Kate Update and a Good Wishes Quilt

Kate Emerson is developing by leaps and bounds and so I thought it was time for a little update. I have finally found a baby book with adoption pages that I plan to order and I want to remember everything so I can fill it in later! Several people asked about the book I am buying....here is the link. They are beautiful.

Kate says almost everything we say and puts words together constantly (shoes off, more please, too hot, it's cold, etc). She even comes out with things that we have never taught her. For example, this week she has told me that a few things are purple (and she was right). I have not talked with Kate about colors at all yet. I try to teach my children practical communication before I teach them shapes, colors and numbers. So, I have not made any efforts yet to expose her to that stuff but somehow she is absorbing it. She is counting all the time, starting to say her ABC's and pointing out colors. I am wondering if she is getting this from Sesame Street because she watches it while I shower in the mornings.

The most wonderful new develpoment is that Kate says "thank you" spontaneously now. When people hold the door for us, she says it. Every time I check out at the grocery store, she tell the cashier thank you. Every time we give her something or make her food, she says thank you. We do not even have to remind her. I cannot tell you how that fills my heart with joy. It is one of my goals as a Mom to raise grateful, appreciative and polite children. So, I am absolutely tickled that Kate is doing this so naturally.

Kate really enjoys books now. Her favorites are still My Mama's a Llama (which has fallen apart), Little Miss Spider and Goodnight Moon. However, she has added The Rainbow Fish, The Fur Family, Leo the Late bloomer (one of my favorites) and a few others to her repertoire now. Last week, while I was cooking dinner she got a picture/word book out and sat on the kitchen floor and "read" the book. It has pictures of common items (flower, leaf, girl, boy, apple, banana, dog, potty). She turned each page and said most of the correct words. I am simply amazed that she has only heard English for 10 months and she is doing so well. I want to savor each and every step of her development.

Kate is also attempting to dress herself. She loves to put all of our shoes on and walk around the house. This week she got one of her socks on herself and she was so proud!

Kate is also a climber. She climbs onto all of the chairs and counter stools in our kitchen. It is very dangerous and it is driving me CRAZY! Just this morning she climbed up to sit at the breakfast table. She leaned on the chair and over it fell onto our slate floor with Kate in the chair. I think I had a minor heart attack and thought she broke her wrist. All is well but we cannot turn our backs for one second which makes cooking a challenge!

My little monkey climbs onto the stools and pretends to work at my computer.

100 Good Wishes Quilt

Onto to another topic....I have posted a few times about starting a good wishes quilt for Kate. I even created a quilt blog for her a long time ago. When we were waiting for Kate, I did not really know about them at first and then for many reasons, I was afriad to make one. Once Kate came home, I wondered if it was too late to make a quilt. However, many people have encouraged me to have one made for her. I do not want to look back someday when she is 12 and I wish that I had done one. So, I have decided to compile a 100 good wishes quilt for Kate Emerson and I am really excited.

I am asking those who have a wish for Kate and want to send a quilt square to choose a fabric that is 100% cotton. Please send me a 9X9 washed square of the fabric you choose. I hope to use the quilt on her big girl bed and I have begun looking for new bedding. So I ask that you send fabrics that are white, pink, green, cream or any muted combination of those colors. It is my hope to back the quilt with a white vintage chenille fabric. If you want a peek at her room or to read more about the quilt project, click here.

Along with the square, please send a wish card. This can be an index card or any other notecard that has your advice, wish, verse or words of wisdom for Kate. Please include a small piece of the fabric on that card (2X2 is good) so we can match your fabric to the quilt after it is made. I will assemble all of the wish cards into a scrapbook for Kate. Please keep your wish one-sided so that we can easily read it in the memory book. I will try post the squares as we receive them on the quilt blog.

E-mail me for more information if you wish to participate (through my profile). I look forward to finally working on this project and I thank all of you who have encouraged and inspired me to do this. Some people sent me squares months ago when I mentioned it and I have each of them saved. I look forward to sitting down with Kate Emerson one day in the future and show her all of the good wishes people had for her life. I cannot wait to wrap her up in the love that people send our way.

