Porch Art. Play Time. Good Morning Tunes.

Macie enjoys the lead, but Ella is pretty good with back-up. I can't ever seem to get them on film while they are singing- so I had to turn the camera on without much for you to look at, but the sound is worth the blank screen. We LOVE our morning songs!

It's About Time!!!

I took Macie to see UP, the other day and we saw this trailer. I had heard rumors for months, but I am excited to see that the movie has finally be made and will come out this year!
We can't wait to see it!

EDUN Clothing

Manicurist raises 250k to build school in native Ethiopia

This woman is AMAZING!!! She has been nominated for CNN's 2009 Hero award. Don't forget to vote!

I Am Saddened

We still live in a country where hatred based on religion and color reside. I sit here struggling to find words to fit the obvious pain our country continues to feel.
I am just a mother. Just one voice, but I speak for my family and I represent many that are more saddened than words can say.
The shooting at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum today shows evidence of the prejudice that continues to walk and breathe right here where we live. My heart goes out to the security guard and his families, both at work and at home. I hope that he feels the love and hope for healing that is being sent his way by so many thankful hearts across this nation.
In regards to the situation itself.... It is disgustingly offensive, and makes me physically sick. More importantly though, it breaks my heart.
Ignorance. Chosen ignorance, has already caused so much pain. Can we not just let that go? Have enough lives not been lost? Have we not suffered enough regardless of religion, race, sex and lifestyle?
This 88 year old man has chosen to carry a hatred so heavy, so evil, so possessive, that he opened fire in a place of memoriam hopeful that he would at least injure those protecting and observing it's commemoration.
His website, which I will not link you to, boasts about his "Christian" religion and describes his own obvious hatred of anyone outside of his own Neo-Nazi belief system. He is an older man and I hope the hatred in his blood, dies with him and does not continue down his family line.
I hope that we, as a nation, can turn this into an opportunity to educate, grow, learn, and heal. I pray that we choose to make it that. As for this man, he makes me sad and I pity him. May God have mercy on his soul.

Because We Forget Them Too Often.

Parenthood

I have an entirely different perspective on life now that I have children. I expect this comes as no surprise to anyone who is a parent. It changes things. It alters the way you see the world and all of the possibilities it holds. The hopes are endless and the fears somehow more tangible.
Protection for precious little lives comes in many forms and the "Mamma Bear" mentality sets in like a magical unseen cloak that is placed over your shoulders from the moment that child becomes your own. That cloak somehow encompasses your children, yourself, your partner and the family you have become.
You look at the miles of circumstance ahead and do your best to prepare for the good and the bad that might meet you. You brace your loved ones closer to you as another corner of change approaches knowing that you will be stronger together than you could ever be apart.
Suddenly, the word family consists of something much more than the family you had so neatly defined before these little lives came into focus. Family becomes not only the people that are related to you, but also the people that most want to advocate for your children and for what they need. Family is suddenly a term that applies not only to those that love your children, but also to those that respect and appreciate what you have created as a family and what your family has gone through to get where you are.
Adoption. It is different. It is a new kind of family for many. It demands a different kind of appreciation, a different kind of respect. A respect for what our children have been through, what they have seen, what they will remember. It is about respecting each new change and each new process that will be faced as they take on a new identity in this world and this new family that is now their own.
It is about "getting it". Getting that you may not fully understand all that goes into adoption. Getting that you may not agree with it or that you may not ever truly get it, but understanding that you can still respect it and the decisions made because of it.
It doesn't stop once we bring them home. It keeps growing with each day. We keep changing and keep discovering that as we evolve as a family, the definition of the term also begins to take on a new form. The strength of this family only grows deeper as we continue to create a new life together.

Busy Lives

OK- So it's been a busy couple of months.
We've traveled accross the country and back, dealt with a couple of medical scares, gone to the beach for the first time, hunted down a great pre-school for Macie, started packing for a move into a new house, had our computer crash, attended Garrett's "White Coat" ceremony, completed swim lessons and played with all the hours in-between.
I won't get into all the details, there are too many to unravel in a single blog, but I will update the photos (since that is what most of you want to see anyway). We ARE, in fact, alive and well, always anticipating the next lesson in each days adventure.

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