A Prayer for Fanneedoolee

One of my all-time favorite books is A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.  It's this totally goofy, unbelievable story of this very memorable character who experiences multiple unique and puzzling events throughout his life and culminates in a climactic event which profoundly demonstrates that everything that ever happened in Meany's life happened for a reason and enabled him to fulfill his purpose in life. 

This past week, in a series of events that may well make an equally entertaining and meaningful book someday, I also experienced the realization that everything happens for a reason.  In this case, the fitting together of many puzzle pieces resulted in Patrick and I becoming the temporary parents to a 16-year old Vietnamese foreign exchange student.  Meet An [pronounced "on", and not to be confused with "Anh", the name of An's best friend in Texas, which is also pronounced "on" but a little quicker and intoned more like a question:  "on?" ]:

I'm not exactly sure why or how the planets aligned to bring An to our home, but the experience has been a true blessing that has opened our hearts and our minds, filled our bellies with warm Vietnamese soup, motivated us to clean out our closets and expanded our vocabulary an An's. 

An's arrival in our home coincided perfectly with a previously-planned ten-day visit from Nana 911, who has enrolled Patrick and I in her toddler-parenting boot camp in hopes of taking the Mr. Hyde out of Logan and transforming him from a pint-size temperamental emperor back to our pint-sized loving little boy.  Fortunately, she also has worlds of experience with parenting teenage girls, particularly strong-willed and highly emotional teen-age girls. 

To see pictures of An's first American Thanksgiving, click here. 

Comments

[Grace]

I didn't realize that was why Nana was in town. I was actually going to comment on how truly awesome it was to see all the cousins getting along so well on Friday night. Looks like "boot camp" is working. I found some really interesting articles on Gifted Children. Everything I read pointed to Logan. You may want to check that out. It was very nice to meet An, and I'm so glad that things are working out for all of you. We will really miss you at Christmas. Love, Grace

[Nancy]

Nana911 ~ Somehow I picture her as a cross between Annie Sullivan, Mary Poppins, Mother Goose and Mommie Dearest, LOL

"Welcome to our family" can be said in many ways ... but mostly with the heart. I can't wait to meet you An.

~Aunt Nancy

[Dinh Lu Giang]

Your blog is amazing Tiffany. Your children are soooooo cute. I hope i can see them one day and my son can play with them.
I can see from the blog that you have a beautiful mind, Tiffany, and I also see youhave so good feeling on An. I am sure that she will love you like you love her.
Now it's the time to say "Merry Christmas and God bless all of you"
Giang