**Please note, that if you have a weak stomach, or are just flat out too dignified to see life in it's most raw form, please don't look at the last picture on this post** Amen.

When I was growing up, my brothers and I would play a game called taste test. It had nothing to do with us wanting to expand our palate with the finer foods in life, but rather, it stemmed from a deep sense of boredom as the hot summer months dictated that we spend our afternoons inside the house with nothing better to do.

In the beginning, I really enjoyed playing this game, but after being forced to eat wet cat food mixed with ritz crackers, mustard and frozen peas, I decided that the game of taste test just wasn't for me. As a result of that stomach lurching experience, I am much more cautious about the food that enters my mouth.

As fate would have it, I married a man who is willing to eat anything once, and believe me, I have seen him eat some strange stuff. While I absolutely love that about him, the truth is, I am quite leery of the food he brings home from places like China, where there is nary a English word on the packaging. Naturally, I have developed my own theories about why these foods don't have any English translations on them. This stems more from the fact that there are no such translations for some of these Chinese food products than the fact that the food was made to be bought by people who actually eat, speak and read Chinese, because the truth is, some of these foods should never touch ones mouth. It's just not right.

Take, for example, the following:



What concoction of food could possibly be in those packages? We don't know. And we never will.

What we do know is this: Isaiah loves the taste test game. He gets this macho look on his face as though he's scoring major points on the coolness scale, but I believe his driving force has more to do with the unspoken competition between he and Adam, in an effort to be the first to eat the food that comes wrapped in funny shapes, and reeks of fish paste.

As you can see in this series of photos, Isaiah won...











...but not really.



Don't say I didn't warn you!

From the deep dark pit of depravity,
Anna

...but only if you consider being permanently buried under 30 piles of dirty laundry living.

When I do manage to dig myself out from under the laundry pile, it's only because we have some sort of Pediatrician/Neurologist/Therapist/Orthotic appointment that Naomi needs to get to.

What? You had no idea? Have I really been that bad at communicating these last few months?

Okay, okay, I admit it, and I apologize. After two years of adoption updates and sharing our excitement with those of you who read this blog, my silence since bringing Naomi home has left many wondering if I had dropped off the face of this earth. And the truth is, I have...figuratively speaking anyway.

Since bringing a new body into our home, it has taken us some time to rearrange our positions in the family and figure out where each one of us falls into place. While we still have many days where we run from one appointment to the next, and do so while trying to meet the needs of everyone else in the family, we are slowly working out a routine that is conducive to our family schedule. It has taken a lot of time and extra energy to figure these things out, and as a result, the last thing I want to do is try to put together an intelligent thought on this lowly blog.

With that being said, I believe it's time to tell you a little bit more about the little girl that God has blessed us with. Before I do though, I want to clarify that there is a personal side to Naomi's story that I will not share on this public forum. That is her story to share, not ours, and we will respect that.



Naomi was born in November of 2008, just 5 days after we completed our dossier and were officially put on the waiting list to receive a child referral. She was 10 weeks premature and weighed 3 pounds. When we received her referral 14 months later, it was made known to us that she was believed to have Cerebral Palsy as a result of her premature/difficult birth. What we didn't know was the severity of her CP, and so we were left to make the knee shaking, heart knowing decision to follow God's lead. All the while, Jeremiah 29:11 continued to play over in my mind:

"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord,
"plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."

And while those words were comforting as we faced a huge fear of the unknown, I won't pretend that I wasn't terrified at the same time. But here is what I have found to be true; that God is not above taking you that point where, without Him, you would lose yourself. With Him, the chains of the worlds standards that keep you pinned down and empty, fall off, and suddenly you realize that you are no longer bound to live your life in fear of the opinions of others. Freedom.

For Naomi it means freedom from oppression.

For Adam and I it is freedom from possessions.

Fast forward five months and 1 million doctor appointments later, and we now know that Naomi has a specific form of Cerebral Palsy called Spastic Diplegia. She is currently in Occupational and Physical Therapy, and has made some great progress. She is expected to be able to walk at some point, but in order to do so, we need to correct some issues with her feet with the use of some specially fitted braces.

As we walk through this new life of doctor and therapist appointments, we can't help but marvel at the story of a little orphan girl, given a chance at life, freed from oppression, loved as a daughter and redeemed by her Father.