Yesterday, we celebrated the second anniversary of our son E becoming a part of our family. It was hard to believe it has been 2 years since we landed in Chicago and brought him home. This day is always bittersweet to me and mixed with emotion, so much happiness that we are a family and feelings of so much loss remembering boarding the plane to leave Guatemala, leaving his culture and all that we had experienced during our time there behind. God has truly bless us and everyday with E, the Lord's glory shines brighter and brighter.
We were privileged to see Marimba Ixchel perform again this year in Chicago and enjoyed some platillos of homemade Guatemalan cooking. Marimba Ixchel is a Guatemalan Cultural Organization which teaches Guatemalan youth traditional music and dancing. E was pretty young last year and a bit under the weather. This year, with the exception of being very frightened of the Pollo Campero inflatable chicken, he had a ball with the other kids that were around his age running around and being his silly self. We finally talked him into leaving at 10:00 pm and enjoyed his "I had fun mom" and "oh look, luna, luna" all the way home. Sweet boy, I am glad you enjoyed your Adoption Day!
We drug ourselves out of bed after the late night in time for 9:00 mass (T was signed on to be a cup server) and were greeted at the door with a kind request to bring up the gift, yikes, T and I quickly assessed out options....4 ciborium, one pitcher full of wine, an opinionated 2 year old, light colored carpet....hmmmm, we better start praying. So the plan was I would carry 2 ciborium and the pitcher and Ted would carry the other 2 and keep a free hand to wrangle E if he decided to A. take off, B. refuse to walk or C. well, there were quite a few other scenarios we played out in our heads. For a second we thought, hmm, could he carry a ciboria? No, that's ridiculous, we can't even keep him in control walking a few feet for communion, then there is the tipping plate thing. You can almost calculate it, the distance X times the diameter of the plate D = the angle at which the food will fall off the plate. Well we got to the table and E had another plan, he let us know immediately that he wasn't going anywhere unless he was carrying a ciboria. As we stood behind the alter sever waiting to start the long walk towards the front of the church, E held the ciboria with both hands and a look in his eyes like a race horse at the starting gate. Oh boy, I repeated out loud,"Jesus help us, please Lord help us". I have never had a heart attack, but I think I know what one feels like after today. When the alter server moved, E charged down the aisle, ciboria in hand right to the waiting priest who had knelt down to greet him. When T and I arrived, we both sighed in relief and I realized I had held my breath the entire way. E was of course beaming with as smile ear to ear. We are so proud of you big boy!
We were privileged to see Marimba Ixchel perform again this year in Chicago and enjoyed some platillos of homemade Guatemalan cooking. Marimba Ixchel is a Guatemalan Cultural Organization which teaches Guatemalan youth traditional music and dancing. E was pretty young last year and a bit under the weather. This year, with the exception of being very frightened of the Pollo Campero inflatable chicken, he had a ball with the other kids that were around his age running around and being his silly self. We finally talked him into leaving at 10:00 pm and enjoyed his "I had fun mom" and "oh look, luna, luna" all the way home. Sweet boy, I am glad you enjoyed your Adoption Day!
We drug ourselves out of bed after the late night in time for 9:00 mass (T was signed on to be a cup server) and were greeted at the door with a kind request to bring up the gift, yikes, T and I quickly assessed out options....4 ciborium, one pitcher full of wine, an opinionated 2 year old, light colored carpet....hmmmm, we better start praying. So the plan was I would carry 2 ciborium and the pitcher and Ted would carry the other 2 and keep a free hand to wrangle E if he decided to A. take off, B. refuse to walk or C. well, there were quite a few other scenarios we played out in our heads. For a second we thought, hmm, could he carry a ciboria? No, that's ridiculous, we can't even keep him in control walking a few feet for communion, then there is the tipping plate thing. You can almost calculate it, the distance X times the diameter of the plate D = the angle at which the food will fall off the plate. Well we got to the table and E had another plan, he let us know immediately that he wasn't going anywhere unless he was carrying a ciboria. As we stood behind the alter sever waiting to start the long walk towards the front of the church, E held the ciboria with both hands and a look in his eyes like a race horse at the starting gate. Oh boy, I repeated out loud,"Jesus help us, please Lord help us". I have never had a heart attack, but I think I know what one feels like after today. When the alter server moved, E charged down the aisle, ciboria in hand right to the waiting priest who had knelt down to greet him. When T and I arrived, we both sighed in relief and I realized I had held my breath the entire way. E was of course beaming with as smile ear to ear. We are so proud of you big boy!
