Happy Birthday Mommy!

Win a Trip to Ethiopia!

 

Kari at My Crazy Adoption is giving away 2 trips to Ethiopia!  Check out her blog for all the details.  You surely do not want to miss out on this one!  All you have to do is purchase 1 shirt which will give you one entry!  You can also order a shirt and allow someone else to go on the trip if you happen to win (hint hint you can have me go in your place. Ha!).

Here is the shirt I am planning on ordering - how stinkin cute is this? 

 

Here are the entry rules:

1.  To enter this giveaway you must purchase a Simply Love Tee shirt on My Crazy Adoption Store starting 10/6/10 through 10/28/10.  1 entry per shirt… the amount of entries is up to you!!  You can enter to win… even if you are already signed up for one of my mission trips in 2011.  You automatically register for the contest when you order a tee shirt- you can also leave me a note on the products page “Personalize your product” box when you check out.  If you are entering someone else to win the trip- if you are the winner, we will work out all the details! (no worries:)

2.  Payment for missions trip will go directly to Visiting Orphans for the winner’s scholarship prize.  Additional funds raised will be donated to Project 61, Visiting Orphans Ministry, as well as donations for orphans.

3.  The winner will be randomly selected (drawing will be video taped) on 11/2/10 to announce the winner.  I will also select two alternative winners.

4.  To save every penny, shirts will be ordered in bulk after the giveaway ends.  Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.

5.  No refunds. Exchanges available if size in stock.

This is soooo big, I have the official Terms and Conditions located at My Crazy Adoption Store.

Fall Harvest - Another Fall Favorite!

I found another reason to love fall, CSA harvest!  Yesterday we hooked up the trailer, threw in our buckets and rubber maid containers, buckled in the kids, and drove 45 minutes east to enjoy our first ever CSA harvest event. 

What is CSA?  It stands for Community Supported Agriculture and is through Bluebird Gardens.  We have been enjoying a box full of various vegetables, free of herbicides, pesticides, or artificial fertilizers, for 20 weeks now which has been so much fun.  Each week it is a surprise and we have based our weekly meals around this one box.

 

As we posted previously in our fitness area, we have eaten some of the best sweet corn, many varieties of lettuce, potatoes, onions, carrots, zucchini, squash, green beans, and so much more.  Thanks to this box we have tried out new recipes like spinach omelets and butternut squash soup and pie. 

Yesterday Bluebird Farms held their end of the season harvest.  As CSA members, we are allowed to attend and pick from onions, potatoes, carrots, squash, pumpkins, beets, and fall harvest decorations.  When I say we pick, I mean it literally as we all got our hands dirty today and came home with lots of food!

It was determined that Maya is very much a girly girl and didn't enjoy getting dirty, however was very happy to play with an earth worm Dave found.  Makenna however loved it and was more than happy to get dirty.  She tried climbing into the potato container and even tasted some dirt.  Both girls behaved very well and really seemed to have fun. 

Here are the girls in the pumpkin patch - Maya really did love it despite the look on her face.  We came home with 12 pumpkins!


 
After our pumpkin pick, we headed to the potato field and came home with one good size rubber maid container and one large bucket.  


Next is the carrots - we got one large bucket full of them. 

After tackling the carrots, we drove over the shed to get some onions versus dig for them as we were exhausted by then!  Our last stop was the squash which the girls and I stayed in the car.  Dave came back with a variety of 9 butternut and buttercup!

As you can see, we brought home a lot of food, including two ghost pumpkins which are very cool!


I can not say enough good things about a CSA.  To learn more about what CSA is and how to find a farm near you, visit the USDA site.

Maya has self taught herself Amharic children's songs

Many of you read my post about my terrible morning and offered me some great ideas to making our morning so much better.  One of comments said to play music in the morning while we are waking up and getting ready for the day.  We thought the idea was great and have started to play some children's songs sung in Amharic.  She absolutely loves the music and is now the first thing she asks for when Dave enters the room each morning.  Actually she loves the music so much that she wants to stay in bed until she listens to the entire cd! 


Maya's been listening to "The Life of Childhood Amharic Kids Songs" and is exclusively distributed by Abshiro Kids. 

Last night as we were getting our pajamas on, we turned on the music. Maya gave us a speical surprise and starting singing the songs, in Amharic! It wasn't just one song but she can sing along to every song on the CD. Here is a sample of Maya singing with some dance moves as well - enjoy!

Getting Out of the Hair Rut

Over a week ago, I posted a blog post about the disease called "Perfection" written by Single Dad Laughing who is probably one of the most read blogs out there right now.  If you haven't read his blog post on "Perfection", you can read it here. 

Since reading it, I have been thinking about Maya's hair.  I've been thinking about how I haven't taken time these past few months to learn anything new and to style her hair (aka braids).  Maya has been very content with one ponytail and I have gone with it.  Why?  Because it was easy for me.  I wish I could say it bothered me but it hasn't.  Yes, I have done a few things here and there but nothing big and nothing new.  Our days and nights are so crazy busy that I am actually happy Maya is okay with only a ponytail as it was one less thing I had to do.  See, I am not perfect.

