "I do it MYSELF."



(Don't tell her that Daddy was holding her in this photo).

Silly me

Ting Ting was very happy tonight and was acting a little goofy.

"You are SO silly!" I said to her.

"No, Mama," she said. "I Ting Ting."

Carrying a torch

According to the official calendar, the Olympic torch will pay a visit to Ting Ting's hometown on June 1. Yueyang is in the northern part of Hunan province.

Shhhh! It's a surprise

Lauren and I took Ting Ting to get some new portraits made. I'm going to frame a couple of them as Mother's Day gifts for my mother and grandmother.


Because my mother doesn't "do" the internet, I can post some of them for you to enjoy now.

We took Ting Ting's favorite doll, "Baby," with us.

I thought most of them turned out very well . . .

. . . although she didn't always fully cooperate.


Here's the collage I chose for the gifts . . . do you like?

(Well, OK, we ordered just a few of the others, too.)

She calls them "Boo-daids"

Sleeping doll: $9.95

Box of "Dora the Explorer" Band-Aids: $1.98


Keeping a 2-year-old happily entertained for 15 minutes? PRICELESS

All mine

Scene: Back seat of the car. Brandon is teasing his little sister.

Brandon (grabbing her favorite doll): MY baby!

Ting Ting (trying to get it back): MY baby!

Brandon: MY baby!

Ting Ting (pointing to the driver): MY daddy!

Brandon: MY daddy.

Ting Ting: MINE

Brandon: He was my daddy before you were even born. MY daddy.

Ting Ting (pointing to the front seat passenger): MY mama!

(Brief pause)

Stepmonster Susan: She's got you there, Brandon.

Always happy when Daddy's home

Lance was out of town for most of the week recently. Ting Ting was very happy to see him when he got home -- and not just because he let her ride on his suitcase.

Daddy's Little Girl

It was cold and rainy last Saturday, so after we ran some errands I thought I would find a fast-food restaurant with a play area so Ting Ting could run off some steam. I pulled into a driveway and was slowly driving past so I could look inside -- no play area, darn it -- when a little voice from the back seat announced, "I want chicken nuggets."

Gee, maybe Daddy has taken her to the drive-through a few times, huh?

So, OK, I got in line and ordered lunch to take home, then I drove to the next window and paid the nice man. "Thank you!" he said.

"No, thank YOU!" said that little voice in the back seat.

Yes, her father taught her that, too.

Easter basket

Ting Ting's Easter basket had a bit of a "Dora the Explorer" theme this year.


You can see she was dressed appropriately.


She went straight for the non-Dora chocolate bunny, though.


Mmmmmm.

What else do we have?


Ahhh, stickers!


We had made an attempt to color eggs on Saturday. Lauren offered to help Ting Ting, but, being the artist she is, she also wanted to color some of her own. Ting Ting had a bit of trouble at first -- the only thing she knew to do with a hard-boiled egg was to crack and eat it, so she didn't really grasp the concept of coloring and decorating. I thought she might enjoy the stickers, but she quickly lost interest and left the table, leaving me to finish up the ones she started.


So can you guess who did which?

Oh well, there's always next year.

One very fine day

I won my first-ever NCAA tournament pool! I think I would have placed first either way, but having Kansas beat Memphis in overtime last night (sorry, Beverly) was the icing on the cake.
I was the only one in that pool who had picked KU as the winner.

Oh, and a guy who works for me was one of the Tribune crew who won a Pulitzer prize yesterday. Just the most distinguished prize in all of journalism. I think he possibly was even more excited than I was when KU sent the game into overtime.

Yep, a very fine day.

And it got even better when I discovered my friend Michelle finally had received approval to return to China to adopt a sweet little boy! Michelle's husband is in the Navy and was about to go off to sea for six months, and she was afraid they wouldn't get permission in time for him to travel with her (or even meet his son for several months). See -- good news does come in threes!

Rats

On Feb. 10, we all headed over to our agency's Chinese New Year celebration (ushering in the year of the Rat). It's an annual tradition in our house: this was the fourth year in a row for Lance, Lauren, Brandon and myself; the third year in a row for Casey, Candace and Aunt Chris; the second year for Ting Ting; and the first time for Aunt Gloria.

But I think Aunt Gloria enjoyed it.

Happy Ting Ting

Aunts and uncles and cousins came to our house in January to celebrate Ting Ting's 2nd birthday.


She loved it all, from the cake to the Dora napkins and plates to the gifts to singing the birthday song, which she calls "Happy Ting Ting."


Most of all she loved having her family here to celebrate with her.


Ting Ting wore the "birthday girl" hat her teacher made for her at day care. She also wore her birthday gift from her grandparents, a Predators hockey jersey. On the back it says "Ting Ting" and has a big 2, representing her age. It's absolutely adorable.


Her birthday gift from Mom and Dad was a red tricycle. She loved pushing it around the family room.

She even took Elmo for a ride.

Sisters

Every year Lauren and Brandon spend the week after Christmas with us.


Lance always has that week off work, although I usually don't (except for last year, right after we brought Ting Ting home).


Therefore, I have no idea what they're doing every day.

Which leaves me with no explanation for these photos. I can't even tell you what that red thing is that Ting Ting is wearing, never mind trying to figure out why they chose these particular accoutrements.

But it looks like they were having a good time, and that's all that really matters.