Tonight, is my 11th annual Oscar Party. For the past 10 years I have hosted a "girls only" party to watch the Oscars. Some years have been elaborate with lovely invitations, gourmet dinners, signature cocktails and lovely prizes. Other years have been very small and we ordered take-out because I was ill. This year is very small, very last minute and very casual. Just a few friends will come over to watch this year and I am making tortilla soup. One thing has remained consistent though----I always wear my pajamas and I always encourage my guests to wear theirs as well. I have even had contests for the cutest PJ's. The best part of the party is commenting on everyone's clothes, jewelry, hair and love life. I learn a whole year's worth of People magazine trivia from my friends in one short evening! Enjoy the red carpet! I know we will.

When we moved from Houston a few years ago my friends presented me with this "Oscar" for the best parties! They gave it to me as a surprise at my last Oscar party there. It sits on my mantle around this time of year. Some famous actors and actresses live in our area. We see one Academy Award winner at our grocery store sometimes. Well, a few years ago a worker in my house saw my Oscar from afar and thought it was real and asked if it was mine. I nodded and said, "yes" and left it at that!

Finally, several people were curious about my new lens. I really like my lens (Nikon 50mm 1.4) a lot but I do want to share a tip.....I am likely going to exchange mine for a different version (which my hubby is a little upset about). Nikon makes a 50mm 1.8 that is one third the price of what my sweet guy bought me. According to the reviews, it is every bit as good. I will never be a good enough photographer to notice the difference between a 1.4 and a 1.8! So, if the company lets me I am going to exchange mine this week. I felt too guilty. One other tip, you need to have a pretty steady hand with this lens. I am kind of shaky, so it is challenging.

Kate does NOT like my new lens and is sick of me taking her picture. She pushes the camera away just like the celebrities do to the paparazzi.

I am warning you Mom...no more pictures!


Then she covers her face....


or gives me the evil eye!



If we distract her enough....

we can get some good ones though.

(Elissa took this last collage)

Valentine Week 2008

Wow this week flew by! So many little things happened that I wanted to blog about and then I remembered that I need to wait until Sunday. So, I will warn you this is a long post and there are a lot of photos. This is my scrapbook so it is hard to leave stuff out.

I want to thank all of you who e-mailed me or commented below on Thursday to wish me a Happy Valentine's day. I was touched that people thought of me even as I was not blogging:)

Kate and I met some special friends this week for lunch. I wanted to take Kate here to get some casual Chinese New Year and Valentine photos. I have never used one of these places as I am not a big fan of indoor, staged photos with props but we gave it a try. The people that worked there were amazing. They spent more than an hour trying to get Miss Katie Ru off of me and trying to get her to smile. Here are some beginning photos.

As you can see, she was clingy and grumpy and mad. She glared at the sweet and patient photographers. I was a little embarrassed of her reaction but now I think the pictures are kind of funny because they are so inconsistent with Kate's personality. She does not even look like herself in those photos.

They finally got her to warm up a tiny bit and we were able to get these.....

I was next to her and we were singing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes." Kate is doing the "mouth" part.

After the photo shoot, we met Michelle and Josie for lunch. Michelle was ahead of me in the adoption process and our social worker put me in touch with her. I cannot tell you how helpful she was with my paperwork. I had already done all of the paperwork for Korea (which was quite different) and then Korea changed their policy and would not place girls with families who had not adopted from Korea before. So we could either re-apply for a boy (and get at the end of the line) or switch to China. I was so overwhlemed at the thought of completing another dossier. Michelle gave me a big pep talk, told me exactly how to do it and even walked some of my final paperwork though Washington DC for me. I was amazed at all of that kindness from someone I had never even met! We did finally meet shortly after Josie came home and I enjoyed it immensely.

Michelle is the kind and generous person who gave Kate this special gift when she first came home. This was only our second meeting (we don't live very close) and Michelle's first time meeting Kate. I loved having lunch with them and cannot wait to get together again. Michelle and I could have probably talked for days. She wrote a far better descritpion of our lunch here.

Josie was so cute with Kate (holding her hand and reading to her).

The week was filled with Valentine celebrations. Harry's school has a "no siblings" policy. That is, when a parent comes to volunteer or go on a field trip or anything, they may not bring siblings.

