Haitian-American Family of Three

Winter Light

2011-12-19T19:45:00.001-08:00

While it has been dark & cool the winter sunsets are pretty spectacular.

Wallpaper!

2011-11-16T14:29:00.000-08:00

So excited to share these prints that are now on wallpaper! You can see the full group HERE

Lissie - Record Collector [CATCHING A TIGER / NEW ALBUM 2010!!!]

2011-11-10T13:15:00.002-08:00

Seaside,OR trip #4

2011-08-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

Introducing Seaside; A Contemporary Collection for the Modern Home!

2011-07-14T23:07:00.001-07:00

Hello!
I am so excited to launch the Seaside collection! Summer is finally here and this collection was inspired by long days spent at the beach. Since moving to an Island last year we’ve spent hundreds of hours by the seaside picking up seaweed, touching sea urchins, looking for starfish and carefully walking around barnacles. This collections colors are bright and light, perfect for a light summer quilt or bright and happy pillows on the patio furniture. A fat quarter of quilting weight cotton is 16.00, please email for shipping details!

Happy Saturday,

travelingsistertms@hotmail.com

Beauty here, there, everywhere.

2011-06-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

Surtex!

2011-05-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

New Work for Spring / Summer 2012! Stop by booth #381 and take a look at my new work.
The show starts on May 15 and runs for three days. I am super excited to be showing, happy Spring everyone!

New President of Haiti: Michel Martelly

2011-04-04T22:22:00.000-07:00

So! Excited! Three things that are making me smile:

2011-03-07T23:05:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting a year to see these prints come to "life" as real products, its so amazing to see the artwork I created a year ago now on a usable object, I love seeing these prints being used on such an awesome product, Kokopax. The Guild-the awesome group I work with is getting closer to going to Printsource NY (see us at booth G-13, we'll great you with a smile and happy hello!) and we are So! Excited!I can't wait to meet all the talented artists out there showing their talent.
Also very exciting? All the trees are starting to have tiny little leaves on them, I noticed our plum tree had tiny little buds and that is a sure sign that spring and SUN is on the way. Or, as my 4 year old says-"The worms will be here soon and we can have a worm party in the garden!"

Happy Monday!

Hello

2011-02-06T19:09:00.001-08:00

its a zoo

2010-12-29T22:06:00.000-08:00

After having lots of family around for the past two weeks I forgot how crazy it is to take care of a kiddo and puppy alone, it feels like there is never a moment to simply
sit and breath in silence. I am trying to work a lot these days in part to catch up on lost holiday time and also because spring, and Printsource is looming. Trying to be creative and inspired from 8pm-1am is hard, by this point of the day I am mostly spent and ready to sleep vs. draw, but with coffee I am staying alert. I think the next few months my weekends will be spend locked in my studio drawing while Papa takes over the chaos. Any ideas for keeping a active four year old happy while mama works during the day? How do you other mama freelancers do it?

Small things

2010-12-21T16:39:00.001-08:00

I found this tiny piece of glass on the beach and love the font and colors.

Tell!

2010-12-18T17:21:00.000-08:00

No longer-Don't ask, don't tell, and its about time!

Read more & Celebrate!

NPR link

Happy Winter & Where are the worms?

2010-12-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

Well,I took this photo a few weeks ago when we had snow for a few days, but now the grass is green again and my kid keeps asking, "So, is it spring yet?" ah honey, so many months of winter ahead. When I tell her its still winter she looks around skeptically and says, "But where is the snow?" She really is only interested in digging for worms and grubs and knows in the spring while we're setting up our garden she will be able to find lots of bugs. I still can't believe we have a garden! And a yard! So nice after years of apartment living.

Next week we'll be in the mountains at high camp where snow and sledding will be abundant, hopefully that will convince my girl that is is, in fact, still winter.

The Obsession Continues:

2010-12-13T13:17:00.000-08:00

What a fast month! The fish drawing has continued unabated and yesterday a new animal made it onto the drawing pad-a "creature called a fish catcher" so the theme continues as well.
We lost power for four days resulting in scrambled eggs for thanksgiving dinner, and a few cold quiet days huddled around the fireplace. Today however is warm and dry, the sun is showing up and the lake that was in our yard is gone. I have been working and drawing, painting, cutting, designing and am getting excited about showing at Printsource in April.

Good bye Three, Hello FOUR

2010-11-11T21:57:00.001-08:00

Happy, happy birthday!

I can’t believe my girl is four. FOUR! It sounds extremely grown up, like she is about to skip out the door on her way too college. Lately her obsession with all things fish related has increased tenfold. She has completely worn out her magnadoodle pad (shhh, Grandma is buying her a new one!) with her fish drawings. I try to capture them before the swoosh of the slider erases them forever, but only catch maybe 10 % of what she has drawn. Last week her preschool teacher pulled me aside and said, “A. made the most amazing fish out of play dough! They had different colored fins and there was a whole family!” She showed me the photo-it was super cool.

Along with drawing she is learning too read full speed ahead, today she wrote out the word, coco and said, “Look! I spelled something that rhymes with moko” I don’t know what either word really means, but I am happy she is having fun learning sounds and how to actually physically write letters. She can spell and type about 100 words now and likes to spell talk to us-“t-h-e d-o-g i-s g-o-o-d.” I like to throw in random words sometimes to see if she’ll sound them out and mostly she will.

Today she said-“Do you mind if I tell you a joke?” I said no, and she said, “What are you eating? DOG FOOD?” oh the hilaritiy. She thought that was sooo funny.

She has also started calling us Honey. As in; “Honey, come look at my drawing.” Or

“Honey mama can you play with me?” She also calls the dog “Honey dog”

Its all very, very cute-and also, with all these big dose of adorableness there is a new and very LOUD fit throwing person emerging! She can, and will suddenly yell and scream like a little monster, mostly I look at her like, Whaaaaat? And she changes tactics, but phew…I can see some battles ahead, but I am also excited by the changes I see happening with her-learning, growing, being a wacky, funny little girl.

<------someone is about to be eaten

<-------big scary fish eating lots of little fish

<------BlowFish <-----TURTLES! Not fish!

<--------Jellyfish eating a fish

<-----spelling HI with crayons

Into the rain we go:

2010-11-01T15:35:00.001-07:00

Fall in Washington means, RAIN, and boy has it been raining a lot here. Not a little drizzle rain either, but thundering, pouring, soaking your clothes in moments rain. After spending a long cozy morning at home working and playing we went to the beach despite the increment weather. Bundled up, wearing rain boots (colored on with sharpie by mama) my preschooler was ready to go adventuring. We got to the beach and walking along the path a woman passed us talking about a baby seal. We’ve seen a few of them at the ferry dock next too big signs saying, DON’T COME CLOSE! with bold warnings and statements. The mama seals hunt during the day, leaving their pups safely on the shore to rest. I told the women this information, how the mamas come back at night and feed their young, she still seemed very worried.

We stayed far away (I used a strong zoom for these photos) and looked quietly at the baby. The waves were loud and crashing, it was exciting to see them hit the sand.

The little birds (one is below) are sandpipers I think and they make the most amazing noise when flying, its like a shrill cry. I love it. Fall means rain, but it does not mean staying indoors.

I heard this man talking about blogs the other day, and he made a comment about how “…blogs are about reality as much as reality television is about reality.”

It made me pause, because I sometimes think that when I read blog after blog full of “perfect moments” or stories of wonderful days full of laughter and children having fun. I think-what about all the other stuff? We do have fun and great times, the majority of our life is GOOD, but its not the whole picture, not even close, there are tantrums, fits, yelling (uh, by us all!) puppies peeing, bills paid late, frustrations and tears too. I think the tendency is to focus on the positive moments, making a record of our days that reflect the good times. But…sometimes it rings false and I long for more reality, more real connections. So-hello! At this very moment! My 3.75 year old is in time out, our sink is full of dishes and the dog is chasing the cat. But we had a fun time at the beach, so let me share those photos and this truth too.

Meet Leo:

2010-10-26T13:58:00.001-07:00

We’ve been talking/thinking/dreaming about getting a puppy for a long time. Living downtown Seattle in a coop condo building kinda hampered our pet dreams though-the idea of adding a dog to the four cats and kid seems like a disaster. Now that we have a home (our first home!!) and a lot of land we were finally ready to actually get a dog.

A. has been saying for months that she wanted a black and white dog and we would smile at her and say ooookkkkaayyy, knowing that if a puppy became available, regardless of its marking, it would be ours. But, a few days ago I saw a listing for a little, 8 week old, black and white puppy (he has a white chest & feet) and after a few phone conversations, a long adventures drive (Thanks Katie!!) we made it home with our new little guy. He is super snuggly and lovey, and still sleeping a lot. He is also a puppy which I forgot was like a BABY and that means a lot of pee and poo and stinky messes, chewed on shoes, getting in to mischief…its like having another kid! Lots of extra work, but its ok, I am enamored.

Yesterday morning as we snuggled in bed I told A. about our plan:

Me: Hey babe, guess what! We are getting something today….a little baby animal..that starts with the letter D.

A: A DOG?!

Me: YES!

A: A toy one or a real one?

Me: A real one, a baby puppy.

A: Are you suuuuuuuuuuuuuuure?

Me: Yes!

A: ( ) quiet…

Me: What are you thinking about?

A: Getting a bunny.

…

HA! NO BUNNY!

I love my hair:

2010-10-19T08:20:00.001-07:00

GREAT video!!! My almost four year old loved it, and I loooooove the message!!!

Fall 2010

2010-10-14T20:48:00.001-07:00

Out past Bellingham…

2010-10-02T23:09:00.001-07:00

in line

2010-09-26T17:00:00.001-07:00

!! So funny!!

2010-09-23T22:59:00.001-07:00

This made me smile tonight. I guess it was banned from Sesame Street. Heh.

One Day on Earth 10-10-10

2010-09-15T10:01:00.000-07:00

Watch this video! Then sign up and make your own video.

One Day on Earth - Original Trailer from One Day On Earth on Vimeo.

P for: Pillows, Preschool, Peaceful

2010-09-12T19:01:00.001-07:00

A. started pre-school last week and she loooooooved it. She loved the play dough, the painting, the slide and blocks, the kids and the stories, the singing and dancing-she loved every second. Looking around the classroom and meeting all the other parents I felt this sense of peace. I felt myself take a deep breath and sigh, everything has fallen into place now. We’ve been here on this lovely Island for four months now, and I can say we are fully, completely in love with our house and our slower, outdoor based living.

