Little Miss turns two!!!

We celebrated E's birthday while on a family camping trip. E was able to spend the weekend doing so many of her favorite things.

She was in complete shock to see she had Dora, Boots and Diego on her cake.

 We relit the candles 3 times. She loved blowing out the candles. "One more time, Mama."

 Yummy!

 This baby LOVES to splash and swim! Yes, she can float unassisted. 

 Warming up with Papa after swimming. 

We drove in to the local "cowboy" town that morning and Little Miss found a pink cowgirl hat that she had to have.While in town we stopped for coffee, and she played a little Angry Birds on Nana's phone, one of her favorite activities when she is with my mom.

 Yes, we gave our two year old her first car for her birthday!

Ignorance is Bliss

We attended a wedding reception last weekend at a town nearby. We were looking forward to an evening out alone. By alone, I mean without the children. Everything was going well, a glass of wine, a delicious meal, just about time for the dance to begin.  A Stevie Wonder song began playing. The man next to us leaned over and stated he thought it was strange when a "white" couple played Stevie Wonder music at their weddings with a chuckle. Every hair on my body stood straight up; this should have been my first cue it was NOT going to end there. The man proceeded to tell an awful joke about Stevie Wonder in reference to his color. I looked directly at this man immediately after the joke left his lips and stated, "OUR daughter is BLACK." The man coughed a few times, took a drink, and began to tell us all about a "friend" of his that adopted a Chinese child. An apology?...oh no.  

As I sat at the table, I fought back tears and swallowed the lump in my throat. My mind was instantly drawn to my child, she will fight this all of her life. My son will have to fight these fight on her behalf also. I knew it was going to be difficult in theory to be a biracial family, but now it is becoming a reality. 

I hope that some day we will immediately be ready with a "stop you in your tracks" one liners to end the statement or "joke" before it begins. 

Here are a few other situation we have dealt with this far:

I had an anonymous person leave a post on this blog a few months ago about how racism is dead. "People" need to get over it. That I should be happy and honored that someone addressed my child as Barack Obama. (Previous post "Did You Just Call My Baby Obama?') I did not post this ridiculous comment to my wall. 

We have had others tell us they are afraid to tell us jokes or talk to us because they are afraid they will say the wrong thing.  They insist their "jokes" are just meant to be funny; they are NOT racist or hurtful. My question for them is why would a joke ever make you fearful if deep down in your heart you knew it was harmless. 

We had a distant relative tell us how his children want to move because they live in a town that houses too many hispanics. 

Racism is not dead my friends and I know we haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg. As a caucasian woman, it was so easy to have closed eyes to all of this. Ignorance is bliss. 

Because it is too funny not to share!

What did my child learn from PBS? Her ABC's? Colors? Numbers? Shapes?  No, she learned how to "beat box!"
http://youtu.be/HidDjujNI-g

Ethiopia

The trip to Ethiopia was amazing! We packed more into the 2 days in-country then I could have imagined. We hired a driver to take us around the city. (If you would like the name and number of the tour guide, please let me know. I would love to share; they were wonderful.) They took us up Mount. Entoto, where we saw the 1st christian Emperor's home and church. We shopped, ate, and explored the city with 2 children in tow. It was a busy few days, but totally fantastic!

It was so amazing being a part of my friend's "gotcha" day! Words can't even begin to explain how awesome it was. Her boys are so sweet and simply beautiful.  I tried to stand back and let the bonding between mother and child begin.  And it did!  The boys would color a picture or finish a puzzle; they would run pass me and call their mother to see what they had done. The 2 year old would close is coloring book and walk past me, so only HIS mother could see his accomplishment and praise him! It was so fun to watch the mother and child bond begin. Thank you to the V family for allowing me to be a part of your trip.

I thought I would share a few of my favorite photos from the trip.

On the way down from Mount Entoto - a woman carrying her child, selling some type of grain. Addis Ababa below

 One of the shops in the postal district.

 I love this photo of all the little old men wearing suits, hats and carrying umbrellas. (It could use a little editing and cropping.)

Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Spices fill the air. People, people everywhere. Loud air-polluting 1950's trucks. Animals...goats, horses, mules, dogs. Tiny shops. Dirt roads.  Construction.  Sunshine. Perfect temperature. Prayers ringing over speakers throughout the city.  Blue and White vans (taxis). Brown and orange city buses. Corrugated metal. Shacks.  Beggars. Children. Smoke. The aroma of coffee. Heavy traffic. Scarves. Beautiful brown eyes. Music. Poverty. Happiness. Sickness. Sadness. Gated communities. Smiles. Beauty. LOVE.

These are a few words that come to mind when I think of Ethiopia. I have greatly missed this country since our return. There has not been a day that has gone by without my mind traveling back. Even though my daughter is now here, I believe Ethiopia has a piece of my heart and always will.

 
I have the privilege to be traveling with a friend to pick up her two boys. I am so excited about this opportunity! She is adopting from a different agency and we will be staying in a guest house in the center of the city. This will be such a different experience than my trip to pick up my daughter, as we stayed on the outskirts of town and the hotel we stayed at was very influenced by western civilization.

So next week I will be returning to breath in the Ethiopian air and experience more of this beautiful country. Please pray that our trip is smooth and that the boys will feel peace and immediately start to bond with their mother.

Graduation

Last weekend my baby sister graduated from high school.  She was born my senior year of high school. I can't believe she is 18 and will be leaving for college this fall. I missed so much of her younger years due to college and just trying to figure out my direction in life, but I have loved having her so close the past few years. We live 15 minutes apart now. She is my kids FIRST choice when we are looking for a babysitter. We are ALL going to miss the graduate!

There was one other graduate in our family last week, my sweet little 5 year old. I must say I am so glad to have him home this summer. I don't know what I am going to do this fall when he is gone all day long at kindergarten. :(

 Here are the 100 cupcakes I made for my little sister's graduation party.

Little Miss and Mr. playing robots, yes, they designed the costumes while I made the 100 cupcakes.

I love the Christmas season! (Yes, I realize it is April.) What I love most about the season is that so many are so willing to give.  As Christmas day approaches the gift trees have very few tags left hanging as so many have granted a wish or a need of the name hanging on that tree, the donation boxes are overflowing with hats, coats and scarves, so many in cheerful moods, smiles meet at every turn.  I wish this was a feeling people kept in their hearts throughout the year, not for just a few very short months. I know many give to a charity monthly, which is fantastic. My challenge to you is to break out of your box and bring back your giving heart, keep it throughout the year, give to a family in need, a child in need, have a garage sale and donate all the proceeds to your favorite charity.
My inspiration was from a friend of mine who set up a lemonade and cupcake stand with her children last summer and all of the money donated was sent to help those suffering famine in the horn of Africa.

Do you have a favorite charity?