at Ryan and shrugged. "Now you know how to play the whatamI? game."

The joy and laughter continued until the meal was over and Jim excused the kids.

Each of them cleared his or her own plate and thanked Kari for the dinner.

Bailey held out her hands to Jessie, who grinned and went along without a complaint.

When they were gone, Kari stared at Jenny, awed. "That was absolutely amazing."

She looked to Jim and back at his wife. "I've seen polite kids and I've seen silly kids, but I've never seen both. Your kids are wonderful."

Ryan leaned back and crossed his arms. A smile had hung on his face for the past ten minutes. "I told you they were great." "How in the world does it work so well?"

"What? The numbers?" Jenny pushed herself back from the table and crossed her legs. She chuckled and reached across the table for Jim's hand. "I know it looks crazy, but we have a good time."

"The numbers, the manners, the laughter, the adoption.., all of it. I've never seen a family like yours."

"The adoption was easy." Jenny winked at her husband. "Well, not completely easy."

"It was three months of adjusting, because the boys spoke Creole. But after that, it was great." Jim shrugged. "I feel like we've always had them."

Kari was dying to know more. "What led you to look at Haiti to adopt?".

"We didn't start there.' Jenny took a sip of water. "We wanted to adopt domestically, but we had young kids in the house."

Jim nodded. "It's sad, really. So many of the kids you can adopt in the U.S. are physically abused in a number of ways. Our social worker told us it wouldn't be safe to bring them home until our biological kids were older."

"Then someone told us about this orphanage in Haiti. We went online, checked it out, and sent away for the video."

183.

ngsbury smalley Kari slid closer to Ryan and took his hand in hers. Their story was fascinating.

Jim picked up where Jenny left off. "The video came and we waited until the kids were in bed to watch it. There were all these kids, laughing and singing and hugging each other. It looked like our family." He flashed a crooked grin.

"Well, sort of."

"We didn't say a word through the whole video, and when it was over Jim turns to me and says, 'Looks like we need a bigger house.'"

"Hmmm." Ryan leaned closer to Kari. "Amazing. Weren't you worried about the culture differences? What if they got here and 'felt too strange to ever adjust?"

"We could tell from the video that everything would work out." Jim looped his arm around Jenny's shoulders. "Besides, when we prayed about it we got the same feeling. Those kids would be different, for sure. Different color, different country, different culture, But we would all have the same Christ. In the that's all that's ever mattered."

They went on to talk about the adjustment period.

"The worst day was when I took them in for shots." Jenny let her head fall back against the chair and stared at the ceiling. "I wasn't sure any of us would survive."

"What happened?" Kari could already feel herself beginning to laugh.

Jenny looked at her. "I get the bright idea that they should all get shots at once. Our own youngest, Ricky, isn't in school so he can come with me. Just to help keep them occupied it isn't their turn." chuckled, apparently remembering the recap of the day, picked up the story. "They get in the car and Ricky starts to sad. 'Mommy, are they going to get shots today? Why, ?' That sort of thing." He laughed again. "So here's these boys who don't speak a word of English, but they know their brother. They start patting Ricky on the arm and 184 REUNION.

comforting him, because for some reason, Ricky's not happy like before."

"They had no idea what was happening even after we got into the doctor's office." Jenny shook her head. "They were so excited, pointing at the artwork on the walls and the floating model airplanes in the doctor's office."

"Right up until the nurse walked in with a tray of needles." "In the blink of an eye it became the craziest scene you could ever imagine. Shawn started screaming in Creole, 'Y Bondye, Y Bondye?' which means 'Why, God, why?'"

The story got funnier the longer it went on. By the time the shots were given, all three boys-each between the ages of five and six at the time-were sobbing and holding their arms and straggling in a show of angry defiance. Ricky was crying, too, out of pity for his new brothers.

"People were staring at me like, 'Come on, lady, can't you control your day-care kids?'"

Kari laughed out loud. She could've sat there all night listening to stories, but the mood changed when Ryan asked Jim about Cody Coleman, one of the football players on Ryan's team.

"Is he living with you?" Kari leaned her head on her husband's shoulder but directed her question at Jim and Jenny.

