On Display

One thing is for certain...

we don't blend in.

No matter where we are,

or

what we are doing, 

we stand out.

It has been a mixed blessing.

  

Sometimes we want to just go places and enjoy our children and not look different than other families.

But the truth is

an older caucasian couple with 11 Chinese children

 just doesn't blend in... anywhere... at all...

We try to take our children places and enjoy life just like any other family.

We want them to get many experiences in life and so we do not let our large size stop us.

Sometimes we are smiled at, nodded at, and given the thumbs up.
While other times we are stared at, pointed at and loudly talked about as if we aren't even there.

The children come up to me and say 

"Mom they're staring at us."

or 

"Mom I can hear them talking about us."

At first it made them very uncomfortable.

We just told them to smile back, ignore and move on.

It's also a good lesson for the children not to stare at others who are different or disabled.

(Which is hard for them to do. The children have a tendency to want to stare at others.)

It doesn't seem to bother them as much now.

They are taking it more in stride.

On the other hand Sam will strike up a conversation with anybody that so much as glances his way.

He will share with them our "adoption plans" whether they have asked or not!

He is pretty psyched to get 2 more boys in this family!

People show us their feelings about us "outwardly".

Some rejoice with us and marvel over these blessings of ours.

While others frown and are inconvenienced by us even being near them.

The larger we get the more we notice it...

When walking through C*stco I see people counting the number of children that are with me.

I usually just walk by with a smile and say there's eleven!

When we go to a restaurant for the first time.

I know the people at the restaurant are concerned.

Which waitress will have to take "that" table.

Let's get them in and out fast.

Do they dare sit anyone else next to us?

While at the restaurant-

anyone who sits next to us basically discusses our family throughout their meal.

We ALWAYS surprise them!
( I love surprising them!)

The kids are so well behaved at restaurants!

The waitress always comments regarding how well behaved the children were!
I always get the order all organized before we place it.
I like to make her job easy and take away whatever stress can be taken away.

Every place we go we are invited back!

The other day we walked around a nearby lake. It was 2.2 mile walk and 74 degrees with a breeze.

Absolutely perfect!

We got many smiles and nods from others! 
And we ran into two old friends!

At the beginning of the walk Emma strayed into the bike path.

The bikers that ride there are serious bikers and they were going fast.

I pulled her out of the way so she did not get hit by an oncoming bike and then tried to tell her 
she could not walk up there. 
Emma is a wonderful girl but she did not want to listen to me. 
My point was for her safety and for the bikers safety 
(There was a 12 yr old boy biking towards Emma. He was with his Dad and they were moving fast.)

Her cognitive disability makes it challenging to reason with her.

She gave me a look and pulled away.

Once again, I told her why she could not go there and that she needed to stay with us and walk on the walking path.

Now she was mad at me and refusing to walk with us.

Hubby told her 3 times 

"Emma walk in front of us so we can see you."

She refused and wanted nothing to do with us or our words.

We decided to just keep walking and focus on the positive.

(Knowing Emma would not be far behind us- she never is.)

We all went on and enjoyed our time while Emma lagged 50 ft behind us, 
but now she was crying.

There were hundreds of people around us.

One person saw the interaction and misinterpreted the situation.

They called 911 and reported us...

I am sure they were well meaning,

BUT

REALLY?

OH, PLEASE!

Now this is the kind of attention, I can do without...

We ran into a friend and visited. Emma caught up and decided she would walk with us now.

She was done being mad and sad.

We continued to walk and half way around the lake a squad car pulls up.

We meet eyes,  we nod,  we smile and we continue walking, 
until he says...

I am actually here for 
you...

"Okay, what's going on?" We say.

Someone called and said you were "mad at your child".
So I'm here to check it out.

We were completely surprised BUT truth be told, after 50 something years of living life we have seen some pretty strange things happen...

Now we can add this to the list!

The officer was really nice and respectful to us.

He asked what happened and we said our daughter was disobedient but we didn't go into detail and he didn't ask us to.

I am guessing he watched us for awhile before stopping us, 
kinda creepy, 
but that's life...

We chatted with him for a short while and yes, of course Sam spontaneously had a conversation with him... and then shared our adoption plan...

That's our Sammy!

Turns out he was from a big family of 19. 

Counting his 6 siblings and all the foster children.
As he left he wished us well.

I wish incidences like this would role off my back but they don't...

First I have to process 
what on earth just happened 
and then
 I have to give it to God in prayer.

He heals me quickly!

Thank goodness!

After our walk we went to a malt shoppe for lunch!

And yes, the children did great!

The waitress complimented the children.
The people that sat next to us
talked about us.

And we were in and out quite quickly!


(All pictures are from our visit to the zoo and have nothing to do with the post.)