It’s been five months since we last saw Mimi. When Sambhaji’s chair was added to the dinner table she just stopped showing up. For a couple years she’d been arriving just after supper, with her props and rubber-faced expressions and slow southern drawl. “Shaaaawwwwwn,” she once said,” how’ve you been,… Read More
“Please monkey bars,” he’s said every day for almost four months. He climbs the ladder in his Spiderman boots, stands on the platform – “Ipent do it.” “You can do it, Sambhaji. You’re very strong. You’re Spiderman!” He grabs the first yellow ring and considers swinging out alone. “Please help,… Read More
“My song, Dad,” he says. I scroll through the iPod, press play. The voice of Freddie Mercury fills the van and the four-year old’s smile fills his face. The other three sing along…Can anybody find meeeee Sambhaji to love? There are more than 44 million orphans in India alone. Separated… Read More
It’s become the most frequently asked question on the road, at church, on-line. Surpassing “How did you and Becky meet?” and “Is that your real hair color?” and “What’s Ann Voskamp like in real life?” “How is the adoption going?” everyone asks. And my mind gets jammed with too-long answers.… Read More
After I fly him to his bed like Spiderman and wrap him in a blanket like a caterpillar cocooned, I kiss his cheek and he laughs. My beard tickles. “Again kiss,” he says. And again I kiss. “I love you. Goodnight.” Before I make it out the bedroom door he… Read More
Boys all over… Think farts are funny. In Tennessee, Uganda, El Salvador? Always hilarious. Boys all over… Like to turn sticks into swords and fingers into guns, and karate chop. With sound effects. I’ve fought pint-sized ninjas and cowboys on every side of the ocean. Boys all over… Believe a… Read More
Shaun Groves