Going from ultra urban Seattle to totally country Vashon was a shock but honestly living here is “Country Lite” Seattle is 20 min away, the store stocks fancy cheeses, current movies are played in the theater, people are the opposite of redneck, I am sure eventually we’ll have more too fuss about, but right now its pretty perfect.

I am going with my guild to show at Printsource this spring and one of the fabric lines I’ll be showing is the New American Family line I’ve shown you all before. I am adding some new families and have some new products-bibs, blankets, pillows, too show everyone. The pillows are brand new and they are beautiful! I am looking for two inspiration families to base the next prints on, if you are or know of an amazing family that is re-defining the idea of a “normal” family please email me! The families that are chosen will receive a fat quarter with their print on it!

Happy Fall!

A few good things:

2010-08-22T21:26:00.001-07:00

Homemade apple pie made for us by a new Island friend-and it was so good!

Seaside Oregon for our yearly anniversary trip. Happy 13 years together babe.

Vegetables from the garden-we finally have a garden again!!!

First penmanship-A. is 3.5 and reading simple books now and just starting to handwrite words,

she can type with one finger pretty well and was VERY proud of her “Hi” written on the sidewalk-we now have about 20 little

welcoming greetings outside the front door. Hi! Hi! Hi!

Beautiful Washington waterways.

Sonic BOOM!

2010-08-18T00:08:00.000-07:00

That was craZy!!! I was standing in my kitchen when the HUGE boom happened and then right as my kid started to freak out BOOM another one! Whaaat?! Tweeters were the first people to have the info and now the full story is out-read it here:
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/100921834.html

Summer so far:

2010-08-14T23:19:00.001-07:00

Playing:

Playing Music:

Growing:

Picking:

Marveling:

Eating:

Working:

Resting:

How to Be Alone:

2010-08-03T16:43:00.001-07:00

resource

2010-07-31T22:15:00.000-07:00

If you have little kids and are looking for books with more diversity definitely check out the website "Brown Like Me" click here for link:
http://brownlikemebookreviews.blogspot.com/

Lavender Days

2010-07-14T15:59:00.001-07:00

Enough.

2010-07-09T16:50:00.001-07:00

Enough. I’ve had it with being polite to rude strangers, done with answering questions in short clipped tones hoping they will get the message. From now on I am going to match their rude racist comments with rude comments right back. The line has been drawn and I’m not stepping over it. My daughter is three and can hear you and can understand everything you are saying-and you know what? Its time for her to see mama get fierce, she needs to see how to defend herself against stupid, ignorant racist people. My fallback response to intrusive questions has been an automatic “Why do you ask?” which was sometimes successful in shutting down the questioner, but I need something stronger, more like, STEP, more like, if you don’t leave us alone rightnow I am going to freak out on you. Today in the grocery store we were accosted by a woman, who ran, literally ran, up to my daughter in the cart and got into her face. We both immediately moved our bodies in front of the cart and blocked her physically. Then she started asking us where she was “Found-where did you find that one?, Look at her skin! That dress looks good on her skin, but where did you find her in the store?” As though my child is a commodity. We both gave her the silent treatment as I unbuckled and then walked away with my kid-C. paid and we both walked out seething. Being silent is not empowering, it does not feel good and too often I ignore comments that I should be addressing. I need advice. How do we stand up to these people? It seems like a minor incident, but trust me, when you have this happen day after day, month after month, each time grates and bleeds. Two days ago we were at a cafe and when my husband went to the bathroom the people across the way leaned over and said, “Those kids are a handful! How old is she ? She is beautiful,where is she from?” How about-What do you mean, THOSE kids? And its none of your business, thank you, yes she is, and none of your business. I find it so telling that when we meet new people, the people that become our friends never demanded information, never make comments that leave us reading, its only strangers that seem to feel without censor-to just ask and satiate their curiosity without thinking about the intrusion they are causing. BTW there is a good post on the livesays blog about the danger of being “colorblind” and its a super important topic that more parents need to address.

NYC

2010-06-28T17:15:00.001-07:00

I just got home from a short trip to NYC. One of the things I saw walking around on the (very hot) street was a sculpture installation of a man standing at the top of a very high building. Apparently they are all over the city, these bronzed men. There was another on the ground and what struck me was the position of his feet, toes curled under as though is fear or pain. I found the work terribly disturbing, it made me think of people having to jump hoping to survive or maybe hoping for a quick end. I am going to research the artist a bit-I believe any art that inspires me to feel and think is successful work.

One late afternoon there was a street performer (wearing a leopard print and a long furry tail) putting on a show. The varied expressions of the audience was awesome to catch on film. One of the things I always love about a big city it the way people will spontaneously come together and be participant observers. The crowed was cheering and laughing, it was not so much about the show as it was about the people.

The heat in NYC right now is horrible! It was in the high 90’s and humid, I was melting and every time I found a cool space-like under the fans at Mood fabrics, I stalled and found a reason to just hang our as long as possible…hmmm lets look at this pattern again…and again. I was not the only one with this idea, there were two other people in the store who kept rotating around the a/c fan, we studiously ignored each other.

Of course the pizza was amazing but the best food I had was at this little Italian place where dinner with an appetizer, salad and pasta for two cost 32.00! It was a huge amount of food, amazing service and it was air conditioned. It was an inspiring trip but next time I go to NYC it will definitely be in the Fall!

Bibs & Blankets!

2010-06-13T20:23:00.001-07:00

After lots and lots of hard work and planning Katie and I have some lovely things to show you all! These baby blankets have the softest flannel backing and silky soft satin trim perfect for little hands to hold on to and cuddle up with. The bibs are lined with cotton, attach in the back with velcro and are generously sized, they are large on my 3.5 year old! If you are interested in a bib, blanket, tote bag, pillow or little girls dress pick out a print & product from the etsy page and shoot me an email-Everything is custom made and can be sized according to your wishes. I hope you love these as much as we do!

totally random

2010-06-08T21:40:00.001-07:00

The past week has been crazy. If you have a storage unit full of stuff let me advise you-Don’t empty it out. We should have just paid the monthly fee for years until we forgot a payment and everything got auctioned off for 10.00. Unleashing all the random stuff from our past ohhh 14 years together has ceased all functionality of our house. There are boxes in the kitchen, boxes in the living room, bathroom, porch, boxes everywhere~! And you know what’s in them? As an example here is what I unpacked this morning:

Box labeled RANDOM, and inside was a wal-mart bag from 1996 full of rocks. Yea. Rocks. Like small and large river rocks. There was also a journal from 1988, three cassette tapes and a broken plate. We have been hauling this box around for years and years. Who packed this box? My husband. He packed this one along with about 20 other random boxes and I distinctly remember saying to him when he packed up his “random” boxes that I was absolutely not going to deal with them. We now have a pile four feet high of cassette tapes (and no cassette player! do they even make and sell those anymore?) in the living room that is leaning against a five foot pile of old blankets and pillows. I want to toss it ALL, but have been thwarted in my efforts. A old sock with a huge hole is deemed a “special sock”, a ripped cd cover is “a relic of my youth, you don’t want to throw away my youth do you?!” and on and on. Lest I throw away someone's youth a lot of crap is being saved.

(The photos are from one of the many beaches here, they are teeming with life, lots of little crabs and gooey ducts and tiny fish.

If you go to Alaska

2010-05-28T14:36:00.000-07:00

Lichen Growing Out of Wreckage nee House nee Bunker
Mixed media with aluminum and partial buoy
13" wide x 22" high x 7" deep
hanging

Then you must go see this artist show at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art Gretchen is my best friend and we have know one another for over a decade now, her work is fresh and interesting and amazingly beautiful. Check it out!

Two Years

2010-05-17T22:24:00.000-07:00

Today marks 2 years that we have been a family of three. We had gotten the magical email only 24 hours before, “The Passport is ready, come whenever you can.” I went online and booked the tickets 45 min later. We were matched to A. March 22 2006 and then spent 15 months traveling back and forth to Haiti loving and having to leave our little baby girl. The day she was handed to me forever, May 17 2008 was a hot and sunny day, we sat in the tiny enclosed courtyard for over a hour, sweating in the heat and humidity, hearing a baby cry upstairs, the chickens clucking next door, fighting against sleep and desperation, wanting only to run up the one flight of steps, into the baby room and hug our child tight. Finally, finally the directors assistant came downstairs, carrying a sweaty, tiny, somber girl, our girl. She latched on to my neck with a grip that made me gasp. She was so very skinny I could feel her ribs, feel her heart thudding against her chest. We sat, waiting in the sun for another hour, everything slowed down and became surreal as I realized that this was it, this time I did not have to leave her behind. Later that night we settled into our room at the Hotel Montana,a place that no longer exists-when I saw the photos post earthquake I cried thinking off all the people who worked there, hoping they were ok. A. was so small it worried me, I gave her bottle after bottle of formula and mango slices fed from my fingers into her open tiny mouth. When I gave her a bath that night the warm water seemed to surprise her, she tensed up and then relaxed, her whole self unwinding in my arms, allowing the warmth and comfort to sooth her, she popped some bubbles and smiled and laughed out loud, then she started to sing and babble, started to trust me, this strange woman who she had meet before. The next morning I sent out this email to our friends and family-reading it now makes my stomach leap, I was so scared the visa would be denied, or there would be another coup d'etat or something, anything would happen.
Hi guys we are here in Haiti, and have A. with us (she is napping) we have our visa appt. at 7 am tomorrow,A.is as cute as ever and is slowly feeling more comfortable with us. I got a big belly laugh last night when we were taking a bubble bath.And the most amazing thing ever is that when I was sleeping she was laying next to us and woke me up with her SINGING A SONG and clapping her hands in tune to the song. WOW. Ok everyone, the internet is 3.00 a minute, more later.Love you all!
The day we got home, May 22, all together, safe and sound, I finally let my shoulders drop, finally took in the fact that our daughter was home. Happy Family Day sweet girl, we love you beyond words.

