adoption

Book Rec Time!

I’ve had this book sitting on my shelf for a long time, and finally picked it up today to read it. It’s a middle grade reader and it’s written in verse, so it’s a super quick read. I got through it with several interruptions in less than 2 hours. But boy does it pack aContinue reading “Book Rec Time!”

Adoption. Is. Trauma.

I got a note from Sprout’s teacher on Friday saying Sprout had a rough week. She refused to do her work unless an adult helped her (she is in a 12:1:1 classroom so that help is thankfully available). She was sometimes uncooperative. And the work she did do was not her best. Let me startContinue reading “Adoption. Is. Trauma.”

Travels with Sprout

Sprout and I have spent the last week adventuring. Sunday morning I attended the memorial service for my beloved friend, bonus father figure, Buddhist Monk, and author Terrence Keenan. It was at Hoenji, which is the Zen Center of Syracuse. After the service was over my husband and Sprout joined the gathering for lunch, andContinue reading “Travels with Sprout”

Brown skin is beautiful, but my kid doesn’t believe it.

My gorgeous brown-skinned Asian kid just told me she wishes she had white skin because “it’s prettier.” My heart broke. It’s something I heard before from Kiddo when she was about 4. I asked Sprout why she thought white skin is prettier, and she said “all the pictures are of pretty white-skinned girls.” This kidContinue reading “Brown skin is beautiful, but my kid doesn’t believe it.”

It’s Mother’s Day, FWIW

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of Mother’s Day. I always struggled with it as a younger adult because I didn’t have kids, didn’t want biological kids, and felt inherently that Mother’s Day was the world’s way to point out that I wasn’t the “ideal woman.” Ideal women prioritize reproduction. Once I becameContinue reading “It’s Mother’s Day, FWIW”

Heartache

I just got a call from the agency that I deeply appreciate having gotten. Years ago we told our homefinder (basically our case worker) that if ever a child we’ve fostered comes back into foster care, we want to be called first. It’s happened twice now. The first time I got a call it wasContinue reading “Heartache”

Acting up in public

Last weekend my husband was working, but I fearlessly plowed ahead and took Sunny and Sprout to the Finger Lakes Chapter of Little People of America’s holiday party. Let me start this by praising this organization. I’ve written about them before regarding a baseball game we took the girls to during the summer. Being surroundedContinue reading “Acting up in public”

Life Carries On

It’s funny. I’d been longing to adopt Sprout for so long, and so worried it would not happen, that when it did actually happen I was a bit gobsmacked for a day or two. Could it really have taken place?! Finally?! But then, life just carried on, as it has a way of doing! NothingContinue reading “Life Carries On”

National Adoption Day

The Event On Friday, November 17, 2023, we adopted our little Sprout at the County’s National Adoption Day event! HOORAY!!! The event was… chaotic. I know we should appreciate everything that happened and was given to Sprout in the course of the day, but in some ways I wish we’d had an adoption in theContinue reading “National Adoption Day”

Hard Emotions

I was chatting with an old friend last night, and he mentioned that foster care seems to be full of challenging emotions. Boy is that an understatement. About a month ago, the agency was telling us they wanted to have Mama surrender her rights to Sunny and have us adopt her. We were more thanContinue reading “Hard Emotions”