pet peeve (aka righteous anger?)

I was shocked the first time I read it. Someone sent me the link to a newspaper article, a special interest story of an international adoption in their town. Nothing significant about their adoption stuck out to me except one of the last quotes from the adopting mother.

Blah blah blah, "kids are adjusting well so far and they're even good at chores already!"

Then I saw the same comment in a completely different article from an adopting family of an older child.

Not to be all Seth and Amy, but REALLY?! You are given a voice, a platform to share your story, and you mention how good they are at chores already? The journalist shows up, asks how everything is and THIS makes it into conversation?

("Already?" How long did it take?)

During our foster training there was a guest speaker, a previous foster kid, now adult. He shared the experience of being in a crowded foster home, the foster parents loading up on as many kids as they could for the subsidy money and the helping hands around the house. The kids got no other attention than job assignments. They got minimal food and had to share clothes.

It's bad enough that other countries are constantly skeptical of our reasons for wanting their children. It's bad enough that media like Law & Order, SVU film a whole episode of rich couples adopting older kids from other countries because in the long run it's cheaper than hiring a maid.

You are a mother. Your children's biggest advocate. You got one chance to speak on their behalf, on behalf of adoption. Way to go!

June 19, 2011

We'd known about Dez for 2 weeks already. We were advised to wait to meet him for one main reason: on account of his cuteness, knowing it would sway us. They wanted a yes or no before we met him.

We'd pretty much decided it was a "yes" unless someone told us otherwise (parental rights hadn't been terminated yet). So we agreed to meet him. As soon as Russ got home from work, we all climbed in the car and headed the ten miles west. I was all, "I promise I'll protect my heart, Russ, geez. I can meet a baby who might need a mom and be TOTALLY unattached, watch me."

When we arrived and rang the doorbell, the nurse told us it would be a minute. They heard we were coming and wanted to give him a bath and a fresh outfit so he'd look his tiny-self best.

And they brought him into the room. And my promise flew out the window.

And here we are, a year later...

The job that never ended.

See these ladies?

They were a few of my "D-group" (Discipleship) girls from ten years ago. When Russ got hired as a youth pastor, I was handed a group of about 7-10 girls ranging from 7th grade to 9th grade.

Here's the thing...Russ' job ended like 7 or 8 years ago and they won't go away. In fact, they all went to college and then came back. Not all of them, we lost a few to other states and whatnot. But 3 of them actually moved into our neighborhood, one in the condo below us, and one more looking to rent the house next door. They're circling like cute little vultures...

At the beginning of this year, they asked me to start D-group again and I caved. Right when I'd dug my heels in and said I was not adding anything to the schedule. I can't help it. It's fun to see these girls as adults and having invested SO.MUCH.TIME. (and money and gas mileage and snacks and wait-a-minute-isn't-that-my-sweater?)It's a blessing to be re-invited back into their worlds. I know I'm blessed having this crowd around again. I'll just be adding a lock to my closet this time around and making them drive me around all the time.

5/12

May included an international mission trip, so our date had to be low key. Plus last month was all adventurous and whatnot. It's all about balance, people.

Before children became financial parasites in our world, we used to shop a lot. We never spent a ton of money but we liked spending time looking for good deals, etc. We're actually pretty cheap, to be honest. We rarely hit the malls now since we spend half our time convincing the children it's super fun there without letting them ride those big plastic germ-fests. So I planned a night out, complete with spending money and no kids. Since I quit my job a year ago, money is rarely spent on new clothes for us so this was a treat.

After we'd spent our last penny, we headed to Ted Drews, a STL fav, for some summer treats.

Not our most creative date but good conversation over dinner (watching Friday Night Lights has spurred an endless supply of parenting conversation! Egad!) and a chill night together was pretty perfect.

For more date ideas from other peeps, click here!

City Stories

Our church has started showing short videos of people in our church and their stories. Ours was featured a couple of weeks ago and I thought I'd post the link if you wanted to check it out. It's 5 straight action-packed minutes of the Mohrs circa February...enjoy...

click here, yo.