Mother's Day 2006

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, and Steve and I are missing our daughter Abby Hannah and frustrated about how long we are having to wait to travel to China to meet our second daughter.
Here is a poem by Dr. Vera of Alexandria Hospital, which he wrote for the special memorial service for the babies who died. It begins as follows:

May Morning

In May I walk under radiant sunlight, from the parking lot, past the wall of perfumed blue irises and the flowering Tree of Rememberance, with its purple ribbons fluttering in the lovely breeze....

Please check it out at:
http://home.comcast.net/~slcook/Vera-Poem.pdf

Webinar: "Adopting the Orphanage Child"

Catherine and I took an excellent Web Seminar last night on "Adopting the Orphanage Child."

Much of the information was similar to what we had heard in our International Adoption class. However, it was good to hear things again, and the guest speaker, Todd Ochs, MD, has five adopted daughters from China, so he has some good first-hand knowledge.

Here is a sample slide from the talk:

May 7: Memorial Service at Inova Alexandria

Today we went to a Candlelight services for our stillborn daughter Abigail Hannah. Steve was a speaker at the event. We had prayer flags, candles, and interacted with the nursing staff bereavement counselors, and also a few physicians and neonatologist. Steve and I were crying. They had harp playing delicate music and it was beautiful. I saw some of the nurses and Orpha from the Alexandria Hospital. There was so much to include in his remarks but Steve didn't want to publish them here. The chaplain said he had not heard as profound words as this is fifty years. Some of the couples were freshly grieving with a recent loss. I need to read over the literature and sort through the items brought home little paper roses with flowers embedded in them. The prayer hearts disintegrate and the prayer is released to the wind. An eastern prayer tradition. They also had the Jewish washing of hands after your return from visiting the dead you wash your hands in order to return to the living. It was sad to know these babies so briefly touched our lives. It was harsh when Steve said his words were about Abby and this blog for the new baby.