Anticipating Christmas Music

Anticipation is at the heart of Christmas. Most associate anticipation with the never-ending night of Christmas Eve when wrapped presents tantalize and torment and the unknown offerings of St. Nicholas are on their way.

But for me, anticipation is mostly about the music.

I refuse to buy Christmas gifts, hang Christmas decorations, or listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving. Oh, but on Friday… the music comes out.

This year, I’ve had to rely upon two radio stations battling each other out for how many times they can play Nat King Cole’s incomparable rendition of “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on a Open Fire)” written by Mel Torme. The CDs have been buried in our garage since our move this past summer.

We did, however, buy Steven Curtis Chapman’s All I Really Want for Christmas because of the amazing adoption-related title track. It’s a three-hanky Christmas song for sure. (I hope my friend Jim Houser (Steve’s agent) is selling novel and movie rights. It would blow “Christmas Shoes” away.) I’ve listened to this CD at least once a day since Thanksgiving.

One of the things I anticipate most about Christmas music every year is “the song” that will captivate me. Every year, there is either a new arrangement of a classic song or an original composition that blows me away and puts me in the Christmas spirit. This year’s song comes from “All I Really Want for Christmas.” It is an old Christmas hymn. Like so many, there are famous names attached to it. I love to see names like Handel, Bach, and others in the liner notes of my favorite CDs. This year’s famous name is a poet. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The song is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”

Longfellow called his poem, “Christmas Bells.” John Baptiste Calkin penned the music in 1872.

Chapman arranged a powerful presentation. The song uses bright and dark instrumentation to reflect the mood. Then he punctuates strength and resilience through a grand syncopated crescendo. My arm hairs stand on end every time I hear it. According to my iTunes counter, I’ve listened to this track 29 times this season.

The story behind the poem is rich in American history and the human experience. I hunted for the story on the internet. Little did I know that the President would quote the hymn at the close of his address last week thrusting the hymn—and the powerful last lines—into the front of America’s consciousness.

Longfellow wrote this poem when America was still embroiled in the War Between the States. A war that cost Longfellow dearly. In 1861, shortly after the war began, Longfellow lost his wife, Fanny.

“After trimming some of seven-year-old Edith's beautiful curls, Fanny decided to preserve the clippings in sealing wax. Melting a bar of sealing wax with a candle, a few drops fell unnoticed upon her dress. The longed-for sea breeze gusted through the window, igniting the light material of Fanny's dress—immediately wrapping her in flames. In her attempt to protect Edith and Allegra, she ran to Henry's study in the next room, where Henry frantically attempted to extinguish the flames with a nearby, but undersized throw rug. Failing to stop the fire with the rug, he tried to smother the flames by throwing his arms around [his wife]—severely burning his face, arms, and hands. Fanny Longfellow died the next morning. Too ill from his burns and grief, Henry did not attend her funeral. (Incidentally, the trademark full beard of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow arose from his inability to shave after this tragedy.)”

Longfellow mourned this loss greatly. Like all who lose as a spouse, Christmas was especially hard. “Longfellow's journal entry for December 25th 1862 reads: ‘A merry Christmas’ say the children, but that is no more for me.” Almost a year later, Longfellow received word that his oldest son Charles, a lieutenant in the Army of the Potomac, had been severely wounded with a bullet passing under his shoulder blades and taking off one of the spinal processes.”

Charles did not die that winter, but more grief—and Christmas grief—endured for another year. Then, on Christmas Day 1864, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote these plaintive words.

The two stanzas marked in bold are not in our hymnals or recordings. They reflect the mood of a nation losing her sons, brothers, fathers, uncles, and friends.

Pay close attention to the last stanza.

Christmas Bells

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Tomorrow night, our church is hosting a Christmas Carol Sing. I hope that we get to corporately sing this hymn—and especially the last stanza. May you experience the power of these words this Christmas. America finds itself at war again this December. If you have lost someone in The Iraq War or are missing your loved ones deployed, know that our family prays for you and salutes our military.

Christmas is about anticipation. The true anticipation is the advent of the Messiah, our Saviour, Christ the Lord. He was born of a virgin, grew up and lived a sinless life, performed miracles, taught the people, ticked off the religious leaders, then was executed like a common criminal. His followers anticipated his resurrection—which actually occurred—then dreaded missing him again after He ascended into heaven. Now, we anticipate his coming again—some anticipate it more than others. May you anticipate Christmas in a fresh way this year.