I wish every day was mothers day

2010-05-10T09:16:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a beautiful, warm, breezy, sunny day. It was a perfect day for laying in my new hammock (thanks mom!!) and gardening in our new garden. I slept in until almost 11 am which was AWESOME. If I could have someone come over every morning and watch A. so I could sleep in…oh how great that would be…That extra five hours of sleep made me feel so chill and happy all day, plus the only thing I did was read, lay in the hammock and play with A. No cooking, cleaning, bathing, dressing or negotiating (Can you put your pants on please? No? Uhhh, how about yes, and on and on and on). It was a great day and I think that weekly mothers day should be mandatory for everyone with a kid 0-4. Can you imagine, every week having a day off to just chill. Mmmmm. I need to convince my partner that this is a supergreat idea.

Island living

2010-05-07T21:58:00.001-07:00

We’ve been here for just under two weeks now and the shock is starting to wear off. Moving from downtown Seattle to a small, quiet island has been interesting and difficult. The sheer isolation has been a big change, I am used to walking down the street to the coffee shop and seeing 50 people walking on the sidewalk. Its very different to get up each morning in a house and make my own coffee with the chatter of my girl and the birds chipping the only sounds. This is when I am so glad we all have internet and that so many people blog. It may be a false sense of community (or maybe not) but it has saved me from sinking into loneliness as I shift from city to country living. The beauty of this place also helps a lot along with the knowledge things are only going to get better as we make friends. Anyway-thanks to all the blogs I read and to the (silent! ha!) readers who stop by you make me feel a little less alone in cyberspace & in the real world.

Dancing in Style:

2010-05-05T10:18:00.001-07:00

This is my good friend Katie’s little girl, Isa, wearing a dress made out the the little girl print. I think Isa is superdupercute and the dress is just icing on the cake.

everything’s different, everything is the same

2010-05-02T19:31:00.001-07:00

After a very long closing process we finally got keys to our very first house on Vashon Island. We’ve been in our new house for one week now-it feels like forever and like a moment. I look out my windows and see Green. Green grass, green leaves, growing fresh life everywhere I look. Its a stark change from concrete and cars. Every day we are outside for hours, digging in the soil, running in the yard, cutting the grass, tromping though the woods finding things.

So much has happened in the past week I can’t even comprehend it, its one of those things that just get filed away to process later. Every day is movement and action, we have so much to do here, the list of projects is 20 items long.

And yet, with all this all this change, my life in its daily world is the same. I still have to get up and be on from the moment my eyes open. I still have to cook and clean and entertain my little girl for 10+ hours a day. Its hard and draining, but I Iove her so and know this time is fleeting, which is weird really.

I set up my art show stuff yesterday after our guild meeting. I am so very thankful I met these women, they are my inspiration and hope-I see that this thing I love doing can be a real job. We are all showing our work at the First Thursday Gallery walk at the Prudential Building-6-11 pm, there will be free drinks and awesome art people!

Today I went to an open artist studio and met a woman named Apple. She is an artist who licensed her work for things like cards, wrapping paper and prints. We’re going to get together soon and talk about business and art. She was very nice and there are a LOT of artists on this Island. I think we’ve found a good home.

2010-04-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

Please read this:

2010-04-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

Please go read this story about an amazing little baby in Haiti.

Photo from the wonderful blog: http://www.mangine.org/

Jesus!

2010-04-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

I came home tonight to see this sight-how odd, maybe a last minute surge of religious guilt prevented the icons from being tossed into the dumpster?

adoptive parents reading list:

2010-04-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

I’ve been reading a lot about adoption and am in the middle of this very intense book called Parenting your internationally adopted child. One of the things the author has impressed on me so far is the absolute need and responsibly to talk about adoption with your child, regardless of their age. I have talked in general terms to A. about adoption and we have always been honest with her when she asks any questions but reading this book is making me feel a little guilty-I have not actively brought up adoption on a regular basis assuming she would talk about it when she is ready. This book is saying the opposite is true, parents must be pro-active and bring it up all the time, integrating the facts of how their child came to be part of the family in a very normal and consistent way. The other book I’ve been reading is “Great answers to difficult questions about adoption” this book is written by a therapist who works with kids, most of the questions are from much older children but the underlying theme is a consistent question of why-why was I left, why am I here now and why did this all happen to me. Reading about the older kids questions is good for me, the parent of a three year old, because it’s a wake up call-regardless of how attached and loved and happy my daughter is, these questions are undoubtedly I our future. My husband was adopted by relatives and my step dad adopted me, we all have different situations but both of us grew up familiar with the terms biological parent, adoption, adoptive parents and in a way I think that helps up explain things to A. Now, after all this reading I am inspired to make talking about adoption and our family story a priority. If you’re an adoptive parent reading I highly recommend these two books. Happy Monday everyone!
ps-Thanks Adoptive Family Magazine for the Thumbs Up!

Spring

2010-04-08T18:53:00.000-07:00

Today it rained, hailed and now its brilliantly sunny. This perfectly summarized my parenting day-three year old's are so mercurial! My prints were mentioned on True Up today and I was THRILLED to see the site and then to read the emails I received in response. I love hearing from all these amazing families out there that are re-defining the idea of family.

Good Reads:

2010-04-06T19:33:00.000-07:00

I just read three books that were very good and thought I would pass them along here:

Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro

Dark At The Root, by Sarah Thyre

If you like A girl named Zippy, you'll love this book!

The Urban Hermit by Sam Macdonald

Happy reading!

The New American Family Line Cont.

2010-03-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

Around the inter-webs

2010-03-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

The last few months have been crazy busy and things won't be slowing down for a bit longer but I wanted pause for a moment to say a huge thank you to my fellow blogging peeps for noticing and supporting my new work-Check out their sites, these are all amazing women

At: http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/thumbs.php

At: http://mamacandtheboys.com/2010/04/09/sheets-of-hue-and-jewelry-too/

At true up: http://www.trueup.net/?p=9984

At adoptingmamas

http://www.adoptingmamas.com/2010/03/26/review-american-family-collection-of-fabrics/

MirrorMirror
http://mirrormirror.typepad.com/mirror_mirror/2010/02/index.html

habeshachild:

http://habeshachild.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/fabric-for-the-new-american-family/

Haiti Care Update from Chances for Children:

2010-03-11T10:17:00.000-08:00

As U.S. military troops begin their withdrawal from Port au Prince, many Haitians fear that international aid is ending- even as the city is still mired in misery and vulnerable to unrest.
As troops pack their duffels and begin to fly home, one can’t help but wonder whether U.N. peacekeepers and local police are up to the task of maintaining order. More than a half-million people still live in vast encampments that have grown more unpleasant in recent days with the early onset of the rainy season. Many Haitians fear that the departure of the American troops is a sign of dwindling international interest in the plight of the Haitian people following the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake.

Which is why, Chances for Children has decided to extend our Relief Efforts and reach out to other orphanages in Haiti to help provide much needed food, medicine, supplies and aid. There are over 100 orphanages in Haiti and many of these do not have the resources and support to continue to care for the children they house. Many of these orphanages care for children who are not available for adoptions and therefore get very little support from outside groups. While Haiti has faded from the media spotlight, it has not faded from our spotlight. Thanks to your generous donations, C4C has purchased additional supplies and air cargo space - this week we will be sending down another 10,000 pounds of food, medicine, baby items, tents and supplies. These donations will be delivered to orphanages throughout Port au Prince, specifically targeting many locations in Delmas. The donations will be given to small orphanages who have little to no food for their children and will truly benefit from this aid. Since the earthquake hit, Chances for Children has been able to fly in over 25,000 pounds of relief supplies!!!!

In partnership with another U.S. non-profit, Cloud of Fire, C4C will be on the ground in Haiti distributing these supplies. We want to make sure our Haitian neighbors know they are not forgotten. We will also be spending time in Leogane (the epicenter of the quake) where we will deliver food and tents to many families who are still living under giant tarps. Again, none of this would be possible without your continued support. We want to be excellent stewards of your donations and will continue to communicate our efforts with each of you who have donated.

We are also in the process of collecting supplies for a shipping container which will leave Florida late March. Please visit the blog http://chances4childrendonations.blogspot.com/ to see what supplies are needed at this time. We are very much in need of cloth diapers, formula, portable cribs and food.

Thank you again for making this possible - please continue to keep the people of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers.

With Gratitude,
Chances for Children

Winter Fun

2010-03-07T21:36:00.000-08:00

We went up to High Camp, this weekend and played in the snow, its been a long time since I've rode on a snow machine and the first time A. has ever experienced that kind of ride. I was a little worried about taking her up this crazy mountain road, but wedged between my husband, myself and my sister (on one machine!) she looked around, said it was fun and fell asleep during the six mile switchback, snow filled ride. Crazy kid. We all went sledding and its been years since I hurled myself bodily down a slick hill and it was awesome! I had to throw myself off the sled at the end to stop and landed at the feet of a group of skiers. Hi guys. My sister is a manager up there and between helping all the guests she found the time to make up amazing meals, which considering there is no fridge and super basic amenities was pretty cool. A. tried skiing for the very first time and at first her legs kept shooting out from her, but after awhile she got it and suddenly was fully skiing, actually skiing alone down the road. She loved it so much and cried when I took off her skis. If you have kids and are looking for a back country adventure that is FUN, safe and simple, this is the place to go. (And this may be stupid to note, but no one is paying or asking me to recommend this place!)

The New American Family:

2010-02-19T11:57:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I was looking for fabric to make my three year old a blanket, I wanted it to have little kids who looked like her and to be bright and happy. I searched everywhere and came up with nothing, finally I decided to use my graphic design skill and create my own fabric line. The blanket came out nice, and she truly loved seeing kids who looked like her. My daughter is from Haiti and when we become a bi-racial family I became acutely aware that there is a real lack of products on the market that represent families that look like mine, and for that matter any families that represent the modern American family. Two moms, two papas, single parents, single adoptive parents, adoptive families, bi and tri racial families. I graduated with a B.A. in graphic design and culture studies, my actual thesis was on how design and art can positively influence culture, with this line I hope that in a tiny way I can make a positive difference and offer support to families like mine. With this fabric line I hope to show what the current American family looks like in 2010 and offer an sense of inclusiveness to all the families who are changing the idea of a “Normal Family“. We are normal, we are all unique and what we all have in common is the experience of love and togetherness, the experience of being a family.

For more photos and information check out the etsy site---->
Yardage: Prices for Quilting Weight Cotton.: Fat Quarter (21" x 18") is 17.00, One yard (42" x 36") is 34.00.

