What I Want You to Know: PPH and Hysterectomy
What I Want You to Know is a series of reader submissions. It is an attempt to allow people to tell their personal stories, in the hopes of bringing greater compassion to the unique issues each of us face. If you would like to submit a story, email me. My name is Marilyn, I am 32 years old. I live in a small town on the Treasure Coast of Florida. I’m a high school teacher at a rural high school. I love my students, but my number one priority is my family. Outside my fabulous . . .
gag reflex
There is nothing like small children to get the gag reflex going. In the past week, I found myself suppressing the urge to throw up in my mouth on the following occasions: We went to the Bug Invasion exhibit at the Discovery Center, and Jafta held a four-inch cockroach, that hissed at him as he pet it. Hissed. Meanwhile, Karis peered into an egg crate of crickets that someone had set in a box on the floor and TRIED TO EAT ONE HERSELF. We took the kids to McDonalds playland as a . . .
I’m in a yurt
I am in a small mountain town three hours from LA, at a gorgeous retreat center called Calliote Canyon. There is no cell phone connection and spotty internet connection. I’m sitting cross-legged on the floor in a circle of about 35 other women. They are influential writers, thinkers, and entrepreneurs. I’m honored to be here. We’ve been sharing about motherhood and identity, and defining our goals. We’ve talked about boundaries and balance and giving back. Most . . .
What I Want You To Know: Homeschooling
Today’s What I Want You To Know is from Wendy at Mountain Meanderings. What I want you to know about homeschooling: I home-school my children for many reasons, and not one of them is because I think I’m better than you. It simply means that I think this schooling option is better for my children. Just because I home-school does not mean that I think the school you send your child to is inferior. It means that for my children, I’m exercising my responsibility to . . .
do orphans need “saving”?
There were a couple comments on a post I did about the Together for Adoption conference that I have been wanting to address. Several people asked me to share ideas for ways to help orphans outside of adoption. The conference had so much information on this, and right now I have a stack of fliers from organizations who are offering support to orphans in a variety of ways. I’m hoping to consolidate all that information into a post soon. Here is the other comment I wanted to . . .
blue eyes, brown eyes
I am showing the classic documentary "Eye of the Storm" in class tonight. I remember seeing this in college, but now that I have children of my own it is even more compelling to watch the class dynamics. If you haven't see this before, you should watch it, and consider showing it to your older kids. It is a great illustration of the ways children experiment with power. It is a reminder that prejudice affects not only the group on the bottom, but fuels awful behavior by the people . . .
of skulls, yellow pants, and the awesome that could have been
Oh, so much drama surrounding picture day. Jafta's was last week. The night before, we went to a pumpkin patch. And by pumpkin patch, I mean a bunch of bouncehouses in the parking lot of a mall. We let the kids jump to their heart's content, and then let them get their faces painted. (Side note: the gal who painted their faces was a lovely young woman who was also transracially adopted from foster care. She told us her story and proceeded to thank us for . . .
the rainbow connection
Jafta's class is having a "Celebration of Color" over the next two weeks. In my mind it is more of a "Celebration of Chaos", because he is supposed to wear an assigned color every day of the week for two weeks. And seeing as how I am struggling to remember to pick him up from kindergarten every day, this feels like a bit of a challenge. A couple of you suggested I just boycot the color thing, which would be a perfectly sane thing for a mother of four with intact boundaries . . .
things that seemed like a good idea at the time
Getting a henna tattoo at a charity gala, because everyone else is doing it, not thinking about the fact that in two weeks, IT WILL STILL BE THERE. laughing and not intervening when Jafta decided to put the baby in a bucket. (Not pictured: faceplant onto the cement). Showing your kids the movie Camelot, so they can get excited about their knight and princess birthday party, forgetting that it is a movie about adultery. And also, anyone else seeing what I’m seeing with . . .
I’ve come to wish you an unhappy birthday
Kembe and India (the twins) turned 4 earlier this week. It was very anticlimactic. Their preschool schedule their special moment at school a couple days before the real day. They get to wear a crown and the parent supplies a special snack . . . but we are discouraged from bringing sweets or cupcakes. However, a lot of parents don't follow the rules, and my kids came home moping several days last year because "so-and-so" got CUPCAKES for their birthday . . .
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