I love Michael’s room. I love the colors and how everything is coordinated. I still want to add a few finishing touches but for the most part I am really happy with it.
Jett’s room is a little different, not that I don’t love it, but I love it for different reasons. Michael’s room is definitely boy, I mean come on – it is hot rod themed.
Jett’s however doesn’t have an obvious theme, in fact I am sure my decorator friend Tracey just wants to turn around the moment she walks in because it seems so disjointed.
Michael’s room was born out of Hobby Lobby and Target. Jett’s room however tells a story. And I will share it here with you.
Firstly, I always associate the color green with Jett. (I think the reason might be that one of the first pictures I ever received of Jett he was wearing a green knit sweater.) Oh my gosh, how could you just not love this face? It was 5 more months before we brought him home. Torture.
So when searching for a comforter for Jett’s room I was drawn to color green.
The picture above Jett’s bed is an antique world map (not a real antique world map, that is just what Hobby Lobby called it. A real antique world map would’ve been cool though, huh?) I wanted something that showed both China and the United States next to each other. The Chinese writing on the wall next to it says, “Charm”. I could have chosen Victory, or Brave, or Hope among others, but I felt Charm described Jett perfectly. And the blue bear pillow was the decorative pillow on my bed when I was younger.
The wagon was a handmade gift from my grandfather, Papa, when I was one year old. The lanterns were at Jett’s first birthday we celebrated with him and they are hand painted by my friend Lindsay. Aren’t they beautiful!
The framed print on the wall is a poster made by my friend Jenn from a quote I created regarding how I felt about our miracle of adoption and God’s hand in it.
The blanket and pillow are made by my friend Amy from material Scuba brought home from a trip he made to China before we even began the adoption process but knew we would adopt from there. And the cute little boy is another souvenir we brought home from China. 🙂
The tree doesn’t have any sentimental value, it is just a bamboo tree. The craft on the top right are some flowers Jett and his Daddy made one morning while Michael and I were at church.
The squares are also made by Amy from the Chinese silk. In the middle is a round jade family ball that Scuba also brought back from China. It is made from a solid piece of jade and has smaller and smaller balls inside of it that move independently of each other. Next to that on the left are Chinese stamps with Jett’s Chinese name. To the right are two mugs. The one in the back is a Christmas present from a dear friend Phuong who mentored me for many years before she became a missionary in China. The mug in the front, along with the brown box were gifts we received from Jett’s orphanage when we visited there. They said it was a celebration of the city’s anniversary and the mug was made from Xuzhou clay. It really is a beautiful mug. (The elephants on the left are Asian elephants bought at Hobby Lobby.)
On the top left you see a yellow and white photo album. This album was also a gift from Jett’s orphanage and has something most adoptive parents of international children never receive, baby pictures. There aren’t a whole lot, but what we have we treasure. And Jett loves to look through it. Inside the album is Chinese money given to us by a co-worker of my dad who helped to translate emails we received from the orphanage while we waited. Giving money is a Chinese tradition. In front of the photo album is Jett’s Chinese adoption certificate. The first picture is from Jett’s first Christmas. The middle picture is the one from the orphanage I showed you above. That picture was emailed to me from one of the orphanage directors and I can’t tell you how much time I stared at that sweet face wondering about the little boy who was so far away from me. It is still one of my favorites. The picture on the right is the family picture the adoption officials took to attach to our adoption certificate. To the right of that is artwork that Scuba’s aunt made, it is his name.
On the bottom row on the far left are two pairs of shoes. The bronze ones are mine. When my mom had my shoes bronzed she couldn’t find my first pair of shoes so she had these done, I was probably a year old. The navy shoes right behind these are the shoes Jett was wearing when we first met him. The are definitely hand me down shoes that had been worn my many feet. The white ceramic cross was a gift from a friend of my mom’s and it says, “For this child I have prayed.” So ture. The picture in the middle is the famous red couch picture that I think all adoptive Chinese families take at the White Swan hotel. Jett was wearing the little Chinese outfit we bought him while we were there. Such a handsome litttle boy. And the picture on the right is a one year old me sitting on the wagon.
So there you have it, all of the little pieces that make Jett’s room very special to me. I love how so many loved friends and family have contributed to make it special.
My Adoption Story 