After 13 years and five children, you can imagine how many stuffed animals have made their way into our home. And if you know me, you can also imagine how many have made their way out in a black trash bag in the dark of the night to be delivered to the local Goodwill. Perhaps this is why I was quite shocked and stupefied to find myself on the way to the Build-A-Bear Workshop one night last week. No, my poor deprived children have never built a bear, a bunny, a lizard or anything else.
But, then came my e-friend Laura, who is on her way to Caleb’s orphanage next week to deliver him some goodies and a smooch or 12 from his mama. She all but insisted that Caleb needed to have a Build-a-Bear. I was hemmin’ and hawin’ when I remembered that I had heard you could RECORD A MESSAGE! and stick the device inside the bear so that the recipient can listen to it over and over again. Hey – that’s a great idea! We can say “Mama and Daddy love you.” And Caleb can hear our voices! Hey – that’s not a great idea - Caleb can’t speak English and we can’t speak Vietnamese! Enter e-friend Number 2: Hanh. Hanh can speak both! He graciously agreed to call my voicemail and give us the phrases and also the correct pronunciation of Ngoc, which is Caleb’s Vietnamese.name.
That all sounded well and good except it was really loud at B-A-B. Kyle and I ended up locked in a bathroom with the recording device, (kind of kinky) and my cell phone, so that we could listen to Hanh say it exactly the way it should be said. After about 739 tries we were finally satisfied with me saying: “Ngoc, me thuong con." Kyle saying: "Ba thuong con." Which was supposed to mean “Ngoc, Mama loves you. Daddy loves you.” The only problem is that Vietnamese is a tonal language and you can say the same word in two different tones and get two totally different words. So we probably said, “We are going to bite your nose off.” Sigh. Well, I guess it’s ok, because he might as well know right now that Mama and Daddy can get kind of grumpy sometimes.
So, here is the gang with little hearts we all kissed, hugged and prayed over before they went into the bear.
And here's a nifty little thing called an Air Bath they have you do so he's nice and clean. I seriously think this could catch on with mothers of small children. Think of it - no flooded bathrom floors, less laundry, nobody going, "Wah, wah! I got soap in my eyes!!" Man, if they make 'em strong enough to get peanut butter out of ear canals and permanent marker off of legs - sign me up!
And finally, Dr. Daddy couldn't resist the SUV protection.
Truthfully, I have to say that I was totally into the building; deliberating on just the right bear, running around the store trying to decied on just the right outfit and accessories, making the birth certifiate and the works. I have to admit though, when I woke up the next morning I did have just a moment of that What Have I Done, $50.00 Buyer's Remorse, Buid-A-Bear Hangover kind of feeling. Then I remembered that we really weren't building a bear. We were really building a bridge of love all the way to Vietnam in hopes that a precious little boy over there will know that his family is here waiting on the other side. And this is one stuffed animal that will never find himself on the way to the Goodwill.
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