Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Snapshot

You Are The Sun

Wordless Wednesday

Best Toms Ever

I went to the Tom's warehouse sale this weekend. It was a bust for me, but Meazi's feet are going to look great when she is 7 or 8. I am calling the above pair, " The Meazi Toms." She saw them and said, "Is that me?"

Melese keeps trying to order a pair for himself on his new computer. Yes, he inherited the Mac he destroyed. He just told me he was writing to Thomas, as in Thomas the Train.

Just Julie

I recently had the opportunity to speak to a woman that I like very much. She told me that if my blog was any indication of how our attachment was going, things were just hunky dory. She used a better term than hunky dory, but I can't remember what it was.

I think we can all agree that attchment is an ongoing, lifelong, difficult process.

My Habesha Tortuga is quite attached to me. He strokes my arm when I hold him. He hugs and kisses me. He still prefers to sleep with his toes gripping my ribs to make sure that I am right there. When I say, "How much does mommy love you?" he squeals back, "Soooooooooo Much!!!"

Meazi is a tougher nut to crack. I know she likes me. Some days are beautiful. Some days are difficult.

Beautiful:

Meazi told me she made the above picture at school. She described it as a picture of her thinking about, and missing me, during a long day at school.

Difficult:

She put in an envelope addressed to "Julie".

I know that I am her mommy.

Sometimes to her...

I am just Julie.

Wordless Wednesday

Little Wing

Tuesday is Show & Tell day. I mentioned what Meazi brought two weeks ago. Last week she brought a lovely photo book. The book was made by my friend Deb. It documents the time from our M&m 'baby' shower, to our arrival at LAX, and even the first few minutes of Meazi and Melese seeing their new home for the first time. It was an incredibly thoughtful gift.

Last night Meazi said, "Oh I can't wait to go to school tomorrow and do that thing that adults do with those tables and those pens!" She meant voting. Her class is doing a mock voting. I said, "That's great Meazi, and what will you bring to share for Show & Tell?"

She is bringing this picture of Jimi Hendrix.

Did I mention that I love her?

I asked her what she would tell the class and she said, "That he was a great musician who played the guitar, and that he had a really nice deep voice."

I was tempted to send my I-phone with her so she could play Little Wing for everyone. Can you think of a better song to mellow out those little Kinder Kidlets and get them ready for a big day of learning about voting and the letter 'P'? (Remember when I could put songs on the blog? I really liked that). You'll have to just go find Little Wing on your own and get yourself ready for a mellow day of voting.

November

So, anyone attempting the NaBloPoMo? Yeah, me neither. Considering I spend the forty minutes a day I have to myself eating corn chips and reading Facebook, I don't think I can succeed at a post a day for a whole month.

I love November. It is such a great month. The air is crisp. The sun is strong. Did you know that November is National Adoption month?

"This year's National Adoption Month initiative targets adoption professionals by focusing on ways to recruit and retain parents for the 115,000 children and youth in foster care waiting for adoptive families."

Adoptive Families Magazine has a printable calendar that suggests ways to celebrate adoption.

And speaking of magazines, I am so excited about this magazine that launches today. I think it is a fantastic idea, and I am thrilled to be a part of it. I should have an article up here if I manage to use the aforementioned nap time minutes more efficiently.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween. Here are the bee and the tortuga...

Yes We Candy

Knucklehead Wednesday

These are our Knucklehead pumpkins. Do you have them where you live? I think they should be renamed 'Bukowski' pumpkins.

Also does your spouse or partner use power tools to carve your pumpkins?

And did he/she purchase said power tool to file the dogs nails?

I didn't think so.

Sunday Snapshot

Show and Tell

Meazi what was the best part of your day?

"Show and Tell!"

This is not a picture from yesterday, but it is a picture of what she looked like after school. She was beaming. Her teacher gave me a 'thumbs up' as she said goodbye to Meazi. Meazi walked out carrying the huge 11x14 framed picture from Ethiopia.  She saw a fellow student's father in the parking lot and showed it to him. He told her that he and his daughter would find Ethiopia on a map just as soon as they got home.

Meazi said that all of the kids' eyes "popped out of their heads" when they heard that she had two cows, and then again when they heard that she had taken two airplanes to get to America. She told them many things.

She was so happy. It seemed like a heavy weight had been lifted.

Meazi continues to amaze me.

My beautiful, brave, sparkly-eyed girl.

Wordless Wednesday

Telling Stories

There is fiction in the space between
The lines on your page of memories
Write it down but it doesn't mean
You're not just telling stories

There is no fiction when Meazi tells her story. We are struggling a bit with something. When you are a 'potential adoptive parent' you learn how to protect your child's story. You deflect. You say things like,

"That is their story to tell, if and when they are ready."

What then do you do when your four-year old starts talking? Meazi told her story in Pre-K. Meazi also told her story to a woman she had know for three weeks. This woman was the nanny of a fellow student at summer school.

Meazi asked to bring a picture from Ethiopia for Show & Tell today. The picture speaks volumes. Steven thought we should just tell her she couldn't bring it. I spoke to her teacher. I let Meazi bring it today. It is difficult to know what is the best thing to do. We want to protect her, and we want her to feel proud of where she came from.

Steven thinks she is too young to realize what she is doing by showing such a revealing picture. My thought is that it helps her to express that she is a child with two countries. I think she wanted to bring it because another child in her class brought a picture of his uncle in Ethiopia picking up the child's two nephews. This 'share' was something that Meazi could obviously relate to. I asked her teacher to guide the questioning, making sure that Meazi wasn't getting flustered, and that children weren't asking questions that Meazi wasn't comfortable answering.

I hope that I made the right decision. Knowing Meazi, and how amazingly astute she is, it seemed like I had to follow her lead.

Sunday Snapshot

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Snapshot

Bee still my heart.

Please...

If you have a second, please send a peaceful thought or prayer to my friend Elena who is dying. I wrote about her here.

Wordless Wednesday