Also available:
Organic Cotton Sateen
Bamboo-Cotton Rayon
Upholstery Weight Cotton Twill

Please email travelingsistertms @ hotmail. com for other fabric and price options.

enter the age of WHY?

2010-02-18T12:00:00.001-08:00

Over the past few weeks A. has been questioning everything-"What does move mean? What does sleep mean? Where is the sun?"

Today we had this conversation:

A: "What does No mean?"

Me: "No means no." (Not a very good explanation I know, but trust me a long answer only begets more questions)

A: "No means the fun is over."

Me: "!! ha ha"

At lunch today:

I serve A. a plate of spinach lasagna.

A: "Whats that?"

Me: "Mmmmmm, its yummy lasagna!"

A: "There is no Mmmmmm in here."

Funny, funny. The age of three is hard but so amusing.

Happy V Day my Internet World.

2010-02-14T15:32:00.000-08:00

Listen-

2010-02-11T15:11:00.000-08:00

linky-link: sharing the info

2010-02-04T01:08:00.000-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/us/04diaspora.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/world/americas/04haiti.html

http://www.aidg.org/

Planning for the future

2010-02-02T09:09:00.000-08:00

We are planning on going back to Haiti next year and have been learning to speak Haitian Creole, today I found out that there are some free language programs available and they are quite good! Check it out:

http://promo.simonandschuster.com/HaitiRelief/

Men aprann vit!

exactly

2010-01-31T15:08:00.001-08:00

our peeps:

2010-01-26T23:05:00.001-08:00

We want to send a HUGE Thank You to everyone that sent in donations to our daughters Creche, your help is saving lives. Thank you.

Chances for Children: Earthquake Relief Efforts – Update 1/25/10

In the two weeks since the earthquake in Haiti, Chances for Children has made significant progress in our relief efforts thanks to the generosity and support of our community. We are touched by the numbers of individuals, foundations and corporations who have graciously stepped up to help our efforts. Here is an update of what we have accomplished so far:

Evacuation of Children

On Thursday, January 24^th Chances for Children chartered a plane that flew from Port-au-Prince to Florida and safely evacuated 18 children who were brought into the arms of their adoptive families. This was a herculean effort on the part of our team. Our team in Haiti was able to get one of the first U.S. Embassy appointments allowing them to obtain visas and paperwork quickly. Our team here worked around the clock to orchestrate the logistics of helicopters for the children to the PAP airport, arranged for adoptive families to travel to Ft. Lauderdale, worked with U.S. immigration officials to guarantee streamlined processing of the children, and organized and funded a charter plane to bring the children to the U.S. We arranged to have team members fly with the plane into PAP to coordinate on-the-ground efforts there, as well as have C4C representatives at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale to help adoptive families.

Because of our ability to move quickly, we avoided the difficulties many orphanages are now experiencing trying to get their children home to their adoptive families. None of this could have happened without your support – thank you for making this possible.

Earthquake Relief Supplies

This week a team led by volunteer April Connors will be headed to Florida to load a cargo plane bound for the Dominican Republic. Each team member is bringing donated supplies and will spend a day purchasing food, formula and other items. Medicines have already been shipped to the warehouse as well as another 2,000 pounds of donated food and formula. The Rash family from Utah managed to collect and send 1,000 pounds of donated supplies from their community. On Tuesday, the team will pack 10,000 pounds to send on a cargo plane. The plane will fly to the Dominican where the cargo will be trucked to a small border town on the D.R.- Haiti border. There it will be warehoused and our team in Haiti will be bringing trucks to get the supplies to the village over the next few weeks. Again, the logistics of this effort proved challenging with the conditions and lack of infrastructure and communication in Haiti. But we have accomplished our goal of getting immediate relief to our children in Haiti. Again, thanks to all of our supporters – this would not have been possible without your financial contributions. We will be sending down over $20,000 in aid to our neighbors in Haiti.

Haiti Renewal Fund -- haitirenewal.org

Thanks to the leadership and financial support of Foster and Lynn Friess, a new fund has been established - the Haiti Renewal Fund (www.haitirenewal.org). With this fund, Chances for Children will be partnering with other organizations to begin the long and difficult process of rebuilding and renewing Haiti. Already this fund has gained national exposure in more than 1,000 media outlets, and Craig Juntunen announced the launch of the fund on CNN's "Newsroom" on Sunday January 24^th. We look forward to sharing the details of this project along with our partner organizations in the near future.

Adoption Update

Many families have reached out to us in an attempt to help the orphaned and abandoned children in Haiti. At this time, we are only able to assist families who were already in the adoption process. As you may have seen on recent news reports, the bureaucracy of getting adoptive children to their U.S. families is proving very difficult for many orphanages. Once this step is completed, many aid organizations, the Haitian government, and the U.S. State Department will begin to determine how to best process new adoptions and the fate of the many abandoned children in Haiti.

This week, our partners in Haiti will be admitting approximately 90-100 new children as a result of the earthquake. These children will be taken to the orphanage and fed, cared for, and treated for medical conditions while aid organizations in Haiti try to locate members of their extended family. Until that occurs, these children will remain under our care. We are uncertain – due to lack of government institutions in Haiti and other factors -- what the adoption process will look like moving forward. We will continue to lobby our U.S. government for a speedy and effective resolution to this situation.

In closing – thank you again for your support. Your donations have allowed us to make significant improvements in the lives of the children we serve. We are grateful for your help. The road to rebuilding has not yet begun; Haiti and Chances for Children will need to rely on continued generosity and support.

With gratitude,

Chances for Children

NPR:

2010-01-25T14:15:00.000-08:00

Port-Au-Prince Journal: It's The Living Who Haunt

by Jason Beaubien

January 25, 2010

For me the hardest part is the living.

There have been so many dead here, corpses are so common both on the street and oozing out of the wreckage, that it's the living who haunt me.

The old man crumpled at the curb calling out faintly, "Mon blanc! Mon blanc!" and asking for water.

The crush wounds. The children who've lost or are about to lose an arm, a leg or both.

Enlarge David Gilkey/NPR

NPR correspondent Jason Beaubien reports from an orphanage in Port-au-Prince.

David Gilkey/NPR

NPR correspondent Jason Beaubien reports from an orphanage in Port-au-Prince.

The bodies laid out at night like cordwood on the street. Lines of people wrapped in sheets perpendicular to the curb, sleeping on the pavement because either their houses are gone or they're too terrified to go inside.

In the first days after the quake, the women wailing into the night.

Later, the dogs that survive and howl.

A young woman, alone down at the port. She sits on a bag with all of her belongings, waiting to catch a boat out. She lists the members of her family who died: mother, father, sister, cousin.

"It's just me now," she says, 22 years old and alone.

Another woman says, "There isn't a single family in Haiti that isn't crying right now."

She's trying to dig her brother-in-law's body out of a pile of debris.

There's the fear of being inside. Walking with my translator through her old neighborhood, her nervousness is palpable that any teetering building might crash down on us at any moment. An aftershock shakes the rubble under our feet. She runs for solid ground.

What is it like to watch your entire city crumble around you? Walls, roofs meant to protect you become projectiles, blunt instruments and traps. How do you ever go back inside?

A huge challenge lies ahead just to feed and house the people of Haiti in the coming weeks. Then, block after city block needs to be bulldozed. But for Haiti to be reborn, and to avoid becoming a wasteland kept alive on international aid, the living need to heal — they need to dream of a new country and move forward.

Keeping things current

2010-01-23T22:48:00.001-08:00

Haitians show fortitude in face of disaster By Christian Fraser
BBC News, Jacmel

There is no longer a major search-and-rescue effort in the town of Jacmel

By Christian Fraser
BBC News, Jacmel

The remote mountain road to Jacmel took us past landslides, around boulders to the southern-most edge of the island.

They had told us the route was impassable, but we made it in three hours. No aid has come this way. Only the rugged vehicles can get through.

When I got here she had been sitting here for days because there was no surgeon available. Her arm had gone black. It was too late to save it

Ted Alexander
Orthopaedic surgeon

Jacmel, a former colonial coffee town, is desperate for help. Perhaps one in three buildings in the old town now lies in ruins - more than 100 years of history, shattered in a few catastrophic seconds.

At the Saint Michele hospital the patients are lying in the garden, baking in the heat, without enough doctors to help.

The hospital buildings are too unstable to use.

In the operating theatre, nurses swat flies as the surgeons do what they can. Outside, the injured scream for painkillers.

'Emotional experience'

On the day we visited, an expeditionary team of Canadian doctors had just arrived to lend a hand. But with only basic supplies, they could only perform what resembled battlefield triage.

The aid operation is finally beginning to reach the more remote parts of Haiti

Ted Alexander, an orthopaedic surgeon from Washington DC, was almost in tears when we interviewed him.

He has been forced to remove limbs he knows he might have saved.

One patient, Marie Laurie, was trapped by falling masonry and has lost her arm beneath the shoulder.

"When I got here she had been sitting here for days because there was no surgeon available. Her arm had gone black. It was too late to save it," Dr Alexander said.

"It has been such an emotional experience for us all," he added. "I guess I am getting kind of tired... but, there's no place I would rather be. This is where it is happening. This is what you've got to do."

Grateful

There is no longer a major search-and-rescue effort in Jacmel.

The Colombians who were here have long gone. It is the smell that signposts the dead.

Ninety percent of the people in Jacmel are living out in the open

Romarie has already buried her sister - but somewhere beneath a pile of stinking rubble is her two-year-old niece.

"We have not seen anyone here, no-one has come to help us," she says. "We are on our own."

But then she thanked us for coming. She seemed genuinely pleased that the world might be interested.

I could not help but wonder why she was so grateful, because help has not come fast enough here.

Extraordinary fortitude

In the past few days, a Canadian team has at last opened up a tiny airfield, a vital second front in the relief operation.

They promise rapid response. To be honest, I don't know why it hasn't been done

Hazem el-Zein
World Food Programme

The need is great. The football stadium is a sea of plastic sheeting home to some 6,000 people and growing. Ninety percent of the people in Jacmel are living out in the open, too afraid to sleep indoors.

And yet, despite the fact they are surviving in sweltering conditions, they show some extraordinary fortitude.

But then they have experienced disaster before. Two years ago, this town was hit by an enormous hurricane, from which they had barely recovered.

