I don't work well in groups. There, I've said it. One of my greatest moments of anxiety is when a professor or lecturer says, "I'd like you to break up into groups and come up with a solution". Which is ironic, because when I teach at Vanguard I do this all the time.Yesterday Mark and I went to an adoption conference. It was really great material. But at one point, we had to have a "mock" family meeting at our table and brainstorm a solution. There were eight of us. As soon as we started, my . . .
A Happy Birthday in Haiti
On the same day that India turned 2, her brother in Haiti also turned 2. October 7th is a bittersweet day for me. On the one hand, I am reminded of the amazing miracle of India and the day I gave birth to her. On the other hand, it's a painful day because Keanan is not with us to celebrate his birthday, too. I was feeling very melancholy about it, but my spirits were lifted when I got the pictures of his celebration at the orphange. I was sad on his birthday, but look how happy he is! Look how . . .
Temptation
What I am supposed to be reading:Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. A poetic and philosphical exploration of the class system in India, full of thick metaphor, obscure allegory, and deep political and religious underpinnings. The divergent writing style, heady vocabulary, and constantly shifting plot points are making this a very hard read. (book club is on Sunday, and I'm 166 pages in of this 525 page book).What I'd like to be reading:The Twighlight Series. Mindless, young adult fiction . . .
Why you shouldn’t let kids watch ROOTS
Today we were at the park, and there was another little boy there who looked about six years old. This little boy decided to pretend that Jafta was his slave. He would order him around, saying things like "hey slave, get over here". At first I thought I heard him wrong. But no. He definitely had the slave concept down.I think this MAY take the cake on awkward racial experiences for me. Well, maybe it's a close second to the time a lady approached me at the farmer's market to tell me that her . . .
Surrendering to Looking Stupid, Part 2
I wrote about my own surrender to looking stupid a few months ago. Lately, I am realizing that this theory must apply to my children as well. Okay, let me try to circumvent any nasty comments by saying this: I don't think my kids ever look stupid.But . . .sometimes the choices they make are just not my choices. And sometimes their fashion sense just doesn't make any sense.I've mentioned my disdain for character clothing, and my loathing of crocs. And yet, for some reason, these two items seem to . . .
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Politics Style
I love to play this silly game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: where you name an actor and then, in six movies or less, you have to connect them to a movie that Kevin Bacon was in. It's silly and trivial but, well, so am I.I've been noticing this game being played out in politics all month. It's a fun little guilty-by-association game. Six Degrees of Desperation, if you will. And both sides are playing. Hard. Here are some of the gems I've heard online this week:1. Obama is on the board of . . .
the “good friend with questionable parents” dilemma
When I was a kid, one of my best friends lived down the street from me. Her parents were free-thinking hippies, and one night at the beginning of our friendship my mom let me spend the night there. The house was full of incense and, ahem, some other smokey smells. The dad spent the evening in a daze, painting a picture of a topless woman under a rainbow. The mom let us watch an adult romantic comedy with a racy shower scene. My friend's teenage sister arrived home drunk out of her mind, and the . . .
The Middle Child Turns Two
Poor India. The middle child phenomenon is already in full effect. Today is her 2nd birthday and she doesn't even know it, because I had to wake up at 6am and spend the morning at a high-risk ultrasound screening for her younger unborn sibling. (Good news - baby looks great). Now I am exhausted and pretty much letting PBS do the parenting, and pretending like her birthday is tomorrow. Not to mention, I haven't even planned a party for her. I am just too tired . . . between raising two kids and . . .
The Impulse Buy and the Gender Gap
The other day I took the kids into a kid's consignment store, and there was a HUGE dollhouse for sale. As soon as we walked in the door, India spottted this thing and ran straight for it. She was in heaven! She loved it, and started playing with it immediately. It was priced really well, and to be honest, I was kind of excited too. So I pointed it out to Jafta, who took one look and said, "no thanks". He paid it no attention and started playing with a train set display.But I felt like I just had . . .
The Five Stages of Forwarding Unintentionally Funny Christian Videos
1. Denial and Isolation"That can't be real. There is no way a church is doing that. That has to be fake. Maybe that is something the parody website, The Onion, did. That's got to be a joke. Am I the only Christian that thinks that is ridiculous? Is it bad that I think that is ridiculous? Is it wrong to mock something a church did? I am so alone."2. Anger"This is why God gets such a bad rap. When my friends say Christianity is corny or cheesy, this is the kind of stuff they're talking about. I . . .
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