There’s an ancient proverb that reads: “A house is built by wisdom and by understanding it is entirely put in good order. And the inner chambers are filled by knowledge with every possession, honor and delight.”
More than one commentator suggested that what is referenced here is less bricks and mortar and more the family itself, especially the children described as “rare and beautiful treasures.”
A bit over 1,000 days ago (1,238 to be exact) this all-things-climbing-and-couch-jumping, all-boy-all-the-time, little fellow – most indeed a “rare and beautiful treasure” – came into our son’s family via Foster Care. Today, September 30, 2015, the court officially made him a permanent playmate to another adopted sibling and a biological – and miracle – baby brother.
Not all that far from their home, in a secluded and beautiful valley nestled in the foothills of the Cascades there is a tiny cemetery with a tinier grave plot the placard reading “Date of Birth May 24, 2010. Date of Death May 24, 2010.”
Immediate family members had huddled together there commemorating the same day of life and death beneath the graveside canopy upon which the rain had begun to fall. Hardly is there a greater grief the heart of a young mother-to-be can know than the loss of one that she – and us, the baby’s grandparents and all drawn in from the rain there that day – never had opportunity to but briefly hold.
A year later our son and daughter-in-law would become an instant family with the adoption of a baby boy before he was even born, and foster three-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. All showed up on their doorstep – with love notes in hand – at nearly the same time.
Who will this newest addition become?
“Who he will be” was the theme of “nothing more than a children’s song” that Doris Day disdained to record though doing so reluctantly she then added “now that’s the last you’ll hear of that!” But it worked its melancholy magic in the hearts of listeners and “Que Sera Sera” became Doris Day’s biggest hit and signature song. From ‘asking my mother, what will I be’ to the “80-year-old man heard playing nostalgically through to the last stanza of the hauntingly beautiful c-major waltz on a broken down piano in a thrift shop,” there is a question in “Que Sera Sera” that all kids of all ages ask: “will I be handsome, will I be rich?” and “will there be rainbows, day after day?”
The answer? The construction materials used to build their lives:
“A house is built by wisdom and by understanding it is entirely put in good order. And the inner chambers are filled with rare and beautiful treasures” – of children.
Family photos by Christina Klas Photography. Picture of the newest by his proud parents.