The UN World Food Programme was distributing basic supplies here within 24 hours of the disaster. They are now feeding 14,000 people and are very well organised.

They can provide rice and beans for people to cook for themselves. They have divided the people into teams, each of them responsible for their own cooking. They choose the cooks, someone to set the fires and someone to serve the rice.

The people of Jacmel experienced another natural disaster in 2008

But the logistics of moving everything into this town by air for the moment prevents them from doing much more.

Hazem el-Zein, the head of the south-east division for the WFP, is working flat out and like everyone else he is frustrated.

I asked him why, after 10 days, the UN had still not mobilised diggers to clear the mountain road and open up the south-eastern corner of Haiti. It would not be a big job.

"We ask the same questions to the people in charge," he responded.

"They promise rapid response. To be honest, I don't know why it hasn't been done. I can only think that their priority must be somewhere else."

We left Jacmel on the US Black Hawk helicopters now flying aid on repeated shuttles from Port-au-Prince. For this town, they are at least a lifeline.

But on the way home - barely a 10-minute journey to the capital - we crossed miles of the most remote and mountainous terrain.

How many other people did we fly over who are still cut off without any help at all?

The Hindu : News / International : India vows support to rebuild Haiti

-----

2010-01-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Haiti-Haiti-Haiti We will not forget.

2010-01-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

This is what I know: Our family members are working on getting food boxes sent down to Haiti with one of their volunteer groups and our agency just send us a list of what is needed, we are getting some stuff together. Our neighbors have donated money to Doctors without borders and the American Red Cross. We have sent money to our Crèche and plan on sending more for the next few months. I have read that aid is starting to arrive and some water and food is making its way into the smaller villages. I’ve also read/seen that piles of bodies are being burned in mass graves without any record being made.

I’ve shut down emotionally a little about it all because it was getting to be too much to process, I’ve feel so out of it, distracted and deeply sad. Some families are we know are saying that they are going to Haiti with food in their bags and hope to just find a way up to the crèche. I understand. If A. was there I would be doing the same thing. Of course, all these kids are someone’s “A.” you know? I think for the people who have criticized the adoptive parents who are so actively working to bring their kids home are not seeing the whole picture. The desire to have their kids is strong and part of it, but also, these parents fully understand the situation, they understand how desperate the situation for orphans is and how much worse it is getting by the day. Every kid that has a home needs to go to that home, the beds will be filled immediately. The food that child had been eating will be fed to another child in need. Its not a matter of being selfish or single minded, these parents know for every child that comes home there will be one more child off the streets, fed, given care and love, for every child that comes home another child will be given another chance at survival.

Last week one of the hardest weeks we’ve had, A. she was crying, screaming, throwing herself on the floor in full blown fits. She is three and so I thought maybe this is a new phase, but then I realized maybe she is picking up way more than assumed she understood. On Thursday I thought maybe she was picking up on the words from the radio, saw little flashes from the news-even though we were being very careful she could have seen a few minuets of the footage or maybe she senses on a level we don't the grief and pain. Since then the news has been off, the radio silenced, all photos and news about Haiti is quieted until she is in bed. We don’t want our daughter to see her country so destroyed and her culture in so much pain. We don’t know where A’s bio parents are now, we have the region they used to live, way out in the county, but who knows-I am not going to give up trying to find them because people know people and I think we can track them down eventually.

I was thinking about her biological parents last night and suddenly got mad because in what world is it OK that a CHILD (my child!) can be adopted and the parents don’t meet each other?! Its insane. Totally insane. We should have all meet first thing, talked, shared our thoughts and feelings and hopes for her. We should have all contact information, phones, address and family information because we are now family. But, we were told they don’t have an address. There was no phone. It was an impossible situation and now knowing we might never meet them I can’t believe that we did not make contact. Its seems so very wrong that they don’t know us, the people who are raising their child.

Every time I watch the news I see the kids who look like my kid and feel clammy with shock. I don’t think people truly understand the situation in Haiti. I had a friend ask me in innocence, “Well in a few months they will rebuild and then social services can help the kids and they can go to foster homes and school again.” I could not even speak for a second. Then I tried to briefly explain that it was going to take more than a few months and there is not a build in “Social Services” on the same level that she was assuming. She later asked, “But everyone normally has water right?” My answer seemed to shock her, “No, no, many people in Haiti do not, did not have access to clean water.”

I hope so much that there IS a silver lining to this and that people are giving access to clean water, food, shelter, education, resources and that the government of Haiti can re-build and emerge as a vibrant, thriving country again, its just going to be a long time coming. Already *blogs are moving on, people are focusing on other things like terrorist attacks and new muffin mixes, the news has shifted from a 20 min segment to a five min update. Next week will it be a blip on the radar of America social conscience? I hope not. We have to keep talking about what is happening and thinking about the larger issues at hand. Things like inherent rights and national debts. Things like political agendas and wealth and poverty and how we carry the responsibly to help those in need…but right now we, our family, have to bear witness and send money and send food and medicine and find ways to comfort our Haitian-American child and keep the focus on Haiti for as long as we can.

*Not all blogs-to really understand what is happening in Haiti today please read the sites on the side or do a google search, read about the experience from people who are currently there, living and working as hard as they humanly can.

PS-If you live in Seattle, Coastal Kitchen is having a benefit dinner on Thursday-http://www.seattle-eats.com/coastalkitchen/

Haitian Adoptions slowly moving forward:

2010-01-17T19:17:00.000-08:00

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

U.S., Dutch officials slash red tape to expedite Haitian orphan adoptions
Six adopted Haitian children arrived in Miami tonight, met by their adoptive parents
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs charters plane to pick up about 100 kids Monday

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Slashing red tape or ignoring ordinarily required paperwork, officials in the United States and the Netherlands have cleared the way for scores of Haitian orphans to leave their earthquake-ravaged homeland, according to officials from the two countries.

All of the children had adoptions pending with prospective parents in the two countries before Tuesday's 7.0-magnitude quake, and government officials said paperwork was expedited or put on hold to make transfers happen on an emergency basis.

300 children have pending adoption cases with American families. Six children arrived in Florida Sunday night, met by their adoptive parents with hugs and tears of happiness.

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has chartered a plane to pick up about 100 children Monday, spokesman Aad Meijer told CNN.

Video: Adopting from Haiti

RELATED TOPICS

Dutch Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin over the weekend granted the children entry into the country, although their paperwork, including travel and adoption documents, was incomplete, Justice Ministry spokesman Patrick Mikkelsen told CNN.

About 44 of the orphans' adoptions had yet to be approved by a Haitian judge, even though they were matched to Dutch parents, Mikkelsen said. Dutch officials may seek the remaining approvals from Haiti once the children have already settled in the Netherlands, he added.

Haiti is home to about 380,000 orphans, according to the United Nations Children's Fund, and that number is expected to grow in the wake of Tuesday's earthquake. And those who lived in orphanages before Tuesday may be homeless now, as reports of destroyed orphanages have come throughout the quake zone.

Full coverage of the earthquake in Haiti

Some children who lost parents in the quake or were separated from parents are being relocated to the Dominican Republic, a child advocacy group said.

About 50 orphaned and abandoned children will arrive in the border town of Jimani on Wednesday, Kids Alive International said. The efforts, coordinated with the governments of both countries, will eventually take the children back to Haiti. Some will be reunited with parents who lost communication with their children in the quake's aftermath, the group said.

CNN's Melissa Gray and Richard Greene in London contributed to this rep

Information on Haitian Adoptions post Earthquake:

2010-01-16T15:56:00.001-08:00

Country Status

Haiti is currently currently LIMITED to adoptions by US citizens.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to the recent earthquake in Haiti, Joint Council is working with the U.S. government to determine the impact of the devastation on the adoption process. Given that the coming days will be rightly focused on rescue efforts, it will take days if not weeks to fully assess the impact on adoptions and develop a plan to move forward with specific cases. Information on the adoption process will be published within the next few weeks.

For a list of Joint Council agencies working in Haiti, please consult our Country Programs page.

January 16, 2010 2:00 pm

All of us at Joint Council extend our sincere condolences to the family of Molly Hightower of Port Orchard, Washington. Ms. Hightower was a dedicated volunteer working with Haitian orphans and hoped to work in intercountry adoption when she was killed during the earthquake in Haiti.

More information on Ms. Hightower can be found in this MSNBC report.

Sincerely,

The Staff and Community of Joint Council

January 16, 2010 1:30 pm

Dear Friends,

Humanitarian Parole

It is Joint Council’s position that the U.S. government should immediately grant humanitarian parole to all children being adopted by U.S. citizens. At present, Joint Council is appealing with the U.S. government, specifically the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to issue humanitarian parole for any child that has been referred to an American family. Humanitarian parole, if granted, would eliminate the need for a visa. Humanitarian parole would also minimize the paperwork and possibly eliminate the need to find documents, which have been destroyed in the earthquake. Given the urgent needs of the children, the fact that the Haitian government has lifted all exit requirements and that the children have adoptive families, we believe that humanitarian parole is the most humane solution to this crisis. Please note that Joint Council has not received confirmation for humanitarian parole but we are working diligently towards that end. When and if humanitarian parole is granted, we will publish the information widely.

From our many, many meetings with Members of Congress, the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security, you should know that your government is working diligently and with great compassion to find a solution which will help get the children into safe, permanent and loving families as quickly as possible.

Haiti Adoptive Families & Orphan Database

Thank you for helping adoptive families register with our Haiti Adoptive Families & Orphan Database. To date we have over 250 families registered. Please continue to publicize the database, even if you are not directly involved with Haiti. The wider the message is distributed the more families we will ultimately reach. The database allows us to keep the families and our government updated on the latest information and how the ongoing efforts effect the children we all serve.

Emergency Relief

We are also working with Members of Congress, particularly the offices of Senator Mary Landrieu and Senator James Inhofe, to get emergency relief to the often overlooked orphanages. We are compiling lists of orphanages including their location and providing this information to emergency relief organizations via Congress. Joint Council is collecting the information from a wide variety of sources including the information provided from families registering with our database. If you have information on the name, location and condition of an orphanage, please forward that information to jcics@jcics.org.

