Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Summer Reading

I just finished reading Forever Lily which is the story of an unexpected Mother's journey to adopting a daughter from China. I rarely buy books brand new (I usually have really good luck finding them at my favorite used book store in Salem) but when I picked up this book at Borders and read the caption I was hooked and knew I had to get it that very day..."When Beth travels to China to help her friend Alex adopt a baby girl from an orphanage, she thinks it will be an adventure, a chance to see the world. But her friend, who had prepared for the adoption for many months, panics soon after being presented with the frail baby, and the situation develops into one of the greatest challenges of Beth's life."

I have always felt connected to international adoptions and am drawn to stories such as this. The part of the book that got to my heart the most is when they went to visit the actual orphanage where Beth's daughter is from and the descriptions of all the babies being untouched and unloved in the metal cribs brought back many memories of the baby orphanage I spent time at in Romania. She describes how hard it is to walk away from them and how the world just doesn't make sense when you see children in this state and that is exactly how I remember feeling. How is the world a just world when things like this happen to the innocent. Makes no sense.

Another reason I enjoyed reading this book is because a good friend of mine (Hi Katie!) and her husband just recently adopted a daughter from China and I have really enjoyed reading their family's journey on their blog that dates back to when they started the adoption process a few years ago. The author of Forever Lily shares the day-to-day adoption experience in China and I was able to compare it to how Katie and her husband wrote about it on their blog. Get your China photo's ready Katie, when I come over in a few weeks I want to see them all :)

Here are the rest of the books on my summer reading shelf...are there any books that you've recently read that should be added to my pile??

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's amazing how what seems like so far away can be so close to home. You were right, my trip has changed my life FOREVER! There is so much need in Romania that being home and getting back into a routine is difficult. The people that I met haunt my days and I wish I could be back there and do MORE! ... But that will have to wait for next time, until then ~ I pray!

Glad you had a wonderful vacation and thanks for the encouragement.