In the past two weeks, Maya's daycare teacher has had her beautiful daughter with her when I drop Maya off in the morning.  Her daughter's hair is perfectly braided in so many cute different ways.  Maya's teacher is amazingly talented and she inspired me to get out of my rut and braid Maya's hair.  So tonight I did.

I am so pleased with how it turned out.  It only took me a little over an hour which isn't bad in my opinion.  I only wish I had some cute beads and a bead tool (not sure what they are called) as it would have really finished the style. 

Here is Maya's hair after being washed and combed before being styled:
 

An hour later, here is Maya's new style (16 little braids):
 

In case you are in a hair rut like I was, try looking online at some hair sites for some inspiration such as Happy Girl Hair and remember it is okay not to be perfect :)

Technorati Tags: African American Hair,Hair Styles

Do You Need to Talk to Social Services First?

OK, I will let you know that this will be a bit more of a rant than normal, but also I hope it will prove to be an educational post as well. It isn’t like what I am about to describe is completely unexpected as we understand that we are a very conspicuous family, but it still a shock when you experience it first hand.

Makenna has been struggling with ear infections for the last few months and yesterday we had an appointment with a specialist to discuss our options. The topic of surgery came up and as we were finishing the conversation, this happened:

“Do you need to talk to social services before we schedule the surgery?”

Yep, the nurse actually asked us that question. The face and tone of “WE ARE HER PARENTS” quickly got the message across to the nurse and she clumsily attempted to apologize and move on.
I get it – we are different, we are a family of white parents with brown children. I can handle the occasional comment about our family as we put ourselves out there in the public view, and advocate for our choice of how we built our family.

But why would this nurse just automatically assume that because we have a brown child that the child must be a ward of the state?

• I guess if you looked at her paperwork, it all showed us as being her parents so that isn’t it.
• It must have been all of the love and caring that we showed to Makenna during our appointment, asking Makenna to call us ‘momma’ and ‘dada’ to show the doctor her speaking abilities.
• Or was it due to the fact that she was a black child to white parents? BINGO WE HAVE A WINNER!!!

I don’t want to immediately always call out the race card but it seems so obvious in this situation. I wonder if our child had been Asian if the same comment would have been made? I would wager a guess that it wouldn’t have.

I was recently introduced to a amazing new blog, www.danoah.com, from his post “How Much Did Your Kid Cost” which details what questions one should not ask to or about an adoptive child. I would like to add “Do you need to talk to social services before you take action with your child?” to the list of questions never to ask.

Please share this story with as many others as you can via your blog, Facebook or Twitter. Share your personal story here as a comment as well so that others can put themselves in your shoes.  It isn’t until you or someone close are put into this type of situation that you understand the impact that it has on parents, as well as the child especially as they grow older and start to understand more.

Brown Babies Pink Parents - 10 Commandments of Black Hair Care

A new book called "Brown Babies Pink Parents" by author Amy Ford is out on the book shelves.  I am so excited to pick up my copy as it appears to be a wonderful resource.  Amy is an adoptive mother herself to 3 African American daughters.  From the sounds of it, she has figured a lot of things out along her parenting journey. 

 

Here is what Amy has to say about her new book.  I just love the 10 Commandments of Black Hair Care.  I couldn't agree more with them especially #4 and #8.

My new book, “Brown Babies Pink Parents”, is officially six weeks old and I am thoroughly enjoying the feedback pouring into my inbox, especially about the chapter on hair. Every adoptive mother has a story to tell about learning to comb their daughter’s hair. Some are tremendously funny and others aren’t so much. The most frequently asked question I receive as the white mother of African American daughters has to be about the hair and I am so proud to say, “I did it!” It wasn’t easy to learn how to care for my children’s hair and my mission is now to pass along those hair lessons to other mothers. If nothing else, I want to say, “Don’t be afraid! Give it a try and then practice. You can do it!”

For this purpose, I have created the Ten Commandments of Black Hair Care for White Parents, as found in Chapter 8 of “Brown Babies Pink Parents.”

1. Thou shalt not wash your child’s hair every day.

2. Thou shalt not treat your child’s hair as your do your own.

3. Thou shalt apply oil to your child’s scalp daily.

4. Thou shalt comb hair on a regular basis despite tears, screams, and tantrums.

5. Thou shalt commit yourself to learning the art of hair maintenance.

6. Thou shalt seek professional help from a licensed stylist when in doubt.

7. Thou shalt practice, practice, practice.

8. Thou shalt avoid sandboxes.

9. Though shalt not take every piece of advice offered to you regarding hair and skin.

10. Though shalt not let younger children style their own hair.

I can’t imagine how you could go wrong if you follow these simple guidelines. The rest is gravy! Specific styles can be learned. The important thing is to open yourself to the experience of learning a new skill. I have a creative freedom with my children’s hair that I will never know with my own. When I was a little girl, there were 3 hair styles available to me —one pony tail, two pony tails, or French braids, which I now know originated in Africa, not France. Not so for my girls! My children’s hair can be shaped and sculpted into a multitude of styles, making me feel like a hair artist. Yes, learning a new skill can be intimidating, but only as long as you allow yourself to be intimidated. Isn’t your baby love worth it?

http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curlykids/ten-commandments-of-black-hair-care-for-white-parents