Catching Butterflies Two: St. Martin's fire

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

St. Martin's fire

St. Martin was a knight in Roman times. He was riding his horse when he saw a beggar at the side of the road. The beggar was freezing cold, so St. Martin cut his cloak in two with his sword, and shared it with him. Most German kindergartens have a bon fire to celebrate St Martin. Sarah's kindergarten had a little program to celebrate fire tonight. It's not a Christian kindergarten so they basically left St Martin out of it. The whole thing was pretty cold and short. Nothing like past programs I've been to with the other kids...or even Sarah's last kindergarten. Just 2 songs and then we stood in line for food. By the time we got our hotdog, there was no place to sit down. We ended up leaving. Sarah was sad we had to go. I was cold and I didn't want to just stand in the cold! I am a little sick and I am proud of myself for showing up.

Do not depend on the hope of results. You may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results, but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship that saves everything.

Welcome to my blog! This is a special needs adoption blog. The blog is mostly about our Chinese daughter Sarah. I also blog about Philip and Thomas who are from Thailand. They make our lives full and interesting. I would not have it any other way! Maybe adoption would be right for you too? There are around 150 million orphans in the world. 50 million are available for adoption. The sad thing is most will never know the love of a family. If you have thought about adoption maybe you should take that next step? It isn't always easy or perfect but it is worth any cost. It's like being the fairy godmother to Cinderella. You are the one who makes it possible for them to go to the ball. There is nothing like it...adoption is wonderful!

WHY DO WE CALL IT CATCHING BUTTERFLIES?

Well, this might sound a little strange to some people if you don't believe in God, and his direction, but here is the story... I was going to visit my best friend Cindy who lives in San Diego. I live in Germany. This was just after Christmas Dec 2005. Cindy has a small group Bible study group she meets with. She mentioned to them we (myself and 3 of my kids) where coming for a visit. The group prayed for us. One of the people had what is known in the Bible as a word of knowledge. That basically means they had a vision or prophetic word from God. They said they see me catching butterflies. When Cindy told me this, I knew right away it had something to do with the adoption. At the time we had not even made a final decision to adopt again, but I wanted to adopt. I just thought it meant I was collecting beautiful children. Anyway, when I saw the face of my new daughter Sarah on a waiting child s list March 2006, I just knew she was the one. I noticed she had butterflies on her ball in the photo of her, but made no connection with the word of knowledge. I showed the picture to my daughter Nicole, who was 12 years old at the time, and much smarter then I. The first thing she said was"OH, she is catching butterflies"