I understand the policy but it irks me. Harry wanted me to come to his Valentine party so badly. He asked me over and over if I was going to be there. I am the room parent so I thought I should be there. However, I did not have anyone to watch Kate at that time of day. Harry has definitely felt a little"squeezed out" since the adoption so I decided I needed to be there for him. I packed Kate up in her Mei Tai carrier and signed into the school, went to the classroom and began helping. Luckily, no one said a word to me except how sweet and cute Kate was! I felt awful for breaking the rule but I would have felt more awful breaking Harry's heart. I volunteered a lot at the school last year and I have hardly been there this year due to the no sibling policy. Here are some pictures from his school party:

My sweet hubby surprised me with this lens for Valentine's day. I have been bitten by the photography bug (although I truly have NO idea what I am doing). I wanted this lens because it is supposed to be a great portrait lens for kids. Will let me use him as my practice model. And really, who could go wrong shooting that handsome face? Clearly, I still have no clue how to use this new lens and would love any help or suggestions from you photographer types (Kris, Chris and Deb, Connie and others---you all know who you are). But here are my first practice shots.

Will's left eye was itchy and allery-ish which is why it looks smaller and irritated in these outdoor photos. He is such a good sport.

An indoor shot of each of my sweethearts with the new lens.

In addition to my awesome new camera lens, my husband planned a special dinner with some other husbands in our neighborhood. He had this idea two years ago for a surprise progressive dinner where the husbands did all of the planning, cooking, table settting etc... It was incredible. When I woke up that morning he handed me a letter explaining that I would be having lunch with two of my friends, then spending the afternoon at a spa. When I returned home, I was supposed to get dressed up for a special dinner. We had appetizers at one home, my husband cooked Osso Bucco for the main course at our house and then we had dessert at another home. It was the BEST Valentines ever.

Last year, the hubbies did their own individual things. You can read here what Dave did. However, this year Dave decided to initiate the progressive dinner again. We invited two new couples and once again it was AMAZING! There was no spa or lunch and I think the women helped a little bit this year since it was on a Friday. We had a great time. Here is just a sampling of what our men prepared:

Appetizer course:

Pomegranate martinis and mojitos (which contributed to a slow Saturday)

Thinly sliced and seared beef tenderloin with Yukon Gold potatoes.

Escargot , blue cheese and mushroom tapenade on endive leaves

Oysters Rockefeller

Gourmet Cheese plate with olives

Crab toast points

Main course:

Light salt tasting with Sourdough bread (photo of the salts)
Baby spinach salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

Slow Cooked Local Organic Beef Shortrib

Sweet Potato with Carmelized Onion (this was to die for!)

Orzo with garlic, parmesan & spinach

And a surprise mini cheeseburger to keep it casual

Dessert Course:

Grand Marnier Creme Brulee

Fresh peach tart with Mascarpone cream and Vanilla ice cream

Port wine

A box of incredible handmade dark chocolate truffles from here for each couple to take home!

The men really outdid themselves. The food was great and they waited on us hand and foot. Candles were lit everywhere, the drinks flowed and so did the laughter. It was a great evening with friends and sweethearts. The husbands all gave one of the guys an old photo from childhood and they made a banner, menus and a wine label that said Four Grapes Cabernet ...Sassy Vineyards. I would post it but two of us were not exactly thrilled with the photos our husbands chose so I thought it be best to leave that private.

Our progressive dinner party.

Yesterday Kate and I were invited to the most incredible Valentine party ever. A friend of a friend does this every year and she kindly invited me and Kate this year. The photos speak for themsleves but the party included , hair styling, fingernail painting, dress-up, fairtytales, yummy delicacies, and everything girly you could possibly imagine!

My newest little Valentine!

And finally...here is a funny conversation from the car this week that I don't want to forget:

Harry: Mom, Grace won the math race at school. Girls are just smarter than boys.
Me: Silently smirking with surprise and amusement.
Will: They aren't smarter, Harry. They just mature faster.

NOTE--As you know blogger is not spell checking and I am a terrible typist so please ignore any errors.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Updated: I added some photos of my "crafts" at the bottom. Since I am very craft challenged, these are a big accomplishment for me. He he!

We had a wonderful time with our friends last night celebrating Chinese New Year. Here are some collages of our festivities. The slideshow is a litte long. I am so glad that we have met Denise and her family!

Oranges are considered good luck for the new year, Kate's chopsticks, cupcakes Harry and I made, red envelopes for the kids, red tulips, CNY decorations, Asian pastries (they were not a hit), some sweet gifts from Denise, and more decorations.

Kim, Kate and Denise

If you click on a photo in the slideshow, you can read the caption.

