Jae

Jae Lynn knew her entire story by heart.
It had been told to her time and time again as she was tucked into bed at night.

She had a destiny.

She had a special reason for being on this Earth.
God had started her life in a fascinating way by her unique adoption story.
He must have big plans for her life.

Big plans.


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In each family, there is often one member who is more outgoing, creates more noise, causes more confusion, lives in more drama, fills up the calender and makes everyone laugh louder. There's usually one member who just lives life more wide-open than the other family members.

Jae was that member in our family of 5.

This blog can not hold the description of her unique and fascinating personality.

Jae's Arrival

Jae's story began to be lived on October 3rd, 1987.

She was born at a local hospital, and adopted just three days later by Ralph and I.
There were no advance preparations.
No baby showers.
We had learned of her existence only 72 hours before.

Ralph and I had experienced several disappointments in regards to failed adoption attempts, so for that reason, had not informed a single soul of the possibility of an adoption.
We simply were afraid to believe she was ours until we had her in our arms and in our home.

Her homecoming outfit was a hospital t-shirt.
The hospital staff loaned us a car seat. They had to put her in it because we had never seen one.
She had 1 hospital blanket.
Sample bottles of hospital formula.

You see, we had been childless for 7 years and suddenly, I mean suddenly, we had a baby!

Her arrival created instant pandemonium in our family, our church, our places of employment and even in our community.

Someone loaned us a video camera for our first days as new parents, and those movies documented some of the most wonderful memories of my entire life.
I recall watching the movie of our first nighttime feeding.....Ralph recorded the moment of me rocking and feeding her.
We commented that it was a "silent movie".
We were just too awestruck to speak.
Occassionally I would look at Ralph with wonder.

We were a family.

The next day, we recorded Jae's first bath in a mixing bowl on my living room floor. We could hardly get it completed because the phone kept ringing with friends and family calls of congratulations.

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Sadly, all of our home movies were later stolen in a home robbery.

Imagination

One of the things I loved most about Jae was her imagination.

She could take a mundane moment and transform it into one which was amusing and playful.

For instance, as a child, she loved "My Little Ponys". They were not a very expensive toy so we easily acquired a great deal of them, each with a different color of mane, tail or eyes. She and her sisters would brush the pony's "hair' for hours!
I can recall a hundred moments in WalMart when she acted like one of her Ponys.
She pranced beside the cart, her hands drawn up in front of her tiny chest.
She whinnied, snorted and pawed the ground whenever the buggy stopped.
She would toss her head as if she had a "mane".
She nuzzled and sniffed.

Another time when her imagination drew us all in was at bath time.
When the plastic yellow shower cap went on her head, Jae instantly became an impersonator!
She would pull the cap forward and call herself a golfer.
She would push it to the side where it hung off one side of her head, and da da! she was a painter! Holding the palette and swishing the brush...
If she hung it off the back of her head that meant she was a hippie.
If I fluffed it all around the top of her head then she would suck in her lips, scrunch up her face and bend over as if she were an old lady walking with a cane.
Casey and I were thoroughly entertained.

Piano practices became concerts for her stuffed animals. She'd arrange them in a circle on the floor, formally introduce a song to them, crack her fingers and throw her imaginary coat tails over the back of the piano bench.
With great seriousness she would bend over the keys and play chop sticks, peter-peter-pumpkin-eater or funny little song.

Every bedtime shower became a concert.

Occasionally we read a fairy tale, but most of our bedtime stories were made from scratch.

Tooth fairies had to untie the tooth from her finger.

She wanted a "collection" that no one else could duplicate. That's why there is a plastic butter dish full of her toenails in her closet. For years she clipped 'em and picked 'em up.
(To identify hazardous waste and protect the public, she drew a skull and crossbones on the butter-dish).

She loved pigs. It's the only animal that her daddy said "No" to.

She gave her diary a name and poured her heart out often to "Dear Petey".
She ended her entries with achingly sweet sayings such as "Goodnight to me!", or "Til tomorrow" or "Sweet 16 dreams". One of her last entries was signed off with the saying "Love, Peace and chicken grease".
She always signed her name Jae, and then put a tiny heart nearby.

As she grew up, much of the imaginary play-times went away. However, to our enjoyment, Jae's optimism in life continued.
She was quick to laugh, quick to love and quick to forgive.
She was a little bit shy, a little bit confident and had a huge desire to make and keep friends.
She was a follower of Jesus and was really just coming into a better knowledge of Him when she went to meet Him face-to-face.

A Day Like No Other

March 18, 2004.