On Thursdays I post a favorite from the archives. This is from April 2008. There are so many days where, as a mom, I feel completely unequipped. I am often looking around and feeling like I am the ONLY mom fumbling this much and in so much chaos. I am the mom who forgets water bottles at playgroup, who forgets sunscreen at the beach, who forgets to pack lunch for preschool, who forgets the helmet at the skate park. I try very hard to overcompensate for this by being "intentionally organized". . . .

This post was sponsored by Ford. Last Thanksgiving my sister-in-law hosted us for the day, and she created a little gratitude experience by making an interactive bulletin board. She had little slips of paper that everyone could write things they were thankful for. It was a really meaningful exercise and a great visual reminder of all of our blessings. It was also the perfect way to get the kids involved in thinking through what they are grateful for. I decided to try to recreate this . . .

November is National Adoption Month, and as such, I've been seeing some new movements on social media surrounding adoption. Yesterday, I posted about the #flipthescript movement, in which adoptees are attempting to raise their voices in the conversation around adoption, which is so often dominated by adoption agencies and adoptive parents. I linked out to the writings of several adoptees who wrote honest and sometimes painful accounts about being adopted, and I also featured a video of adoptees . . .

If you are local, join me at Next Saturday at the Splendid store in Fashion Island for family fun and crafts with Open House Creative. Guests will receive a gift from 31 Bits. See you there! . . .

Last week I had the chance to travel to Washington, DC to attend the ONE campaign's inaugural Aya Summit, an event dedicated to discussing how to advocate for women and girls around the world. If you aren’t familiar with the ONE campaign, they are a global advocacy group with the mission of ending extreme poverty and preventable disease. I had the opportunity to lobby congress on behalf of the ONE campaign last year, and have also been involved as a ONE mom ambassador for a while, and I cannot . . .