"He never was, really." Jim's eyes grew softer, and Kari could see a pain there that defied the silly side of the man she'd seen earlier. "He slept on our couch for a few nights, but then he went back home and we haven't seen him since."

Kari was struck by the sorrow in both Jim's and Jenny's eyes. Almost as if they cared as much for Cody as they did for their own kids.

Jenny caught her attention. "He dropped out of the passing league at school; we think he's drinking again."

"I hate that." Ryan pursed his lips and gave a hard shake of his head. "The kid's got so much talent, so much inside him."

"He needs the Lord; but I think right now God scares him.

185.

Jim exhaled hard. "As if he knows God's chasing him, and he's determined to run until he hits a brick wall."

"Exactly." Ryan leaned back and stretched his legs. "Anything we can do?"

"Pray for him. Pray he'll trust us enough to come back and listen."

The conversation shifted again, this time tO the twenty-sevenB-yearold woman who had moved into their house a few months back. "Her name'sJamie Hart." Jenny smiled. "Isn't that pretty?"

Kari nodded. "She's here to start a Christian theater? for kids?"

"Actually, she's already got it up and running. Sixty kids auditioned for the first play-Charlie Brown. The show will be sometime in July."

Feat." Kari thought about Jessie, how dramatic she alT was. "Kids need something like that."

Our kids sure do." Jim gave his wife an easy smile. "The four boys are sports crazy, but not Connor." he could walk he's wanted to be on Broadway, singing and entertaining an audience." Jenny looked over The kids were watching a movie in the next room, continued. "He's wanted to be part of a theater group for:but many of the options are downright frightening. The Kids Theater puts on three plays a year, and Connor's to be in every play until he's too old to try out." the fun thing is that Bailey's interested, too. She sees Connor's having, and she's already decided to try next play."

!:thought about Jamie Hart. "How'd she wind up living she got here, the folks at our church who the theater group were asking for someone to room. Back then we were too caught up in getting set-didn't even know she was coming out." Jim paused. doesn't pay much, if anything, and she didn't 186.

I II.

REUNION.

know a soul in Bloomington. We have an apartment over the ga rage, so as soon as we realized she needed a place, we volun teered."

"She's a delightful young woman, beautiful and great with kids," Jenny added.

"Quirky enough to make the commitment fun for everyone."

"No guy in the picture, huh?" Kari always imagined a love story when she heard about someone single doing something crazy like moving to Bloomington to start a children's theater.

"No guy." Jenny gave a few slow nods of her head. "She left something behind in Chicago. I'm sure of that. But so far she hasn't shared whatever it was."

Connor came running into the room, his eyes bright. "Guess what? They have Fiddler on the Roof; isn't that great?" He looked at Kari. "That's one of the greatest musicals ever."

"See-" Jim motioned to his oldest son and grinned-"I told you."

They talked a while longer, but then it was time to go. Jim made the announcement and without a single complaint, the kids slipped their shoes back on and thanked Kari and Ryan for having them over.

"Let's do this again," Jenny said, hugging Kari as she left. "Next time you come to our house."

Kari smiled. "Absolutely. I can't wait to see where all these kids sleep."

The couples said goodbye to each other. After the Flanigan family was gone, Kari put Jessie to bed and found Ryan in their bedroom. "They were just like you said. What a great family."

"They have their struggles. Yesterday the athletic director told Jim he can't pray with players anymore if he wants to keep coaching at Bloomington High."

"You're kidding?" This was the first Kari had heard of the situ ation. "No, but neither of us is worried. As long as the kids lead the 187 ki n gsb u r y s m alley prayers, no athletic director can stop us. Besides..." Ryan made a funny face and pointed to the wall where his NFL paques hung.

"Yes, you're right." Kari laughed. "He could hardly get rid of two former NFL players. The community would have a fit."

"Yeah, Jim's a great guy. I knew you'd love his family." Ryan came up to her and pulled her into his arms. He searched her eyes and she felt the familiar tickle in her stomach, the feeling he had given her since she was twelve years old and met him at a backyard barbecue.

