Ordinary Time

The North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) holds a conference each year about adoption topics. Some of the keynote speakers at this year's conference have had a huge impact on our family, informing how we parent and connect with our children... Ross Greene ( The Explosive Child ), Dan Siegel ( Mindsight and The Whole-Brain Child ), and Bryan Post ( mainly through his videos ) have helped to change how we view parenting and our relationships with our children. They were all voices speaking into our family and helping our children heal. I may never meet any of them in person, but if I do, the first words out of my mouth will be thank you.  This is probably why I am so excited that the film maker behind the documentary about our family is exhibiting at the conference this year. It feels a little like I'm just one step removed from being in contact with people I admire and whose work I recommend. If you are an adoptive family or considering it, I would highly recomm...

I was told that I had neglected a most important item on yesterday's post of the weekly highlights, so I am correcting that now.  On June 1, Olive turned four years old. Notice Olive's fancy nails in honor of her birthday. (A. ... I never noticed how well Olive coordinated with your floor!) And since it was Olive's birthday, it also means it was Emmy's birthday as well. She turned 23. This is a picture from a month ago, so she didn't get special birthday photos. I'm also realizing she didn't even get a birthday carrot. I will have to do something about that. 

Life felt a little more settled today, so that's good. A while back, as in January, W. and Y. were talking about what candy Y. liked in China. Corn candy was at that top of her list, so W. ordered some for her for her birthday. And it didn't come and it didn't come and it didn't come. Eventually the order was declared lost. So. W. reordered it from a different company. Earlier this week, guess what showed up in the mailbox? That's right, corn candy! And it tastes just as Y. remembered. She is a happy girl. The rest of the household is fairly well split between enjoying it and not really caring for it. Our co-op is having a used curriculum sale next week. Since I had been bemoaning the state of my studio, I decided that this was a great chance to try to sell some books we didn't need anymore. Well, when I was done, I think I ended up with 6 - 8 bags of various curricula. Even better, it allowed me to reorganize my shelves, and since I had empty shelves (!) I was ...

Just when the horses outside have started to settle a bit, with a lot less teeth and hooves being used, inside the house, my herd of children are finding it necessary to jostle about a bit due to TM leaving. The first time I experienced this was when my older children first started to be involved in theater and were gone all day every day for tech week before a show. For a week, it was just me and the youngest doing our thing with the oldest being gone. I was caught totally off guard for how much jostling needed to happen upon their return each day as family dynamics changes to make room. I found it eye opening as we hadn't ever experienced something like that before. While various children would be gone for an hour or two here and there for classes and play dates, it wasn't the whole day for multiple days in a row. That caused the younger people at home to create a new dynamic among themselves which didn't always allow for the older children. The older children assumed tha...

Yesterday was a momentous occasion. I finally finished this. Had I but known it would take me weeks to finally get this thing put together, I would have never begun. You'll remember that I started assembly at the beginning of my two week long spring break, thinking surely that would be enough time to put it together. Well, here we are at week three of summer break... I've also spent far too much time staring at this invisible horse because now I have several quibbles, which were it still being sold might cause me to write a letter. But it's not, so I'm not.  Quibble #1 - I don't care whether it was designed for children or not, but couldn't they have added the urogenital system? There's a lot of empty space in the back end of that horse. It just seems as though if you're going to go to the bother of making spleens, which won't be seen (more on that later), you could finish the job of what's inside. Quibble #2 - The way they have designed it, it l...

Tuesday, June 1 Braised pork and farro grain bowl      I totally made this up. I discovered some frozen braised pork in the freezer, so decided to use it with a grain bowl. I was going to use millet, but I didn't have enough and neither of stores I went to had any. I did have farro, so that's what we had. We added fresh spinach, sliced radishes, and avocado with a vinaigrette. It was good. Since I'm not entirely sure what recipe I used to make the pork originally, I'm not sure we'll ever have it again. Wednesday, June 2 Spring vegetable pasta with lemon and Parmesan      Asparagus is still in season, so it seemed like a good idea to make use of it. Garlic bread Thursday, June 3 Warm bacon-dijon lentil salad with goat cheese crostini      This was popular the last time we had it, so here it is again. Friday, June 4 Ginger pork and cucumber salad      This is a new recipe for us this week. I was looking for something to use the f...

I learned today that shipped is Army-speak for when new recruits leave for basic training. Shipped is what TM did today. I know this is a very good choice for him and he is excited, but I'll admit this was hard. (One of the first pictures we ever saw of TM) We've been through a lot, he and I. We struggled and fought (both with each other and for each other). We learned to appreciate each other and deeply love each other. (Just after TM and D. became Boy Scouts) I am a very different person because of this son of mine. I think I'm a better person. I have learned a lot about myself and a lot about other people; things I wouldn't have known without learning to parent this child. It has been bittersweet today. I've been doing a lot of remembering and pondering over the past 15 years. I wish I could go back, touch myself on the shoulder, and whisper that it really will turn out okay. Because it did. I couldn't be prouder of the young man TM has become. I like him and...