Other news this week...Kate's talking has just exploded! She says everything we say. I started a list of her words but she is constantly saying new ones. Some new words include "hedgehog (Will taught her), princess, Rella (for Cinderella which we watched together this week and she sat in my lap the whole time), and chocolate. She is putting a few words together too. She is even starting to sing songs (Twinkle, twinkle, head, shoulders, knees and toes). Then she surprised us all this week by counting to six! We can sometimes get to 10 (although she gets performance anxiety). We had no idea she could count! So, she is not only beautiful but she is smart too;) Yes, I am a proud Mama.


Speaking of being proud...Will was selected as Star Student this week! Harry has been chosen a few times this year but this was Will's first time. Great job Will!


I am finding lots of things to do with my "found" time since I am not blogging for Lent. I have been quite crafty. I have made a beautiful set of coasters, some cards, a little Valentine with Kate and the Chinese New Year banner in the pictures.

Here are the coasters I made at MOPS, Kate's first craft (a valentine butterfly), and my banner.


Next week, I will share the wonderful surprise Dave has planned for Valentine's Day!

Have a good week !

This is going to be really hard!

Tonight at dinner my boys wanted to go around the table and share what we will be doing and/or giving up for Lent. The first thing that popped into my head was blogging. I ignored that thought because I really enjoy blogging. I like to write and I love posting photos. However, as much as I tried to push the idea away, it came back into my mind even stronger. I want to be a good Christian and a good example for my kids. They are choosing really tough things. Harry is giving up his favorite Wii game! Look at what God gave up for us.

So, I am giving up blogging for Lent. I found out only about 2 years ago (although I am a cradle Catholic and spent my whole life in Catholic school) that whatever you give up, you can do on Sundays. So, I can blog on Sundays. Those might be some mighty long posts. So there you have it----it is offical. Until Easter (March 23rd), I can only post on Sundays. I think I am still allowed to read blogs. Oh, this is going to be SO tough!!! Please wish me luck.

My last thankful Thursday post (for a while) is below.

So much to be thankful for...

I have had so much going on and I did not plan to post until tomorrow for Thankful Thurday. However, I am overwhelmed at the kindeness of people who have e-mailed me inquiring about how Elissa is doing and if she had her baby. I had no idea people would be checking so much. Sorry that I did not get to post it right away. Thank you for praying for my friend and checking in on her. My heart is so touched. So, I decided to be thankful a day early:)

This has been an incredible week. I have so much to be thankful for:

• Thank you for the prayers and inquiries for my friend Elissa. She had a beautiful and healthy baby boy on Monday. Jack Mason was 7 lbs. 7 oz. I have visited them twice and they are doing GREAT! Elissa is so in love with him that when I hold him, she looks longingly like she wants him back:) He is mellow and sweet and does not fuss or cry at all (yet)! She has two gorgeous daughters and is thrilled to finally have a son!


• My friend, Denise received her LOA for Maggie Mae. This is great news as now Denise will just be waiting for her consulate appointment and they will be bringing home Maggie very soon. We will be celebrating Chinese New Year with them this weekend so now we have even more to celebrate! I will definitely post pictures of our celebration!


• My neighbor recieved her referral on Monday for her beautiful daughter, Lily. Lily will live right around the corner and she is just a few months younger than Kate. We are so excited for her to come home.


• Kate Emerson has been home with us for just as long as she lived with her foster family in China (10 months). As people who have adopted internationally know, this is a turning point of sorts. She has now known us for as long as she knew her first family. Hopefully, she now feels secure in the love of her forever family.


• Kate got her ears pierced this weekend and she did GREAT! She barely cried for a few seconds after it was done. I immediately gave her a lollipop and the crying was over. They look adorable and she likes to look at them in the mirror. I am thankful that it went so easily (Dad held her) and that she doesn't touch, fuss or play with them. Thanks Debbie, Kim and Leslie for answering all of my questions and giving me guidance about how to do this.


• I am thankful that I have been able to watch the moving journey of a blog buddy in China this week. Lynn from Somewhere in the Sun has been writing about bringing home Olivia. Grab a cup of tea and a box of tissues and go read about this heartwarming adventure of pure love. They are on their way home and I am so thankful for the prayers support she received these past few weeks. Olivia made changes everyday right before our eyes. Go read it!

I made a short slideshow of some things from this week. I have not been able to get a really good picture of Kate this week to show of her new earrings. Got one in the tub but I shot in it RAW mode on my camera and it will not upload properly..need advice on that.