Updates and Information

Please continue to periodically check our website (www.jointcouncil.org), our Haiti webpage (www.jcics.org/haiti.htm), our blog (http://betheanswerforchildren.wordpress.com/) and our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Joint-Council-on-International-Childrens-Services/125257530127?ref=ts) . Yesterday alone we posted 4 updates. With limited time and resources, not all updates are distributed via all Joint Council outlets, so please continue to check all of our sites.

We hope that informing you of our collective efforts, particularly Joint Council’s appeal for humanitarian paroles, will provide you with at least a small amount of comfort and assistance. Our hearts and our daily efforts continue to go out to the adoptive families, the children and everyone in Haiti. It is why we all do what we do. It remains an honor for all of us at Joint Council to work with members of the public, our Member Organizations, adoptive families and our colleagues in the U.S. and Haitian governments and fellow child advocates as we struggle to save lives and unite children with families.

January 15, 2010 5:40 pm

Visas Issued

Joint Council has confirmed that a handful of Haitian children, whose adoptions were finalized by the Haitian courts and whose adoptive parents were in Port au Prince at the time of the earthquake, have received their visa to enter the U.S. Joint Council shares in the joy and relief felt by these families and children. While the issuance of visas in these specific cases is very welcomed news, it should not encourage adoptive parents to travel to Haiti in an attempt to secure a visa for the child they are adopting. Such individual efforts may in fact be counterproductive and dangerous.

Children with Finalized Adoption Decrees

Through continuing meetings with the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, Members of Congress and other child advocates, Joint Council can ensure all, that every effort is being made by the U.S. government and child advocates to find a method by which children with finalized adoption decrees can enter the U.S. and be united with their adoptive family. While the U.S. government has yet to announce a decision and procedure for uniting adoptive families and children, we remain very confident that a positive resolution and decision will be made very soon. Joint Council, other advocates and our colleagues in the U.S. government recognize that time is critical and that an expeditious positive solution is necessary. Rest assured that the necessary organizations and entities are taking every possible step and moving as quickly as feasible given the nature of the crisis.

Other Adoptions

Our community including the U.S. government continues to work for a solution for those children and adoptive families who do not have a finalized Haitian adoption decree. These adoptions are often ill defined and therefore a procedure that unites children with adoptive families while ensuring that children are not further victimized is extremely difficult. Despite the challenges, we remain confident that the means to move children into adoptive families will be found very soon. As stated above, everyone involved recognizes that time if of the essence and are attempting to find solutions quickly.

New Adoptions, Airlifts & U.S. Foster Care

Ideas for airlifting children into the U.S. and placing them in foster homes continue to surface. In some instances, rumors and speculation have taken on a life of their own. Additionally, many U.S. families are seeking to initiate adoptions of newly orphaned Haitian children. While both airlifts and new adoptions are based on valid concerns and come from an obviously loving heart, neither option is considered viable by any credible child welfare organization. Bringing children into the U.S. either by airlift or new adoption during a time of national emergency can open the door for fraud, abuse and trafficking. Every effort must be made in a timely fashion to locate living parents and extended family members. Many children, who might appear to be orphaned, may in fact be only temporarily separated from their family. Our efforts must be to provide the families and children of Haiti with shelter, nutrition, water and safety. Once the situation in Haiti stabilizes and timely reunification has taken place, adoption may be an option for the children who remain outside of permanent parental care.

Haiti Adoptive Families & Orphan Database

A quick reminder to all adoptive parents to please register with our Haiti Adoptive Families & Orphan Database. The registry can be found on the Joint Council website at www.jcics.org. By providing information on your adoption, Joint Council and various agencies within the U.S. government will be able to provide emergency assistance to orphanages and to assist in uniting you with the child you are adopting.

Thank You

Our sincere thanks to all of the volunteers who assisted us today and to those who made financial donations. We also thank our colleagues at the Departments of State, U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services, Members of Congress and other child advocates for their dedicated service. Most importantly, we thank those families who remain so very committed to the children of Haiti.

January 15, 2010 12:15 p.m. est

Contrary to internet rumors, it is Joint Council's understanding that U.S. visas for all of the children of BREMSA have NOT been obtained. Joint Council will continue to update our Facebook page and website and information becomes available.

January 15, 2010, 11:25 a.m. est

Recognizing that orphans and other children living without parental care are the most vulnerable victims in that they do not have a network of Joint Council is working with Members of Congress to request direct emergency relief to orphanages and children living outside of family care. Later today a listing of orphanages, their location and the number of children in each orphanage will be provided to Members of Congress, the Red Cross, USAID and other emergency relief organizations.

January 15, 2010 - 11 a.m. est

Joint Council's Orphan and Family database is up and running. If you are in the process of adopting from Haiti, please take a moment and fill-in your adoption information. The database will allow Joint Council to advocate with the U.S. and Haitian governments, as appropriate, for for the cases currently in process. Please note: the database is temporarily housed on Joint Council's donate page, donations are not required to utilize the database. Adoptive families should choose the second option, "Register my Haiti adoption with Joint Council" to enter the necessary information. To access the database, click here.

January 14, 2010 - 4 pm est

The U.S. Dept of State, Office of Children's Issues has issued a notice in regards to the children affected by Natural Disasters and Conflict. The notice can be found on the U.S. Dept of State, Office of Children's Issues website at http://adoption.state.gov/news/Haiti.html.

January 14, 2010 - 2 pm est

Sometimes it is more than one can bear. Living in abject poverty. Living in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Living with no mother, no father. And now this.

Yesterday, while the good people of Haiti were literally digging themselves out of the rubble, Joint Council and the members of our Haiti Caucus humbly met with a sense of despair, urgency, concern and resolve. Our phones rang off the hook with offers of help, with questions about the children and orphanages. Emails came in with more questions and more offers of help and financial assistance.

How To Help

While Joint Council always accepts and appreciates contributions, we are asking all those who wish to make a contribution to please make that donation to those organizations who provide direct services to the children of Haiti. Below is a list of those Joint Council Member Organizations who have active and substantial programs in Haiti and who have the ability to make your donation provide direct assistance in Haiti.

As you have seen on the news, most of Haiti has been impacted by the earthquake including orphanages, schools and medical clinics that serve orphaned children. The organizations listed below are able and willing to provide temporary assistance and to rebuild for long-term service to orphans and vulnerable families. We again urge everyone to make a contribution of any size.

If you do choose to make a contribution to Joint Council, please know that your donation will be used to fund our efforts to coordinate emergency relief efforts.

Adoptions

Our hearts go out to the children and families of Haiti and to those American families who are adopting. We understand your concern and fear during this time of uncertainty. And here is were Joint Council can help.

While Joint Council does not provide direct services such as housing, clean water and nutrition during emergencies, we can help in other ways. We are preparing a database of adoptive families and the children whom they are adopting with a goal of providing you with the status and location of the children. More information will be published on this effort in the coming days.

Joint Council is also working with the U.S. government to determine the impact of the devastation on the adoption process. Given that the coming days will be rightly focused on rescue efforts, it will take days if not weeks to fully assess the impact on adoptions and develop a plan to move forward with specific cases. Information on the adoption process will be published within the next few weeks.

Adoption During Emergencies

All credible organizations recognize and agree that new adoption cases, including new referrals, are not appropriate in a time of crisis or national emergency. Initiating new adoptions at this time could open the door to corruption and abuse of children. Every effort must be made to identify and find family members for children who are separated or displaced as a result of the earthquake.

Joint Council understands the natural tendency to offer a loving family for children who may be newly orphaned, however we urge all adoption service providers and potential adoptive families to refrain from inquiring or attempting to start a new adoption.

All of us at Joint Council and our Member Organizations are working diligently and ask for your support of the children and families of Haiti.

Adoption-Link

Information and Donations, click here.

Adoption-Link is providing emergency relief through their Haitian partnerships with The Foundation Enfant Jesus and also the Village of Vision.

Adoption-Link works with the Foundation Enfant Jesus in Haiti with a focus on finding families for children with HIV through their Chance by Choice program. Their program with The Foundation Infant Jesus finds families for children including family preservation through strong community development programs.

Heather Breems, MSW

International Supervisor/Haiti Program Coordinator

Adoption-Link

1113 South Blvd.

Oak Park, IL 60302

(708) 524-1433

Bethany Christian Services

Blog and Donations, click here.

BCS is collaborating with Haitian local and national organizations in order to assist with earthquake relief.

In Haiti, BCS currently provides child sponsorship programs, and is piloting a program to teach women a trade, allowing them to provide for their families, hopefully with the result that the family remains intact.

Carolina Adoption Services

Information and Donations, click here.

Carolina Adoption Services is focusing their emergency relief on housing, food and water for the children who have lost their orphanage.

Carolina Adoption Services currently works in Tabarre, approximately 10 miles outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Carolina Adoption Services reports that the staff and children of the orphanage are unharmed, but that damage was sustained to the buildings themselves.

Susan Fox – saw@carolinaadoption.org or 336-275-9660

Celebrate Children International

Information and Donations, click here.

Celebrate Children is providing humanitarian relief and mission trips including medical teams and rebuilding projects.

Celebrate Children International provides adoption services, humanitarian aid and medical services to families, children and orphans in Haiti.

Sue Hedberg sue@celebratechidlren.org

Angela Vance angela@celebratechildren.org

Tammy Grega tammy@celebratechildren.org

407 977 2810

407 625 9192

Dillon International

Dillon International operates a Children's Village and works with Hope Hospital in Haiti. Reports are that large number of children and families are coming to the hospital for assistance. At the moment they report that the greatest need is gasoline to run the generators.

To donate, please click here.

Dillon's updates on the situation can be found at http://www.dillonadopt.com/

Holt International Children’s Services

Information and Donations, click here.

Holt International Children’s Services is working to ensure the safety and health of the children who live in Holt villages and are opening their doors to children in the surrounding area who have no homes to return to. Holt is using everything the have to make sure children are safe.

Holt International has been providing services to orphaned children and at-risk families since 2004. Holt currently operates the Holt Fontana Village orphanage, which cares for children who have been orphaned or abandoned.

Bruce Dahl, bruced@holtinternational.org - 541-687-2202

Kentucky Adoption Services

Information and Donations, click here.

Kentucky Adoption Services is providing medical assistance, food and clean water. Their team of 10 physicians will transport 2 planeloads of food and water. Donations for food and water are urgently needed. Their emergency relief efforts are in partnership with BRESMA Orphanage and Child Care Center.

