One night this week, I heard a refugee from Rwanda tearfully speak publicly about how he and his five children were almost homeless after he lost his job. He got help from the amazing nonprofit...
Earlier this year, a very slick and cool video about this city made the rounds. I was impressed by the production and even sent it to some of my relatives who like it here, but I started thinki...
Tonight after bath, I sat my towel-swaddled son my lap like in the old days and he stuck his thumb in his mouth and snuggled in to my chest. Hes done this since he was a baby. My little b...
I have spoken often about how much we love Betis school. This has been our first year as parents of a public-educated school-aged child, so its been a learning experience for us all. ...
This afternoon I saw a small little girl my sons age standing in her front yard silently staring at the goings-on around her while holding a pink flower. I found her adorable and sweet. My own childr...
This is what we are living right now.
It was probably a combination of fear, excitement, language barrier and being over-stimulated that kept Beti from watching any of the dozens of choices she had for movies on those long flights home t...
I have a second or third cousin (can never figure out which) who grew up in California. Shes about ten years older than me, and I idolized her as a little girl. Shes always had these bright blue eyes...
This morning I found this in our daughters backpack among other work sent home. Why is it "quality work" you may ask? Besides things like "friends," "food," and "lipstick,...
For the last several days, one of the last things I do before bed is read articles like this one:Police ignored witness whose account was different from Zimmerman’s.“One of the witnesses who heard th...
This morning at work, I had a conversation with one of the seniors in our program about my daughter. A group of the Ethiopian elders hang out at the local shopping mall drinking coffee and talking, a...
We hope our children are adventurous enough that they have a life full of "firsts," but for the time-being, its so much fun to watch our daughter experience "firsts" that involve this...
This week, Beti brought home a book by James Herriot called The Christmas Day Kitten. I had no idea. I started reading it to her and about halfway through gasped in surprise. Split second decision: d...
Im not exactly sure why I seem to have stopped writing for this long of a stretch. It probably has to do with the usual reasons of not having much time by myself, just me and my thoughts. I get that ...
There was a professor who taught philosophy in the small liberal arts college I attended who let me live in his house for two summers. He lived there near the college with his wife, three kids and ra...
Thanks to the camera and apps available to me now on the new phone Ive had since January, I now hardly ever use my "real" camera (Im sure Ill get back to it) and spend most spare minutes here...
The sun came out on Friday. When we first got up, it was so cold we saw frost on our neighbors roof and on the grass. We bundled ourselves for the trips to school and work.The doors were all locked a...
"Sometimes, my five-year-old son said into my shoulder that night, life is so beautiful, you just have to cry."--from Im Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers by Tim Madigan. This book...
On October 31, 1998 in the High Tatra mountains of Slovakia, it started snowing. I looked outside the window of the little first room floor of the hotel I was staying in and saw it. I had seen snow b...
This morning I was retouching Betis hair before she left for school. She asked me, "Mom, can you tell Abe bye for me when he wake up?" Shed never asked this before. I said, "Um, okay?"...
The sun came out today in a brilliant sort of way. I didnt go to work. I have been at home all day with our youngest while our kindergartener is at school. A friend who has a one-year-old came over t...
just a little lost in my mind. Sorry for not posting and thanks for those who check in.
“Long enough have you dreamd contemptible dreams, Now I wash the gum from your eyes, You must habit yourself to the dazzle of the lightand of every moment of your life”--Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass
I have written here before about my job working with elder immigrant and refugees from Africa. I really love this work; in fact, most days it doesnt even feel like work. Something that often happens ...
They were busy. In an eagerness to introduce our daughter to all our community has to offer in terms of Christmas cheer and revelry, we participated in the following over the course of the last few w...
Im just going to put this out there with little editing because by the time I figure out my thoughts about it, I may never get around to writing it down, and I think its something worth discussing. S...
There is an Ethiopian man in my program at work who is really too young to be in the program but comes anyway because he hasnt been able to find a job with enough hours to fill up his days. He comes ...
During that very long period of time when we were waiting for B to get here, a huge box appeared on our front porch that felt like it weighed a ton. It was packed full of girl-things that Jess and he...
You are no longer following . Undo?
English
Suomi
Svenska