Please help

China is experiencing a severe weather crises. As many of you know, parts of China are plagued with snow and freezing temperatures like they have never encountered before. As one person described it...it would be akin to Miami getting a Boston blizzard. They simply are not equipped to handle this weather. People do not have heat or electricity, pipes are bursting, hosptials are closed. It is a dire situation. Orphanages are running out of food and diapers. One organization I know that is helping the orphanages get heaters, supplies, diapers etc is Half the Sky. Please consider making a donation. You can click on the name above to go to the site. I cannot imagine these children who are all alone to begin with, hungry and wet and cold. It absolutely breaks my heart to imagine the children and all of the families and what they are going through. They need our help. Even if you can only give a little bit, it could mean a warm blanket to a freezing child. I know about 600-700 people are reading this site on weekdays. I hope that in some small way, we can make a difference.

P.S. My spell check on blogger is not working so I apologize in advance for any typos or errors.

Words

Kate has been home 10 months and is 20 months old today. I wanted to take note of her developmental progress for my own record. I am sure this is not interesting to most of you but I don't have a baby book, so here is where I keep track.

She is doing so well. He fine motor skills are amazing. As you might have read, she can lock and unlock doors, use chopsticks, feed herself beautifully, build amazingly tall block towers, drink from a cup (without a lid and sippy). She can almost snap her fingers and (one of her much older brothers still cannot snap-which has become a family joke because we think he'll never snap). She is not too interested in puzzles yet.

Kate gross motor skills are getting better. She walks quite clumsily and is a little flat footed but it is getting better everyday. She loves the little gym and is especially fond of the singing there.

Her favorite things to do with me are having tea parties, reading books and singing fingerplay songs. She loves itsy bitsy spider, twinkle twinkle, five little monkeys sitting in the tree, where is thumbkin, patty cake, etc. She would sit all day and do those with me. In fact, I could learn some more if anyone wants to share.

Kate does not really play with toys. She would much rather follow me around and "help" with the laundry, empty the dishwasher and cling to my legs.

She enjoy TV a little. I do not generally like for little ones to watch TV but I have found that is the only way I can shower and cook dinner. So, I let her watch a tiny bit. Her favorites are Dora and the Wiggles. I would rather she play but it is impossible to cook with a 26 pound weight around my legs. If the boys are finished with their homework they will have stroller races around the house with her while I cook.

Kate is doing great with her language development. I wanted to list the words she says because I know I will forget...

Mom

Mama

Mommy (this is her universal word for "I want"..she'll scream Mommy, mommy, mommy and it does not mean me--it means "I want that!")

Daddy

Will (wheel)

Harry (habu)

more
thank you

please

hi

hello

bye

eat

juice

drink milk

pizza

cheese

fish

water

chip

cracker

bunny

cheerio

puppy

dog

duck

dinner (and she says it like she calling one to DIIIINNNERRR)

toothbrush

uh-oh

ear

nose

toes

up

down

open (sounds like uppy)

night night

book

orange

apple

pear

banana

chopstick

hedgehog (Hmmm guess who taught her this one)

princess

ladybug

bear

potty

bath

hot

milk

bow

shoe

boy

lovey (wubby)

Elmo

Dora

George (as in Curious)

Wiggles (she watches one of these shows while I shower each day)

Ruby (as in her friend Ruby Mei and Ruby from Max and Ruby)

all done

no more

twinkle (her favorite song is twinkle twinkle little star ans he does all the hand motions)

She even put some words together such as "bye bye toothbrush." We thought she was saying Bye bye stupid and we were rather upset because we do not say stupid in our house. But it was toothbrush. She says "too hot" if her milk or food is hot. And she says I love you. I know she says even more than this but I cannot think of them all now.

The first time ever I saw your face...

Please pray for my very dear friend, Elissa. She has norovirus and is supposed to have her baby by c-section on Monday. She is very sick. Thank you.

Today is the one year anniversary of our referral for Kate Emerson. I will never forget this day one year ago. I literally buzzed with excitement all day. I sat at my kitchen table reading the Rumor Queen site (a site for people adotping from China) and my Yahoo group as people across the country started getting "THE CALL." I knew we made the cut-off. In fact, we were the first date but my phone was not ringing. Finally, at about 3:00 p.m., I could not take it any longer and I called my agency. I said, "I am so sorry to bother you but I know a lot of agencies have received referrals and I was wondering if you have received a package." Our coordinator said, "Yes, we have." I said, "Oh, okay then I'll hang up and you can call me when you are ready." She said, "I can tell you now, Kim." I did not know what to say. This was not how I had planned it. I was supposed to be getting the call not making the call. Where was my sheet of paper to write everything down?

