Adoption Day

Today marks 1 year since Ezra's adoption was finalized in court. To celebrate, we gathered with close friends for dinner and cake.

The invite

A special cake... Made by our friends at Bloom

So happy about his party, hasn't even noticed his friends smooching in the corner!

With our lovely nanny

Friends

With Mama

Babies

As Production Not Reproduction (another adoption blogger I follow) wisely put, the way we usually celebrate Mothers Day (and Fathers Day, Valentines Day, for that matter) distinctly divides people into two categories - either you're an insider, or you're an outsider. You're a mother (father/valentine), or you're not a mother (father/valentine). If you aren't necessarily desiring to be an insider, this may not be a big deal. If you are, it's a whole different story. Personally, as someone who is currently "in-between" (though sometimes feeling inadequately in-between since I don't have the "belly" to prove it) - not quite a mother yet, but hoping and praying to be one very soon - I wasn't sure what feelings and emotions to anticipate as Mothers Day came closer.

I decided early on that I didn't want to sulk. This was much easier said than done of course - Genilson and I did have several melancholy moments on our way to a Mothers Day lunch, asking God why it hasn't happened for us yet (why? oh why?) - but I knew and was determined that I did not want to be miserable all day. I wanted to celebrate motherhood, not feel depressed about it... after all, motherhood is what I've been yearning for throughout this entire process, not something I want to feel awful about.

As I contemplated what to get my own mother and grandmother for Mothers Day this year, I extended my decision not to be gloomy by making another decision. I knew the documentary film Babies was coming out Mothers Day weekend, I knew I wanted to see it, and I figured since my mom and grandma were perhaps the best people to see it with... why not see it on Mothers Day? Yes, of course I questioned whether watching a film about babies would just make me more depressed on an already difficult day. But I decided I wouldn't let it. Instead of watching the film through the perspective that motherhood is something I don't currently have, I decided to see it from the outlook that motherhood is a blessing still to come.

I'm so thankful I did. I got to spend the afternoon enjoying and laughing at the sweetness, simplicity and hilarity that is babies with the two mothers who had a direct hand in my own upbringing. Babies is beautifully done; it celebrates motherhood in ways that no other film could, and though I maybe walked away wanting to join the community of motherhood even more than I did before (not sure that's possible, but maybe), I'm glad I chose to celebrate the beauty and mystery of motherhood on such an appropriate day to do so. x

{For those of you who haven't heard about it, Babies is a new documentary by French filmmaker Thomas Balmès who simultaneously follows four babies around the world - Namibia, Mongolia, Japan, US - starting at birth up until their first steps. It shows us that while cultures have distinctly different ways of caring for their children, "babyhood" still looks strikingly similar no matter where or who you are. Highly recommended.}

{trailer}

April Showers

Some very generous ladies from Sunrise (church) blessed us last Saturday with a lovely baby shower in preparation for our little one (no, no word yet... still waiting). Some snapshots...








{a good friend's little one... our youngest guest}



Such nice gifts (lots of yellow + green!)... hopefully baby will come along soon. x

Diversity at BOSS

This morning we visited Bayside Church of South Sacramento (BOSS). There are several multicultural/diverse churches in the area that we know of, but this is one we've actually been curious about anyway - I've come across some of their ministries to the homeless and families in need through work at Chab Dai, Genilson heard Bishop Sherwood speak at a recent men's retreat - so we thought we'd check it out.

Boy were we impressed. It was such a tremendous blessing to visit a church so abundantly full of life, so multicultural, diverse and on fire for God, the surrounding community, and their communal journey of faith. Of course, this is not to say that other churches we have visited, attended or receive support from are not devoted, on fire or doing great things :), we absolutely LOVE our current faith community - it's more to say that we could truly appreciate BOSS, its people, its multiculturalism, and its particular strengths. It certainly reminded us of church culture in Brazil, and it was a joy for me to watch Genilson as he joined in on the dancing during worship and 'Amen, Hallelujahs' during the message - something very common at his own home church in Aracaju.

Bishop Sherwood's message this morning focused on forgiveness. True forgiveness. Serious forgiveness. Having a forgiving attitude and lifestyle. Realizing that as God's children we are expected to forgive others because we are forgiven ourselves, and that the lack of forgiving others in our lives sends a message to our community - and to God - that we think we are "above" it, that we think we are better or that we don't need forgiveness ourselves. It was powerful, convicting and very real. We loved it.

We loved our visit, we loved the message, we loved the diverse community. We think it will be a great place to build relationships and possibly offer our child access to their racial and cultural heritage. We may visit some other options, but this will be hard to beat. A definite positive is that BOSS has a Saturday evening service, so we can easily attend without having to sacrifice the relationships and/or commitment we have already built at Sunrise and other faith communities. We're excited. :)

Thanks for reading.