Waiting for Ruby

Little Red

I love so many different kinds of music,but one of my all time favorite albums is Joni Mitchell's Blue. Last year while listening to the song Little Green with my mother I told her the story behind the song,and she said "Oh you should sing it to Ruby,but change it to little red." Well,it took me a while to sit down and write it,but I did:

Little Red

Born with the moon in (Ruby's astrological sign)

Choose her a name she will answer to

Call her red,like ladybeetles and the little wagon we'll pull

Call her red,just like the crimson jewel

Little red,sometimes you can break the rules

EAT CAKE BEFORE DINNER AND DON'T WIPE YOUR SHOES! (Deviating from the tune original tune,this line will be more boisterous!)

Little red,be a gypsy dancer (my favorite line because to me it means-be free and do what makes you happy)

Just a little red,like the flame always burning in our hearts for you

There are so many things to share,with you,our little love,Ruby Claire

Just a little red,like scarlet begonias and the harvest sunset

There'll be strawberry cream,and life will be just a dream

And we'll be there,to comfort our little Ruby Claire

When your balloon floats away,and it just isn't your day

Little red,sometimes it will come down again

I wanted to keep the lyrics simple,and I didn't want to put sorrowful lines in it. For the end,where Joni's song says "sometimes there'll be sorrow" I wanted to come down to a child's level of "sorrow". I thought about what made me feel sad when I was small-I remembered the sinking feeling in my stomach when my Dad told me to hold on tight to my balloon so it wouldn't fly away,but I couldn't or wouldn't, so it did.

My illustration is very greatly inspired by an illustration from one of my favorite children's books for the very young,Emily's Balloon by Komako Sakai.

More "little red" posts to come....

Family Update

I am still creating,learning the violin, and waiting. There will be pictures of my creations to come. Right now we are in deep thought over here after hearing more news of delays with our adoption process. Though we will wait until the cows come home for our little Ruby Claire(possibly another two years!!!!!),we have been looking into other options to add one or even two more children to our family. It is even possible that with the way things are going in China,Ruby will not be our first child. That hurts to even think about,because so many dreams before her were crushed,and now the dream of having her as our first child may be crushed. But we are so weary of waiting to have a family. Jealousy is not the word when everyone around you has a family,we are genuinely happy and excited when we hear the news. The best way to describe it is feeling left out. But we know, that one day this waiting will all be a memory. And we really are very patient. But some days are more difficult than others.

Waiting and Waiting

Ron and I received bad news last night that only one week's worth,instead of the usual month's worth,of log-in-dates received their referrals this month. If this continues,it will be 24 more months instead of 6 more months. We have been so very patient, but this latest news is hard to take.

We will have to wait even longer to have tea parties with this clever handmade tea set, from Mahar Drygoods, a Christmas present for Ruby. http://www.mahardrygoods.com/index.php . I can just see the children of the forest peeking out from underneath the sugar bowl. Every year I must buy her a Christmas gift to help my heart. Unfortunately, the only attachment I have to her right now is to buy her something.

We are going into NYC tomorrow so that will definitely lift our spirits a bit! There is nothing like NYC at Christmas time! We will see the Radio City Christmas spectacular with the Rockettes,and we'll take in the sights of the season there.

I am an elephant

   

I am an elephant. An elephant's gestation period is the longest of any land animal at 22 months. My husband, Ron, and I sent our dossier to China in August 2006(our log in date). It will currently be 22 months from our log in date, until we receive our referral. We have been waiting 15 months for our daughter, who we've named Ruby. Hopefully, we will only have to wait 7 more months. The China adoption process has continued to lengthen, taking a month longer every month. I want to make something great out of this wait, so I started a blog about what I am doing while I wait. I love to draw, paint, sew cute little things, and try new recipes.