Blogger’s Note: The quoted portions of this blog entry come from What Saith the Scripture

Who would you send home for Christmas?

Blogger's Note: WAY-FM morning announcers Jeff and Stace are hosting a contest this Christmas. They've asked their listeners, "Who would you send home for Christmas?" The grand prize involves plane tickets... Not sure if they'll help us or not, but I decided to enter. Here's our email essay.

Dear Jeff and Stace,

If I could send anyone home for Christmas, it would be my daughter Meileah. She has the most amazing brown eyes. They're big and full of wonder. She's stubborn, at times, but I guess that's okay--my wife and I are both stubborn people. Meileah loves to listen to music, but has never heard WAY-FM. If we could send her home for Christmas, we'd change that.

We need to get her home for Christmas, but right now we can't. Where she is right now is cold... very cold... the type of cold they feel in Minnesota or Maine. We're worried that she doesn't have enough to wear. We've heard that there may not be enough fuel to heat where she's staying.

We need to get her home for Christmas, because unless we do, she won't have one. I'm not talking about toys, gifts, stockings, fruitcake, and novelty songs. If we can't get her home for Christmas, she won't hear the Christmas story. She won't be reminded of why baby Jesus came. She won't wonder at the lights. She won't feel the warmth of an embrace or hear "Merry Christmas." She won't sing the carols and remind herself of all that happened and all Jesus did while He was here.

Meileah needs to come home for Christmas because she's never known a home. She was abandoned as an infant, found by a police officer, and brought to an orphanage in Changchun, China (Changchun is pronounced like Chongchoon). She was born in a country where having more than one child is frowned upon. She was born in a country where girls are not as valuable as boys. She was born with a cleft palate and cleft lip. The lip has been repaired, but she still needs surgery to repair the palate. Surgery she probably won't get in Changchun. She's been waiting almost three years for a family. If we could send her home--or go get her--for Christmas, we would.

Our family--my extraordinary wife, our daughters Elisa and Lauren, and our son Michael--are waiting for our travel papers now. We're as anxious as a claustraphobic on a sinking submarine. Soon, we'll leave Nashville, fly to the otherside of the world, and bring her home.

Our Christmas is postponed until Valentine's Day. That way we can celebrate as a family... a whole family. We figure that's
appropriate... the season of love.

Will you pray with us for her (and if this makes it on air, ask the listeners to pray)?
>that she'll be warm enough today
>that she'll have enough to eat today
>that her caregivers will show her our pictures, talk to her about us,
>and prepare her for adoption
>that we will trust God for his timing and provision

God bless you both, and all of the WAY-FM family from Florida to Washington state.

The Whitlocks
Mark, Kaye, Elisa, Michael, and Lauren

...and Toddler Makes Six

Our Adoption Story
As told by W. Mark Whitlock
December 5, 2006
Franklin, Tenn.

By this time next year, we’ll be answering a little girl’s Christmas questions. “What does “manger” mean?” “How many shepherds were there?” “How bright was the star?” “Why was there no ‘L’?”

Between this December and next, we’ll go to the other side of the world and back to bring Meileah Kaye Whitlock home to be grafted into our family. And we’ll complete a journey that began in 1988. Our journey of adoption.

Kaye and I were deeply in love (and are even deeper now). We were having the “kids talk” where two nearly-weds dream about how many children they’ll have, what their names will be, and if they’ll be boys or girls. We both wanted four children—a fact we found most encouraging. No arguments. Then I added, “And someday, I want to adopt.” As an adopted child myself, I wanted to give another child the same privilege I was given—a family.

Ever since being heartbroken over seeing the play Annie in elementary school, I’ve wanted to adopt. I shared my heart with my future bride and braced for her reaction. She said, “Okay”. However, years later, she would tell me that she was really thinking, Yeah, right. As soon as we have some biological children, he’ll change his mind.

Guess what? We both changed our minds.

Over the first ten years of our marriage, I brought up adoption frequently, but Kaye didn’t agree with the timing. Then one day, after our third child, Lauren, was on the scene, Kaye said, “What do you think about adopting now?”

