Christmas in April?

I did not write a Christmas letter this last year. I admit it. I let go of a time-honored tradition in our family. I put it off, let it slide, and finally dropped it all together. We had a lot going on. I was finishing the last class of my Master's program at Temple, work was demanding, Christmas brought with it the usual assortment of concerns and activities ... and ... we had this little adoption thing going on.

I was committed to the idea of adoption. I was firm in my resolve. But, I was still compiling all the mental and emotional resources that you need to make this exciting, happy, and challenging thing known to all our family, friends, and co-workers. It was Christmas-time, and I couldn't quite pull all that together.

But here we are in April of 2009 and we are in waiting mode again. We're waiting for our “login date” from the Chinese adoption officials. After that, we'll be waiting again for the much-anticipated Letter Of Approval that will finally say, for sure, that we can bring Jonathan Futing Shafer to the U.S.

So, while we wait, I am thinking about how this adventure started. If I had written a Christmas letter it would have mentioned this guy, Mr. Plumbean. Mr. Plumbean is the main character in one of my all time favorite children's books: The Big Orange Splot. The story goes that Mr. Plumbean lives on a nice, neat street where all the houses look alike. One day, a seagull drops a can of orange paint on Mr. Plumbean's house, leaving a big old splot on his roof. That prompts Mr. Plumbean to make a series of dramatic changes to his house, much to his delight and to his neighbors dismay. When challenged, Mr. Plumbean says “My house is me and I am it. My house is where I like to be and it looks like all my dreams.”

I know that, strictly speaking, this children's story is about self-expression and art. But it really reminds me of our choice to adopt. Somewhere along the line, Kim and I realized that our family (our “house”) wasn't like everyone else's and that it didn't need to be. We also realized that adoption would introduce a certain amount of mess and chaos into our lives, but that was OK too. The alternative would be to stay nice and neat, like every other house on the street.

To me, this funny little story is about freeing yourself enough from the expectations of others to pursue some good thing that you are uniquely suited to do. For us, that was adoption. For another person, another family, it'll be something different. But whatever it is, it won't be neat.

The good news is, that Mr. Plumbean's attitude rubs off on his neighbors. In the end every house on the street is transformed. It's not a neat street, but all the neighbors say “This is our street and we are it. Our street looks like all our dreams.”

We believe the risks of adoption are worth taking. Some risk-takers inspired us. Maybe we can inspire others. Hebrews 10:24 says “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Sounds like Mr. Plumbean and us are in good company.