September 21, 2009

Haitian Children & Families Initiative

Background

Over the past three years, the processing of adoptions in Haiti have slowed to a crawl. Abandoned children are enduring adoption processes lasting two or three years before being united with adoptive families.

Not only is such lasting institutional care damaging to the children who wait and wait, but the slowed process has had a negative effect on the many desperately needy children of Haiti who are not waiting in orphanages. Orphanages in Haiti have traditionally been providers of humanitarian aid to their communities. Many support free medical clinics, schools, feeding programs and family preservation programs. Orphanages have been a resource for temporary care for children following a family crisis, such as a fire or illness. But now that children are languishing in orphanage care for years, orphanage directors report that the beds are full, the food and medicine supplies are insufficient, and the children needing temporary care are left on the streets with little prospect for life.

In a laudable effort to move towards transparent and democratic government, Haitian officials are now adhering to the Haitian Constitutional law regarding adoption, written in 1974 by Jean Claude Duvalier. While the law of 1974 places severe limitations on the size and age of those who may adopt, it does allow for Presidential Dispensation for those not meeting the family size or age limitations. Unfortunately, Haiti lacks an organized and transparent system for obtaining Dispensations. This confusion along with the absence of a sense of urgency regarding institutionalized children has caused extensive delays in the adoption process and further victimizes children who have already lost much.

The Solution

Haiti has a pending solution to this legal logjam. A newly proposed adoption law will clarify who may adopt, increase protections for Haitian children, their birth parents, and adoptive families, and streamline the adoption process. This legislation is supported by the United States and French governments along with Joint Council and the NGO community, including UNICEF.

The children of Haiti, the crèche directors who serve them and the adoptive families who wish to raise them need your help. We must encourage the Haitian government to pass the new adoption law and efficiently grant Dispensations in the interim.

The Haitian Crèche Directors’ Association has circulated a letter which 19 orphanage directors have signed, asking for our assistance in getting the support of the U.S. Government. This is our chance to help those who help the children of Haiti. You can review their letter by clicking here.

Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers has sponsored a letter to her colleagues asking for their support for the pending law and the issuance of Presidential Dispensations.

What can you do?

On September 28th, 29th and 30th make three simple phone calls:

1. Call your U.S. Senator.
• You can find your Senators’ phone numbers at www.senate.gov
• Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

2. Call your second U.S. Senator.
• You can find your Senators’ phone numbers at www.senate.gov
• Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

3. Call your representative to the U.S. House of Representative.
• You can find your representative at www.house.gov
• Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

After you have made the calls please.

4. Write letters for the Haitian Prime Minister, President of the Haitian Senate, and the Minister of Social Welfare.
• Your letter can contain the same information as specified below. If you are an adoptive family or are close to a Haitian-born adopted child, insert a picture of the child or your family in your letter.
• Describe your family’s commitment to Haitian culture and the country’s well being as a result of your contact with a Haitian-born adopted child.
• Mail your letter to Holt International, which has volunteered to collect letters and transport them to Haiti for hand delivery to the above government officials.

Holt International
Haitian Children & Families Initiative
P.O. Box 2880
Eugene, OR 97402

5. Sign the Joint Council’s online petition at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/haitian-children-families-initiative.html

6. Forward this message to everyone you know who cares about the welfare of abandoned children in Haiti. Individuals need not be personally involved in a Haitian adoption to let their voices be heard on behalf of children who have no one to speak for them!

What should you say or write to members of the U.S. Congress?

Speak from your heart and give them the following information.

Sample Statement

Hello,

We are calling/writing on behalf of the Haitian Children & Families Initiative. We, as your constituents, are asking that the Senator/Congressperson sign the Dear Colleague letter regarding the pending Haitian adoption law, sponsored by Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

As you may be aware, the Haitian adoption process is unreasonably delayed. Children already matched with adoptive families are languishing in orphanages for two and three years. The orphanages, which have traditionally served as humanitarian aid outreach centers, have run out of resources and are no longer able to offer assistance to their communities. Haitian children outside the orphanages are dying needlessly as a direct result of the delayed adoptions.

Your office must get involved and sign the Dear Colleague letter to support the Haitian government in their effort to assist the homeless and abandoned children of Haiti.
If they have further questions ask them to contact Amiee Henneke from Rep. McMorris Rodgers Office, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute or Joint Council at (703) 535-8045.

Thank you!

Can you explain the problem behind the current crisis?

Here is some additional information…

• The current constitutional law, written in 1974 by Jean Claude Duvalier, severely restricts who may adopt from Haiti. The only method by which the Haitian government may permit adoptions to non-conforming families is via Presidential Dispensation.
• The lack of a defined and efficient Dispensation process has caused delays of up to three years for children in the adoption process. Prolonged institutionalization has been scientifically proven to be highly detrimental to children.
• As orphanages expend their limited resources caring for children in the process of adoption over extended periods, they are unable to provide their traditional humanitarian aid programs to their communities.
• The existing adoption law provides almost no protection for the rights of abandoned children, their birth parents, or adoptive families. It offers no safe guards against human trafficking.
• A proposed adoption law will alleviate the crisis by standardizing and streamlining adoptions, and will far better protect abandoned Haitian children from child trafficking

August 12, 2009 - Haitian Children & Families Initiative

Dear Friends,

What can you do? Make five simple phone calls and write one letter.

1. Call your U.S. Senator.

· You can find your Senators’ phone numbers at www.senate.gov

· Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

2. Call your second U.S. Senator.

3. Call your representative to the U.S. House of Representative.

· You can find your representative at www.house.gov

· Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

4. Call or fax UNICEF Haiti

· Ask to speak with Julie Bergeron

· Their number is 011-509- 2245-3525

· Their fax number is 011-502- 2245-1877

Their email address is jbergeron@unicef.org

Please note that calls and faxes to Haiti are international calls

5. Write letters for the Haitian Prime Minister, President of the Haitian Senate, and the Minister of Social Welfare.

· Your letter can contain the same information as specified below. If you are an adoptive family or are close to a Haitian-born adopted child, insert a picture of the child or your family in your letter.

· Describe your family’s commitment to Haitian culture and the country’s well being as a result of your contact with a Haitian-born adopted child.

· Mail your letter to Holt International, which has volunteered to collect letters and transport them to Haiti for hand delivery to the above government officials.

Holt International

Haitian Children & Families Initiative

P.O. Box 2880

Eugene, OR 97402

When should you call? August 13th, 14th, and 17th

· For maximum affect, we are asking you to make these calls within a 72 hour window!

What should you say or write to member of the U.S. Congress? Speak from your heart and give them the following information.

· Inform them that you are calling regarding Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative

· Inform them that the Haitian international adoption process is unreasonably delayed.

· Inform them that children referred to U.S. families are languishing in institutions

· Inform them that the backlog of children in the process of adoption is preventing orphanages, who serve as local humanitarian aid providers, from continuing to assist their communities.

· Inform them that due to the interruption of services provided by the orphanages, Haitian children outside the orphanages are needlessly dying.

· Ask that their office to sign the Dear Colleague letter regarding the pending Haitian adoption law, sponsored by Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Senator Sam Brownback. The letter asks that adoptions currently in process be speedily granted Presidential Dispensation and that the new adoption law be passed.

Sample Statement

Hello,

Your office must get involved and sign the Dear Colleague letter to support the Haitian government in their effort to assist the homeless and abandoned children of Haiti.

Sincerely,

What should you say or write to UNICEF? Speak from your heart and give them the following information.

· Inform them that you are calling regarding the Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative

· Ask them to support the rights of children and lend their considerable influence to ensuring that intercountry adoptions currently in-process be speedily processed to completion under the existing Presidential Dispensation clause.

· Inform them that many adoptions are taking two or three years to process, during which time children languish in orphanages.

· Inform them that due to the overextension of their resources, orphanages are no longer able to provide their traditional humanitarian aid services to their communities, such as free schools, medical care, temporary child care for families in crisis, and family preservation programs.

· Inform them that as a direct result of the orphanage’s inability to provide humanitarian aid due to overly taxed resources, children are needlessly dying in the streets outside the orphanages.

· Ask them again for their support of the Presidential Dispensation and the swift passage of the new adoption law.

Sample Statement

Hello,

· We are calling/writing on behalf of the Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative

· . As financial supporters of UNICEF (through our tax dollars), we are asking that UNICEF lends its support and considerable influence to the Joint Council Haitian Children & Families Initiative

As you may be aware, the Haitian adoption process is unreasonably delayed.

Children already matched with adoptive families are languishing in orphanages for two and three years. The orphanages, which have traditionally served as humanitarian aid outreach centers, have run out of resources and are no longer able to offer assistance to their communities. Haitian children outside the orphanages are dying needlessly as a direct result of the delayed adoptions.

UNICEF must get involved to ensure that adoptions in process be speedily granted Presidential Dispensation so that they can be completed in a timely manner, and that the new adoption law be passed.

Sincerely,

Can you explain the problem behind the current crisis? Here is some additional information…

· The current constitutional law, written in 1974 by Jean Claude Duvalier, severely restricts who may adopt from Haiti. The only method by which the Haitian government may permit adoptions to non-conforming families is via Presidential Dispensation.

· The lack of a defined and efficient Dispensation process has caused delays of up to three years for children in the adoption process. Prolonged institutionalization has been scientifically proven to be highly detrimental to children.

· As orphanages expend their limited resources caring for children in the process of adoption over extended periods, they are unable to provide their traditional humanitarian aid programs to their communities.

· The existing adoption law provides almost no protection for the rights of abandoned children, their birth parents, or adoptive families. It offers no safe guards against human trafficking.

· A proposed adoption law will alleviate the crisis by standardizing and streamlining adoptions, and will far better protect abandoned Haitian children from child trafficking.

What else can you do? In addition to your primary calls to U.S. Congress and UNICEF, you can call the Haitian Embassy:

Embassy of Haiti in the U.S.

2311 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20008

Office Phone 1- 202.332.4090
Office Fax 1- 202-745-7215
embassy@haiti.org

Please share the message with the world – post it to your blog, email it to your friends, add it to your Facebook page. It is time to act on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of homeless and abandoned children of Haiti.

