Hope and a $1.99

I love this outfit, but not because Duc looks good in yellow.

I bought this outfit two years ago about this time. In those days only Kristen knew that I harbored a hope that someday I would also have a son. We had begun the China process only the Fall before. She sent her dossier to China a few weeks before I did and our log in dates were within four days of each other. It was crazy that I longed for this son when I had logged into China only a few months before. But I did. And she knew.

In those days we would shop for clothes for our future baby girls. On this particular shopping trip I found myself wandering to the other side of the Children’s Place store. You know, the blue side. On this particular day I found this little onesie/shorts outfit. I wasn’t particular drawn to it other than it was on sale for $1.99 and I could afford a little fantasy for only $2.

When I returned home to Indiana I tucked all my daughter’s clothes away in her closet, but this outfit…I couldn’t part with. I placed it next to my bed. It was the last thing I saw at night and the first thing I saw when I woke up. I often held it up to my face and prayed a silent prayer into it. One day, I hoped, a son would fill it.

Every day months I repeated that same routine. And one day in October I finally tucked it away in one of the drawers in my room. I thought my dream had ended. Not even a month later, on November 4th, I pulled it out again and the journey began. It does my heart good to see him wearing it.

And now a mishmash of photos:I am trying to shoot more in manual on my camera. I usually shoot underexposed, but decided to go the other direction and I actually like how it turned out. This is basically how it came out of the camera. I sharpened the photo slightly, but that was all. I love this photos of my dad and Sienna.My son, mom and niece playing among the flowers.Riding horsey. the crazy thing? They actually have horses and mules/donkeys/whatever just past their property line that come up to the fence to interact.

He loves his cousin. As soon as she would stick his pacifier back in his mouth she would turn to do something else. He would toss it and yell after her and the whole thing repeated. It was pretty funny. He loves her and they play so well together despite the age difference.