The following is an assignment about forming imagery in stories from Ray’s homeschooling curriculum that took on a beautiful life of its own. I encouraged her as she dictated, and helped her to order what became an elaborate story in a manner that made sense to those of us not living in her head, but the content is original Ray (as are the descriptive sentences). I also tried to leave the wording and grammar as original to her composition as possible. I did help her reword when things just didn’t communicate, but ultimately I didn’t come up with any of the bones on my own, and couldn’t if I tried. We wrapped it up in a Shutterfly book and gave it to our families for Christmas, but the wrapping doesn’t surpass the work. As we end 2018 we wanted to share her creativity with you, as we did with our families. On the hard, tear-filled days where visions of life before kids dance through my head, this. Just this.

STARBABY FALLS

by Ray Evangeline Paris, illustrated by Brian Paris

Adoption is a beautiful, broken mess full of gain and completion, loss and confusion. It was never what God intended for families when He created this world, but it is a raw picture of how He transforms ashes into beauty. As Ray navigates all of these truths in her own adoption journey, she struggles to understand the world.

This is a story written from the heart of a sister trying to grasp the whys and hows of a broken Earth. Perhaps some day she really will become a Starbaby Helper.

One night Ray and Willa were sitting on the beach. It was cold and rainy and windy. They help babies that fall from the sky and land in the ocean. That night they were waiting to see if a star was falling, then they would know that it was a baby.

There are two hundred smart dolphins that know when and where the starbabies fall. The dolphins talk to the people who help the babies, a group named Starbaby Helpers. They bring the babies that fall into the ocean to the Starbaby Helpers.

Ray and Willa had blankets with hoods over their heads when they saw a star fall. They knew that it was a starbaby!!!

They were so excited they called the dolphins using their Dolchat, a bracelet that looks like a small watch with a mirror face. Ray pressed it two times fast to turn it on and then said, “We want to talk to our dolphins.”

The Dolchat showed them Blue immediately. Blue was a leader dolphin with fins and a tail pink like Ray’s favorite bird, the flamingo. His face was blue like the surface of the ocean.

Ray said, “We saw a star fall, Blue! Did one of your dolphins catch the baby?”

“Yes! One of my dolphins caught a starbaby. It’s a girl!”

“Bring her to the beach. I will climb on the dolphin with the starbaby and get her.”

The dolphins were very fast and Ray and Willa saw Blue before they knew it. They saw the starbaby lying on a dolphin’s back. She was brown like yummy barbecue sauce. Her hair was short and straight like a leaf. Her eyes were black as the night sky. She looked around in excitement at them.

Ray asked the dolphin with the starbaby to put his tail on the sand so she could climb up and get the starbaby. Ray and Willa didn’t have what the baby needed, but Blue picked up his tail and gave them a baby bag. Willa took that.

The girls got into their car after Willa put the baby bag and food onto the backseat. Willa drove while Ray held and rocked the starbaby. They drove through caves, mountains, towns, and woods. After a long time they got to Yaya and Popling’s house. When starbabies fall from the sky they land hard in the ocean, so Ray and Willa wanted Dr. Popling and Nurse Yaya to check their starbaby.

Dr. Popling said, “There’s just one little scratch on her cheek.”

Yaya added, “She’ll be okay with that scratch.”

The girls fell in love with the starbaby and they called her Cricket. She stayed with them and learned how to watch for other starbabies. Ray and Willa taught her how to talk to dolphins. They stayed together at Popling and Yaya’s house until she was one.

All three girls said, “We’re going to Grammy and Papa’s house because they live near the ocean and we want to watch for starbabies!!”

They packed up and drove to Grammy and Papa’s. They got there at 11:30 in the morning and went straight to the beach. There sat Ray, Willa, and Cricket waiting for more stars to fall, a new Dolchat on Cricket’s wrist.