I began crying immediately and she said, "Kim--I am looking at your daughter and she has the most beautiful face. She has big, full, beautiful cheeks." She continued to tell me all of the details that I had waited for years to hear (birth date, location, etc) I only got the very basics and said, "Please go call the others (in our group) now." I knew they were all waiting as anxiously as I had been.

About two hours later, they e-mailed us Kate's photo. We gathered around my laptop to see her for the first time as a family. I remember feeling very excited but very nervous. What if she looked sad or lonely? How would I endure the next 8-10 weeks until she was home? I had spent years dreaming about what my little girl would look like and that image had changed over the years. Now the time was finally here. I had practiced with the boys showing them referral photos of other families for months. I wanted to prepare them that she might look sad or skinny or even a little sickly (sometimes they do). But nothing prepared us for the moment we would see the little girl that God chose for our family.

Before I opened the file, I reminded the boys that if they couldn't say something nice, not to say anything at all. We opened the files and Will immediately said, "She is so beautiful." Harry and Dave were stunned and silent which is consistent with their personalities. I , of course, commented on how huge she was (she was not even 6 months old in these photos). I thought she was so beautiful and my heart instantly grew but I think the biggest feeling was anticipation and curiosity. I wondered why God and the CCAA matched us with this baby. Why was she the perfect fit for our family? What was her personality like? I have always been far more interested in what is on the inside. So, I could not wait to find out more about her.

I have heard many people say they fell in love with the picture. I think back to the first time I saw Kate. I remember thinking she looked so plump. She was not smiling and I wondered if she was sad. I remember thinking that she was beautiful and that her eyes had a story to tell. I laughed that they had her out in the street...in traffic. I had never seen that before in a referral photo. Now that I know Kate, she is the happiest, jolliest, sweetest baby there is. She does not even resemble that baby in the referral photo.

I remember thinking that I loved her immediately. But looking back it was probably not love the way I define love now. I was infatuated with those referral photos and I showed them to every store clerk, teacher, bank teller and person I came in contact with. I could not stop staring at my gorgeous daughter. I felt as though I noticed new things about her everyday. But love--love comes from caring for someone. Love is not a feeling. You cannot really love a picture of someone. Love is an action, a decision. Love is getting up at 3 a.m. every morning to let your daughter know that you are there and that she is okay. Love is reading Goodnight Moon again and again even though you have read it 200 times and know every word by heart. Love is having endless tea parties when you should be doing the laundry. Love is keeping watch over a sick child. Love is wiping bottoms and drying tears. Love is looking at your daughter in the rear view mirror and her smiling back and saying, "Happy" (she does this). Love is hearing her say, "I love you." for the first time. Love is doing everything we can to help our children grow into strong, giving and happy people.

This week Kate Emerson Ru has been in our family for 10 months. I love her to the very depths of my soul. All of those questions I had a year ago about why God chose her for our family have been answered. She has made our family grow in ways I would have never dreamed possible. She has taught me lessons that I needed to learn. She has changed me more than anything in my whole life has changed me. So, this is a very special day for us. One I will always treasure.

Playing in traffic.

These were the first photos we ever saw of our daughter.

Our beautiful and happy daughter now!

Kate now--holding the referral photo. Kate has a little cold and watery eyes so she doens't look like her jolly self. Trust me, this was not an easy shot to get (you might even see a pink bribery M&M in Kate's mouth). My blog friend does this every year and I thought it was a great idea.



Below is a poem I read on another blog a while ago that I think sums up a lot of the feelings we get around referral. Thank you sweet, anonymous blogger for letting me "borrow" it. I hope you need it back very soon.

LOOKING FOR YOUR FACE

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it.

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for.

Today I have found you
and those that laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did.

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you with a hundred eyes.

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold.

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine.

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden
You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow.

My soul is screaming in ecstasy
Every fiber of my being
is in love with you.

Your effulgence has lit a fire in my heart
and you have made radiant for me
the earth and sky.

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer.

A Poem written by J. Rumi, 13th Century mystic poet.

P.S.-- Will was chosen to have a very special part in his school Mass today. He was chosen to be the cross bearer which he has always wanted to do. I thought about that this morning because Kate and Harry and I will all be at the Mass today. We can thank God as a family for answering our prayers a year ago today:)

I prayed for this child and the Lord granted my request.

1 Samuel 1:27