So long, farewell...

Emily is currently obsessed with "The Sound of Music". I infinitely prefer this to the recent obsession with all things Disney princess, specifically Snow White (d*** you, Michael Eisner!!! Those ubiquitous little princesses!!!), who aren't my idea of a prime female role model for my daughter. Belle would be the exception, though. Rather than simpering around for some perfect man to come make her life fabulous, she's a regular girl who rises to a great challenge, sees beyond the superficial, and shows some courage. But it was Snow White Emily latched on to. I learned to live with her. She spends a lot of time singing about this guy she's only met briefly but will live with forever, but at least the girl knows her way around a broom. I'll admit to pretty significant amusement over my little pumpkin sticking her head into any type of hole--shower, trash can, dryer--and singing:

"I wissing... I wissing...
forrrr, wunnn, yooove...
to fine meee... to fine meee...
to-day.... to-day..."

I'd made it through Emily's first two years without her being aware of the Disney princess phenomenon. However, last Christmas, shortly after she turned 2, her Uncle Jim and Aunt Teresa sent her a Disney princess seek-and-find book. Within a few months, she was utterly obsessed with all things princess, which is easy enough to do given that these bloody girls are EV-ER-Y-WHERE. Really. Home Depot, electronics stores, and goodness knows Wal-mart. Emily would go bonkers when I was sifting through Sunday coupons because she saw a tiny little princess figure on one of those checks by mail flyers. *sigh* And every trip to every store brought more of the neverending magic that is all things Princess. Ugh. Emily's soaring joy at the spotting of a princess led to Daddy--the softie--getting her a "pincess piyyow", "pincess hairband", "pincess steeker book", etc., which I didn't protest because she didn't ask for them but did light up like a Christmas tree when her daddy showed them to her. I told John, however, to warn his brother that one of their kids would be getting a drum set from us sometime this year.

But much to my relief, she has transitioned back into "The Sound of Music" in the last few weeks, which is fine because her mother can lip sync the entire movie. After tucking her into bed, we hear her upstairs singing "Doe, dee-ah, lala dee-ah... Rayyy, dwop gunnen suuuunnnn!!" Memories of years in community theater are coming back to me and I'm imagining the two of us in a local production of musicals someday.

Seems today that her favorite song is the "So Long, Farewell" song. You know, the one with the cuckoos. Our babysitter, Becca, told us that Emily was upstairs singing many cuckoos after she was supposed to go to bed. Today as I got her room ready for her nap, I heard her slowly making her way up the stairs by scooching on her bottom like Gretl, singing:

"Suuuunnn... goooonnne... bed, so muss I-I..."

I hid behind the doorway and laughed silently until the tears rolled down my face. Then she was quiet and I peeked to find her lying on the top of the landing the way Gretl does. Oh, the toddler drama.

Speaking of farewells, major event last night. Becca, Emily's beloved babysitter, came over so John and I could attend a retirement dinner over at the Pacific Aviation Museum on Pearl Harbor. (Very, very cool.) Emily was so excited about Becca's arrival that when John and I walked out the door to bye-bye waves and the signs for "I Love You", we looked at each other and laughed. John remarked, "She doesn't give a flip that we're leaving!". I noted that we must be two of the only parents on the planet who were delighted at that development. For so much of her life, Emily was very much a koala baby who really didn't handle being left well at all, so this is a thrilling and freeing step for us. I only wish Becca weren't PCSing next week--this cheery, warm young woman is going to be sorely missed.

In Memory of Maria Sue Chapman

I don't have the words to articulate how my heart aches for the family of Steven Curtis Chapman, a beloved Christian music artist, over the loss of their youngest daughter, Maria. I've signed every blog or post I could find, prayed in rambling words for their comfort, and wondered what in the world I could do. I'm not generally very impressed by "celebrity", but the thing is... he's not. He's a genuinely devoted man of God, husband, and daddy whose music has been a major part of so many believers' lives for years, and somehow the loss of this precious child seems so personal to tens of thousands of people across the world.

This tragedy just knocked us all breathless, and it comes on the heels of the death of a little boy hundreds of us online moms knew during his four-year struggle against leukemia. Samuel Backus was beloved by countless people who never met his family, and the brutal final weeks before his death--which eclipsed the horror of the previous four years--has left us grieving in a profound way. (Please visit www.samuelbackus.com for a gut-wrenching journal of courage and love in action.)

The work the Chapmans have done for international adoption over the years has made an eternal impact for God's glory, and in my overdeveloped sense of justice, I don't understand how this could happen. I trust, I TRUST, that God will turn this unimaginable loss to His glory and somehow bring beauty from ashes.

Chapman family, you don't know me, but I'm one of so many who feels like she knows you. Your marriage, your parenting, your living for Christ have been part of my life for so long that it feels like extended family. Three of your songs were even used in our wedding, including the precious song you wrote for the children born in your heart, (When Love Takes You In). We deeply grieve your loss, desperately wish we could do anything to ease it, and surround you in prayer and love.

I'm just so very sorry. I'm so glad you know without question that you will be together with your baby girl again. May God bring that day soon.