Dear Anderson,It's me, Kristen. Your #1 fan. I have loved you for a long time. I still do. When you decided to go back to Haiti to continue to tell their story, I was deeply moved. You are everything I appreciate in a journalist: smart, articulate, compassionate, adventurous, and quick-on-your-feet. One of the things I've always enjoyed about your show is your willingness to present multiple layers of complex issues. But last night. Oh, Andy. You made a misstep that had me considering a . . .
car talk
I need some help. We are still in need of a car that can fit all six of us. Obviously we thought we would have a bit more time to figure this out before Kembe came home from Haiti. We've been getting by with a very generous loaner minivan, but we need to find a permanent solution. The problem is, I am completely overwhelmed with the idea of choosing a car.I am not a car person. I don't know about cars. I don't care about cars. Our strategy thus far has always been to pay cash for older . . .
day in the life
wake up at 5am - try to get Kembe to go back to sleep. doze until 7am, discover both girls have peed through diapers. throw crib bedding in washer. throw India's bedding near washer. feed Karis while snuggling Kembe. get kids dressed.discover we have no breakfast foods. remember valentines are due at preschool.frantically address 24 valentines from Jafta, 18 from India. plop Karis in an exersaucer while Mark drops off kids, take shower.realize it was snack day for India.find snack to have Mark . . .
just enough to be dangerous
My Creole is improving. I know just enough to communicate most of what I need, in cryptic directives. I’ve figured out a pretty decent system, between searching for things on google translations, and reading out full phrases from my handbook for adoptive parents. The problem is, Kembe now thinks that I can fully speak Creole. When he first came home, I was impressed with his understanding of the language barrier, and at his attempts to communicate with me through signals and gestures. Now, . . .
goodbye Keanan, hello Kembe
I know our son's name has thoroughly confused many of our friends. We had every intention of calling him Keanan, and referred to him by that name for the past two years. However, at the orphanage he was still called his birth name (Kembert), which I was reluctant to keep for fear of sentencing him to a lifetime of spelling and pronunciation issues. But now that he's home, it just doesn't feel right for us to change his name at this point.So, we've settled on Kembe. It's pronounced the way . . .
te veo
My friend Dionne just shared this letter with me. She is a teacher at a school primarily composed of under-privileged kids, and she was moved to help raise funds for Heartline Haiti. I love this story of children helping other children, and what they learned about themselves:Woodcrest Elementary School is a small school of about 500 students, located in one of the roughest parts of Fullerton-- the barrio so-to-speak . We are a predominantly Latino school. We weren't sure how a fund drive would . . .
two weeks in pictures
These past two weeks have been fun, insane, exciting, challenging, sleep-deprived, painful, chaotic, loud, hilarious, joyful, difficult, wonderful, confusing, tender, entertaining, and anything but boring. . . .
nomination: world’s best use of skype
We've gotten to skype with four of the other boys from Kembert's orphanage in Haiti (two different sets of brothers). I love that all of the parents are in touch. I know these kids miss each other tremendously. They didn't say much to each other - I'm not sure they really understood that it was "real time" and that they could converse this way. But they made faces at each other and laughed and laughed. It was pretty cute. We're looking forward to skyping with more of his friends . . . . . . .
if you like free stuff . . .
I don't usually post our giveaways here, but we are having a really good one at Mama Manifesto right now and the entries are curiously light for such a great prize. Maybe people aren't familiar with Ridemakerz since it's a brand new company - but it is SO COOL. You should go enter, because we're giving away $50 gift cards! Ridemakerz is like the Build-A-Bear for remote-control cars. It is really fun (even for adults). So click over and enter, because it ends tonight! . . .
the twins
I was filling out some paperwork for these two - trying to get them on the waiting list for preschool next year. I was laughing about them having the same birthday, and how confusing it will be for the teacher, who sees two kids, born on the same day, and same last name . . . and then sees these two walk in together. Perhaps not what she will expect? . . .
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