"We often think of the intersections in our lives, those that are planned, those that occur by chance. Some encounters we hope for, particularly love, and alas, some meetings never happen despite what we wish. I think of how those intersections have the potential to change us, our character, our circumstances, our hopes. We think about how they add to the unfinished story of our lives"...(Amy Tan, Mei Mei, 2005) Chinese folklore speaks of invisible red threads that connect a newborn child's spirit to all the people who will be important in the child's life. As the child grows, the threads shorten, drawing closer those people who are destined. We anxiously await this special meeting, a life changing intersection which will soon take us to China to bring home our little daughter, Cali Griffin.

January 10, 2011

Flowers and Tattoos

Separately and collectively, through the last several years, we’ve cycled through both emotional highs and lows. In recent months, we even battled with the reality that maybe, although such a deep desire in each of our hearts, we weren’t called to be parents.

In the questioning moments, we always seemed to find therapeutic refuge in a shared experience. We took a couple of trips which were fun, but our most treasured times were colored with flowers and tattoos.

We’ve found great joy in planning and decorating Cali's room together. Although there was a chance for brothers and sisters to come first, her room has always been “Cali's room.” About a year ago, in a period that we just needed to do something, we painted the room pink. During the summer, we added some artwork of flowers and butterflies, created by the family artist, Bobby G. Recently, he completed his work with cherry blossoms over her crib.

Cherry blossoms are not only seen all over China, and therefore why we chose them, but are also beautifully displayed in Bobby’s adoption focused tattoo. Getting tattooed together is a favorite memory of our waiting time; I never imagined how it could play such a significant role in our story toward our baby girl! Flowers continue to have great significance in our adoption story and we hope to understand more of this as we head to China.




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