Snow-pocalypse

Well it certainly wasn't the end of the world as the news predicted and it's a waste on the weekend (no school means no snow day) but this is what we woke up to today

The kids of course couldn't wait to get outside and play in it

This is D's second outfit for the day. She is still wearing her coat from the last two years and the snowpants are a little short. One step into the big drifts and snow got into her cuffs and down into her boots. She insisted she had to change them and luckily thanks to some hand-me-downs from a friend we had another snowsuit hanging in the closet waiting till D grew into a size 5. But with the boots back on she made the too big snowsuit work and back outside we went.

K seems to have her seasons mixed up

This is the only photo of A smiling- apparently building forts and throwing snowballs is serious business

Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!

Hit and Run Racism

Let me set up the back story- so bear with me for a moment

Last weekend I went to a scrapbooking retreat (or crop for those in the "cult") I have never been to a crop with this particular group of people, but I am good friends with some of them (and knew a few more casually) However, the majority of them were strangers. At several points in the evening, everyone does what is called a "walkabout" -each person selects their favorite page, places it on their workstation and everyone "walks about" and looks at what everyone else has done.

So here is my page (not my fanciest work- but cute pics of the kids from right after K came home)

So everyone is walking about and I am back hanging out by my book when a couple of women come by. One asks me about the kids and if they were all "mine" and I said yes and she asked where D was from (turns out she has a child from China too). The woman behind her overheard and as the first lady walked away she pointed to K and asked where she was from. I replied "Ethiopia" and she leaned in close to me (like she had some great secret to tell me) and said in a whisper

"At least she isn't dark like some of those people from over there."

Those people??? Which people would that be exactly??? and while we are at it-what exactly do you mean by "at least"?????

But before I could say a word, she walked away.

I have heard similar sentiments occasionally from others, usually as a thinly veiled observation that K doesn't "look African" (as if all Africans look the same) but this was the first person to be so "open" about it.

Now she was older (like early 70s) and I will give a "pass" for some of the politically incorrect things people say cause they are a product of a "different time" but seriously folks- step out of 1930 and join us in 2010.

"I Nine-nese" (or why no one else can use the remote)

D has this fascination with the fact she is Chinese. It started about 6 months ago in a rather benign conversation that a couple of adults (I can't even remember who) were having about something being made in China. She overheard and yelled (enthusiastically) "Me- I Nine-nese" and thus an obsession was born. Anytime (and I truly mean ANY time) she hears anything about China she has to tell everyone in earshot that she is Chinese too.

The other day, B noticed that the remote for the DVD player in his new car said "Made in China" and he pointed it out to her that the remote was made in China. She now believes that she is the only one who can use the remote because "'mote nine-nese, and me nine-nese, bubba [brother] no nine-nese"

I dare you to argue with that logic

Gratuitous Cute Kid Picture

A Letter from Satan

To Pat Robertson

I didn't write this but it well worth sharing (from http://www.startribune.com/opinion/letters/81595442.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUqEiaDUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU )

Dear Pat Robertson, I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action. But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"? If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll. You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract. Best, Satan

LILY C, MINNEAPOLIS

Haiti

The best way to help is to give to agencies that already have people on the ground in country. 

Our adoption agency is one who has been working for years in Haiti.  

If you feel called to donate

https://secure2.convio.net/holt/site/Donation2?df_id=1840&1840.donation=form1

Tragic that this is what it took to get Haiti on the world's radar

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day

One of the biggest concerns about international adoption is ethics- particularly involving trafficking.  We (and our agencies and governments) must make sure that the children we are adopting are legitimately available for adoption and haven't been kidnapped or coerced from or sold by their birthfamilies.  In countries with high poverty, this quickly becomes an all too real concern.    Parents are left to research agencies and sometimes even the best research doesn't yield the information needed and agencies with questionable (or no) ethics are able to continue to recruit prospective clients.  We depend on these agencies to put ethics ahead of their bottom line and when they don't, the repercussions are heartbreaking.

 This is the very real story of one mother's experience .

http://allysjourney.blogspot.com/2010/01/alyssas-story.html