How quickly I said “No” this time.

The doctors had advised Kaye not to go through another pregnancy. But that didn’t stop her desire to have a fourth child. “So, we had a choice,” Kaye reflected recently, “accept that the three wonderful blessings we already had were all God intended for us, or adopt. I wasn’t ready. I repeatedly asked God to either miraculously make me pregnant again or to take the desire for another child away. He did neither.”

Ready or Not
In October of 2004, we “accidentally” discovered we were both ready to adopt. We talked with our kids about adopting, wanting to make this a family decision, and were pleasantly surprised to find they were not only open to the idea, but excited as well! Later, as Kaye thought about the precious conversation we had with our kids, she noted, “I don’t know why I’m even surprised by this! If God intends for us to adopt, and has been preparing our hearts for adoption, of course He would be preparing the kids’ hearts, too!”

We began investigating agencies. With each phone call, email, and personal visit, the representatives asked the same question: “Which country do you want to adopt from?” We didn’t care. We believe that God created us all no matter our size, hair color, eye shape, or language. We are all His. The country didn’t really matter. At times, we just wanted to yell, “Just give us a child! Surely there’s one that needs a home.”

We considered Russia, Guatemala, the U.S. and Asia. Over time, our hearts were drawn to China. For Kaye, Steven and Mary Beth Chapman’s story was the final clincher. Seeing Mary Beth weep when Shaohannah was first placed in her arms soon had her in tears as well. For me, Randy Alcorn’s great novel, Safely Home and David McCasland’s stirring biography, Eric Liddell: Pure Gold showed me the heart and anguish of a country where having more than one child is “wrong” and girls aren’t worth as much as boys.

Paper Pregnancy
Once we declared, “We’re adopting from China!” the paper pregnancy began—complete with cravings for P. F. Chang’s and Oreo Ice Cream, along with a serious “nesting” period that still has Michael baffled. Though Kaye originally thought these behaviors were odd and “all in her head”, we’ve learned that this is actually “normal” throughout the adoption community! (Check out our ultrasound picture on page 113.)

We chose America World Adoption Association near Washington, D.C. as our agency in March, 2005. They only work in a few countries and seemed to be experts about China. The way they treated us—from the packets of information to the follow-up calls and meetings with local staff—showed us their hearts and their “Spirit of Adoption.” (www.awaa.org.)

We requested a healthy infant daughter and set our sights on traveling to China in June of 2006. Rachel Duckworth, our social worker, came to our home for the home study. We feared, like most people, that the home study is a deep investigation and white gloved inspection. Instead of vetting us like Congress grills future Supreme Court Justices, Rachel’s job is to present us in the best, yet truthful, light for acceptance by China. She is our advocate, not our adversary. During all of the paperwork, God began speaking to our hearts about Special Needs children. We inquired about AWAA’s Interested Families list. Kaye discovered through this process that had our son, Michael, been born in China, he would have been considered a “special needs” child because of his “lazy eye”, diagnosed and treated during his preschool and elementary years. God broke our hearts further. We couldn’t help but say “Yes!” to considering one of these special children with minor, possibly correctable needs.

Kaye did a marvelous job managing all of the paperwork—more than 150 sheets in all. She learned how to certify documents from the notary through the various county and state certifications. She also worked with Carol Fredericks, an adoptive mom who now runs a courier service in Washington, D.C. (www.dependable-acs.com). Carol made sure our documents were processed by the US Department of State office, then the Chinese Embassy in D.C. We breathed a deep sigh of relief once our dossier was in AWAA’s hands and officially headed to China on September 9th, 2005 (this is called the DTC date).

Special Needs
Later that month, Kaye learned that eighteen special needs children were ready for adoption through our agency. Kaye was praying about whether she wanted a healthy baby later or a not-so-healthy toddler now. God impressed her to trust His Plan, and not “push” her way through either process. Her prayer time ended with, “Okay, God, I won’t call anyone or make any moves on this. It will have to be that they call us. And if they do, I’ll understand that this is the child You want for our family, and I’ll love her.”

Referral
One week later, AWAA called with a child for us to consider. I was in Florida on business. I had broken a toe that morning getting ready for a meeting. When Kaye called with the news, I was limping through the airport with a brace on my right foot. Thank God for cell phones. I think on my feet, so I pace when I’m on important phone calls. I must have been a sight limping back and forth in front of my gate!