She kissed him and drew back, enjoying the closeness. "Now I know what you mean."

"About what?"

"When you picture us down the road, you picture us like "Mmm." His lips found hers. "Exactly."

"They're sort of like we were, us Baxters, growing up."

Ryan thought about that. "They are, aren't they?" He nuzzled face against hers. "No wonder I like them so much."

It wasn't until an hour later, when they were both falling asleep that Kari realized just how wonderful the evening had been. Not only because she'd had a chance to meet the Flanigan to witness their loving children and hear some of their stories, but also because for an entire evening she didn't to worry about the one thing that stayed with her night and or not her mother was getting better.

188.

189.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

Erin had found a substitute teacher to take over the rest of the school year for her. Now that she had a baby, a daughter, the last thing she wanted was to place her in day care. Her principal wanted to know whether she'd be back in the fall, and the answer was an easy one "I've wanted to be a Mommy ever since I got married," she told the woman. "Next time you see me looking for work, my hair will be a lovely shade of gray."

Being a mother to Heidi Jo was a greater experience than Erin had ever imagined.

Heidi was a happy baby with olive skin and eyes that were already turning green.

Erin had settled into a routine, one that included hours of feeding Heidi, changing her, and standing over her crib while she slept. Twice a week she put Heidi in a stroller and walked her through the neighborhood But most of all, Erin loved sitting with Heidi in the old Baxter chair and singing to her. The way her mother had said she used to sing to each of them.

Often, when Heidi fell asleep, Erin would call her mother and 190 REUNION.

marvel over the amazing feelings her tiny daughter evoked in her. "It's like this is what I was created to do," she told her mother this afternoon, the first Monday in June. "Did you ever feel that way?"

"Always." Her mother paused. "Every time I brought a baby home from the hospital I felt that this was the reason God had given me life. So I could-raise my babies and give my family a life they would always remember, a life that would teach them to do the same thing for the people they loved one day."

The answer seemed to sap the energy from her mother, and Erin wondered, as she had often in the past week, how well she was really doing. "Did you get your test results?"

"No." Her answer came quickly. "We should hear any day." "But how do you feel-Mom? Isn't that the real test?"

The silence at the other en made Erin stop rocking. She wasn't sure, but it sounded like her mother was crying. Not loud sobs, but a soft kind of tired whimpering that would've been easy to miss over the phone lines.

"Mom?" Heidi was asleep, so she held the phone between her shoulder and cheekbone, and - laid her daughter down in her crib. She waited until she was out of the nursery to ask the next question. "Are you okay?"

Her mother made a few light sniffs. "I'm okay." She sighed and it sounded almost like a sob. "I hate feeling tired all the time. I never got my energy back and Dr. Steinman is worried. Everyone's worried."

Erin hated this, being so far away and not having the chance to look at her mother, to see for herself how bad off she was. She'd asked her sisters and always the answer was the same: "Mom's battling it, Erin. She's fighting back.

She's praying for a miracle." But unless Erin could-see for herself, she'd never know for sure.

She stared out the window at the storm clouds gathering in the distance. "Should I come home Mom? Is that what you're saying?"

"No, dear." The sorrow shifted just a bit, and Elizabeth ut 191 kingsbu ry smalley tered a sad laugh. "Don't get on a plane. You'll be coming in four weeks. Better to wait until that angel of yours is a little older, anyway."

"But what about you?"

"I'm fine. It's probably just my age. Anyone would have a hard time coming back after eight weeks of chemo, but at fifty-four it's bound to be tougher."

"Fifty-four is young, Mom. Especially for you." Erin hesitated. "Is your hair growing back?"

"Actually, it is." Her mother laughed again, and this time her tone sounded lighter.. "I look like a porcupine, pokey pieces of dark hair sticking straight out from my bald head."

Erin didn't smile. She couldn't stand the thought of her mother looking anything but beautiful. "At least it's growing back."

"Yes. Now, dear, go get some rest. You know the adage..." "'When the baby sleeps, you sleep.'" Erin relaxed some. "Right. That was especially true for you, Miss Erin. I swear you didn't sleep more than two hours at a time until you were a year old."