Ordinary Time

Love came down at Christmas Love all lovely, Love divine From our house to yours as we celebrate the Divine becoming human in order to save His creation. Divinity taking on humanity and all because of love. We wish you a peaceful and love-filled Christmas.

When I was in grade school, my Camp Fire group divided up into groups of four and we all made movies. My father was the photographer for these endeavors. (Yes, we still have a copy that is now digitized, and they are hilarious.) Anyway, one of the things I learned through this little experience was how tricky cameras can be. By focusing on certain things and by stopping and starting the camera, you could alter what the audience saw. It was a useful lesson. I think more people could have used this lesson as a child, because I think that sometimes people forget that what one sees through the lens of a camera isn't what is really happening. This is particularly true when one is viewing another's life through social media. Of course we only show our good side, and that is mainly because we don't want to make ourselves look bad to others... it really doesn't have anything to do what anyone else is or isn't doing. It's kind of like junior high, except we're olde...

We decorated Christmas cookies yesterday. It is such a production that it is yet one more thing that I enjoy, but am glad we only do once a year. We had a lot of cookies to decorate. A., G., and E. R. and P. D. had a science theme going on. G. K., TM., and R. R. and P. Y. K. and TM P. and H. H. TM L. By G. By P. Albert Einstein, in gingerbread, by D. I decorated some as well. We have a lot of cookies.

Some days it just doesn't pay to wander around the different adoption groups on Facebook. These are the days where I end up smacking my head and wondering, oh, so many things, such as, "What the [bad word] were these parents thinking?" or "Where in the [bad word] were the social workers and agencies, and why didn't they do their job to educate?" or "Why in the [bad word] weren't the adults caring more for the children involved than the money these children could result in?" I'm all for adoption, if you haven't figured that out yet. I'm all for children who have lost their first families to have a chance at another family and some stability and hope for their future. No child should grow up without parents in their lives, supporting them, loving them, being an encouraging presence as they grow to adulthood and beyond. But I'm also for educated adoptive parents, supportive agencies, and agencies who put the emotional needs of th...

Well in the last 48 hours, I've: Cleaned the kitchen more times than I can count Paid the bills Made two dinners (with one being a crock pot meal before I left at 9:30 this morning) Gone Christmas caroling with members from our new church J. and I took children to see lights Finished sending out the last of the Christmas cards Did a load of laundry Picked TM and P up from the train station Taught a piano lesson Went to the library to check out movies to occupy young children for today Ground a bunch of wheat flour Made gingerbread dough for cookies Listened to endless Christmas carols played on the piano Corrected H.'s rhythm on one of her carols and then spent the next 15 minutes to keep her from disassociating because she thought she was in trouble Cleaned up dog poop from the living room floor Cleaned cat boxes (do you see a theme, here?) Drove to Chicago for K's orthodontist appointment Dropped D. and K. off with the P. family mom Explained clef sig...

There's not much need for explanation about this series of pictures, except to say that Olive is 6 months old, and has a least another year of growing to do. 8 weeks 3 months  4 months   5 months 6 months

Every so often I like to do a little reality check here on the blog. Recently I have come across multiple instances in a variety of setting where a mom expresses how the disconnect between what is posted by someone online either makes that mom feel exceedingly depressed because she doesn't measure up, or exceedingly irate because she knows the reality is not matching the persona. Fakebooking was a term used more than once. There is also an adoption disruption that is causing some concern in the adoption world, and once again, adoptive parents are wondering how to prepare prospective adoptive parents for the reality of adoption. If people really understood what they were getting into, would it make a difference? As an adoptive mom who shares about her family, I find it a tricky tightrope to walk sometimes, this need for honesty while at the same time protecting my children and seeing life from different angles. I may not write about the hard all the time. Does that mean it is not ...