In obedience and joy, our family said yes! Through the wonders of technology, Kaye received photographs (including the one the cover) and medical information (our Referral) via email. AWAA overnighted hard copies to us. We waited with a camera ready. When we told the FedEx man that he was our “stork”, he said, “Wow, I just got chills! This is the third one of these I’ve done. They’ve all taken my picture. This makes my job worth it.”

We opened our package to find she’s a precious little one with big, beautiful eyes. She turns 3 years old the end of January, and has a repaired cleft lip and unrepaired cleft palate. Her Whitlock name will be Meileah Kaye Whitlock (Meileah is pronounced muh-LEE-ah).

We stood in the doorway awhile looking at the pictures, then sat in our living room thinking through all the implications—traveling six months sooner than expected, the financial challenges of doing so, pending surgery, ongoing speech therapy, plus all the everyday issues that all families face. We gathered together and prayed as a family, casting all of these things on the “giver of all good gifts”, our adoptive Father, God Almighty, our Brother, Jesus Christ, and our Helper, the Holy Spirit.

The next landmark was when our dossier was logged in (LID) to China’s Adoption Affairs system on October 12. Little did they know that our “letter of intent” (LOI) would soon be sent on October 14. Kaye wrote a beautiful LOI assuring the Chinese government that we would love and care for Meileah, feed her, clothe her, and provide medical care for her.

Now, we wait impatiently for our “travel approval” (TA). We are expecting/hoping/praying we will receive our TA in December 2005. When we go, we will spend 2 weeks in the country of China—a few days as tourists in Beijing, several days in the Jilin Province where Meileah lives(one of the coldest parts of China), and then several days in Southern China in the balmy capital city Guangzhou.

Thank you for buying this cookbook and fueling our trip to bring Meileah home.

Email and FedEx introduced us to our daughter. God made our hearts ache for her. Please follow the rest of our journey on www.meileah.com. We plan to post journal entries, photographs, and video on our site during our trip. We appreciate your prayers for Meileah and for us. If we can ever do anything to serve you, please let us know.

Allow me to introduce you to Meileah Kaye Whitlock (although she doesn’t know it yet). She will turn 3 on January 26, 2006. We hope to be together to celebrate—whether in China or back home.

We covet your prayers for us and for her. We’re taking Elisa (14), Michael (11), and Lauren (8) with us when we go.

Chinese Take Out

Dear Blog Readers:

Our family is in the process of adopting a little girl from China. her name is Meileah and she'll be 3-years-old in January. She has a cleft lip (repaired) and cleft palate. I'm going to start blogging about our adoption experience soon. In a few minutes, I'll post a first installment.

In order to raise the remaining funds for our adoption...


We've created a cookbook full of more than 150 everyday, great tasting, easy-to-prepare, kid-friendly, American recipes! Chinese Take Out has a generous font size to make it easy to read while you're cooking. Just prop the bok against your back-splash, grab the ingredients, and go!

You need these recipes through the holidays:
Strawberry SoupTthe most delicious appetizer whose recipe was kidnapped from the chefs at Disney World
Sunday Sausage MuffinsA low-carb alternative to sausage balls. And 10 times the taste! Only 2 carbs per muffin!!! Buy you’ll want to eat 20.
Mexican LasagnaIn the oven in 20 minutes, great tasting, and quite healthy (but don’t tell your kids... We haven’t)
Pineapple CasseroleA flavorful and unique covered dish for all your get-togethers
Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
The dessert section is worth TWICE the purchase price. My wife and our 8-year-old daughter made these cookies over the weekend. Wow!

Is your mouth watering yet? Well, it's time to order your cookbook. We have a limited supply

The cookbooks are available for a suggested donation of $18 including shipping. Cash, checks, and PayPal accepted.

We’ll even drop ship them to your friends and family for you!

Get your copy today.

These make terrific...
>Teacher / Sunday School Teacher gifts
>Stocking stuffers for extended family
>Neighbor gifts
>Employee gifts... Buy one for everyone on your team (bulk rates available!)

More than your purchase of a cookbook, we need your prayers (if you’re so inclined). Thanks for encouraging us in the adoption. We thank you. Meileah thanks you.