Diana Boni

Haiti and Liberia Programs Coordinator

Alliance for Children

(605) 301-4690

www.allforchildren.org

dboni@allforchildren.org

Please Help Haiti Today:

2010-01-15T08:48:00.000-08:00

This amazing organization, Chances for Children, was instrumental in bringing our daughter home and keeping her loved, fed and safe while living in Haiti. Right now they need help and they need it now-the food and basic supplies are running out and this is the time to help.
To donate please click here and hit the Earthquake Relief button. We can't forget or move on, this is the time to focus our efforts and keep Haiti in the news, on the blogs, its needs to be the topic of conversation between strangers and friends. Please, if you're able, help the children of Haiti today.

Haitian Earthquake

2010-01-12T15:47:00.000-08:00

Here is what you don't know when you adopt a child-that when your child comes home, you have chosen to love, worry and think about an entire other family at all times, for the rest of your life. This afternoon my husband called me and his voice was tight as he asked if I heard about the earthquake. I went right to google and started to check on all the blogs that I read from Haiti and the Creche message boards. I was not alone, there were already multiple posts from other moms, wondering and worrying about their kids families, the staff at the creche, the friends we all made through the course of adopting our children. All of us wondering the same thing-"Are they OK? What can I do?!"

Tonight the first images are starting to show up and from what we have seen things look very bad. We are hopping that our government sends help immediately and not just 75 people, but hundreds of people to get basic services working, clean water available, medical services, generators for light so that people can be rescued from under rocks and cement tonight. We hope that this "news story" won't be sensationalized and than promptly forgotten. Haiti is a country where having basic infrastructure is not yet a reality, to have this level of devastation is huge.

When we saw the royal palace caved in both of us gasped, this beautiful palace means so much to Haitians, it is a place of pride, and much like if you saw the white house caved in and shattered you would be shocked by its fall.

A. is too little to understand the news, to see the photos of people laying on the dusty streets, she does not yet realize that this is her home too, but it is and tonight all I can think about is her family. We hope they are OK, and we hope that the world shows up and helps Haiti through this terrible, trying time.

Hopes and Dreams:

2010-01-11T22:58:00.001-08:00

The newest batch of little kid fabric has been printed and shipped out, I can not wait to see what this will be made into! I am starting to do more custom design work for fabric, basically someone sends me an idea, such as; "My nephew loves garbage trucks, penguins and snow, what can you make me?" then I think and sketch and work on it for a bit, start a design up in a illustrator program and make a new pattern that has trucks, penguins and snow. Once the idea is approved by the client the fabric is created and shipped out-and somewhere there is a very happy little boy!

Well, it may be winter...

2010-01-07T16:19:00.001-08:00

But there is still lots of green to be found in Seattle.

Blanket!

2010-01-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

Last night my sister spent the night and we made A. new blanket together-and thank goodness she was here because I was a little lost when it came to putting the sewing machine together. I've had this machine for a year, sitting in my closet quietly awaiting its own moment of sewing brilliance.
As we were attempting to thread the needle and put the bobbin in my sister said hey, look up the manual online and amazingly it was indeed online and super helpful. The internet is a beautiful thing. The end result is a soft, big, warm blanket that my three year old LOVES. We gave it to her last night and she said, "Look at all the girls!" and then snuggled up under the blanket smiling. I've had some orders for the little boy fabric (Hi guys!) and I am super excited to see their blankets.
There are so few material objects like bedding, sheets, dolls, etc that show little kids of color that I feel really motivated to make more designs, not just for my girl, but for all the little kids who are inundated in the whitewash of barbie and the rows of white baby dolls at toysrus with the one lone brown baby at the end of the isle, and the hundreds of sheet sets with little white kids playing and the one set of sheets (no longer available!) with little kids of multiple ethnicity's. I made the little girl fabric into a doll pattern set as well, once that order is in I'll post some photos.

movies-boy they don't make them like they used to

2010-01-02T00:20:00.000-08:00

Today A. and I were hanging out on the sofa watching a youtube video of elmo singing. When that movie ended another one started up, it was a old movie , one I watched many times as a kid so I did not think much about it. A. was captivated by the little chipmunks and the funny music and sat giggling and then suddenly there was a GUN and then another one and I think my jaw dropped open, as in literally, my mouth dropped open in shock. Kid shows these days never, ever have guns and it was so weird to see one in the context of a cartoon. A. asked me what it was and I avoided the subject and said it was a tool, thinking about it now I realize I should have just told her a gun and said to never (ever!) touch one. I am going to have to review youtube videos prior to A. watching them I think. Speaking of movies-we went out to see the Avatar movie in 3-D tonight sans child and it was amazing! It was also loooong, almost four hours, but the story is interesting and the graphics are unbelievable. Definitely a theater movie-and see it in 3-D, it is very cool.

I hope everyone is having a happy new years, I can't believe it's 2010! Happy, happy news years!

Printed!

2009-12-25T17:33:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! I got my fabric in the mail yesterday and I love it! I am super excited to make my girl her big blanket. I'm planning on using a soft flannel or fleece for the backing and a thick batting for the center...more photos when the blanket is finished, hopefully sometime this year...

Happy Holidays

2009-12-21T14:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas and Hanukkah Cards, 2009

Fabric for our boys:

2009-12-19T23:27:00.001-08:00

Fabric for our girls:

2009-12-14T15:29:00.001-08:00

When I was looking for fabric to make a quilt for my daughter I kept looking for something with little kids who looked like my kiddo and came up empty handed so I made this one up for her. I am selling the print per yard, just email me if your interested. This will be turned into a comfy blanket for a happy three year old, stay tuned for photos.

left foot

2009-12-08T21:34:00.000-08:00

I went to a NIA class tonight with a friend and I don’t know what I was thinking.

It was a cool place, with wood floors that were gleaming under the glow of hundreds of white Christmas lights. There was Indian chanting music playing and the room was warm. This is the kind of hippy chill environment I normally like. Tonight, I was in hell.

I can’t dance. I have no internal sense of right and left. Every single step I took was wrong. And with each move where I turned to the left while the class swirled in unison to the right I felt sicker. It reminded me that I suck. It was like being a kid and pressured by my best friend to take a dance class that was going to end in a Christmas recital. I was the kid in class who turned the wrong way during the recital in front of hundred of people.

There were full length mirrors surrounding the room and I could see my reflection as I failed horribly to shake and move my hips and dance around in a free spirited way. I wanted to cry. This is what I learned. Never, ever do anything with choreographed movements again.

The teacher was a very happy, blusterous, funny full of spunk lady. The other women in the class were all smiling and glowing and seemed to think this was the bestthingever. My friend, who by the way is a former professional ballet dancer, was amazing. She can dance with grace and totally knew every step perfectly. She was flawless and moved her body with total confidence. I felt like a lump.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-02T22:00:00.001-08:00

originally uploaded by designermamaphotos.

When its gray and dark outside this is what we do-make huge messes painting together. The stack of finished painting is huge and overtaking the bookshelf-anyone want an original watercolor?

So, when does it get easier?

2009-11-30T18:15:00.001-08:00

Seattle Coffee Shop, The Stranger , originally uploaded by designermamaphotos.

Any runners out there? I've been running every day for the past week and while the length of time has increased incrementally the difficulty has not lessened. I feel like I am going to DIE when I am running. This is me: RUN! RUN! PANT PANT PANT AUUUUGH THIS SUCKS! But I am going to keep it up for the next month, but dude I really hope it starts to get easier soon. Right now what fuels me is coffee and the desire to be healthy and live a long time for my kid and family. I read another blogger who said you can reach a place of bliss while running and I guess what I want to know is-when exactly will that occur?

Goodbye November

2009-11-29T22:23:00.001-08:00

plane playground, originally uploaded by designermamaphotos.

diadiowat?

2009-11-26T20:03:00.001-08:00

Ferry Lines, originally uploaded by designermamaphotos.

Last night my neighbor and I went to http://www.podogs.com/ and tasted the thanksgiving hot dog which is a hot dog covered in mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and came with a side of stuffing. It was not good in any way. The wasabi hot dog tasted better, the hot dog was wraped in wonton paper and served with a coleslaw that was the higlight of the night, it was crunchy, fresh and strongly flavored with lime juice, it was a happy bright salad which helped level out the deep fried hot dogs. We tried two other styles which were fine-classic and a hot dog wrapped in BACON and than deep fried ! I can't even continue writing because I am stuffed from the thanksgiving lunch/dinner.

Growing Up

2009-11-24T20:58:00.001-08:00

big tree, originally uploaded by designermamaphotos.

My kiddo just turned three two weeks ago and today we got the news that we could go to a local coop preschool. I am hesitating a little bit for a few reasons. The first is that the school is twice a week, three hours a time and that's a pretty big weekly commitment-we have to take the bus there and back which adds a considerable amount of time. I guess I am not sure because what if this is the last unscheduled time we have?
She will start real school in two years and I don't want to be in a preschool program for the next two years...plus I guess its also accepting that she is no longer a BABY but a KID and wow that's a weird and kinda sad mental adjustment. Plus, is preschool really academically
"worth it" ? She can already count to 50 and is starting to read, I don't know if the school stuff is going to challenge her. My main reason for wanting to have her go to this school is for socialization, so she can learn how to interact within a group of children, learn how to listen to rules from other adults, be involved in large group play, all those kinds of things. What do you think? What did you do with your kids at this age? Wait another year or go full force ahead? Poll on right-------------------------------------->

One Year Later: what Obama has done

2009-11-23T21:25:00.001-08:00

leaves, originally uploaded by designermamaphotos.

I found this list that was put together by Robert Watson, Ph.D. Coordinator of American Studies at Lynn University. I was so glad to see in plain format all the excellent things our busy, busy president and all his very busy staff have accomplished this year. What has President Obama accomplished.

Here is a list of Obama's accomplishments as of August 2009.

1. Ordered all federal agencies to undertake a study and make recommendations
for ways to cut spending

2. Ordered a review of all federal operations to identify and cut wasteful
spending and practices

3. Instituted enforcements for equal pay for women

4. Beginning the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq

5. Families of fallen soldiers have expenses covered to be on hand when the
body arrives at Dover A.F.B.

6. Ended media "blackout" on war casualties; reporting full information

7. Ended media "blackout" on covering the return of fallen soldiers to Dover
A.F.B.; the media is now permitted to do so pending adherence to respectful
rules and approval of fallen soldier's family

8. The White House and federal government are respecting the Freedom of
Information Act

9. Instructed all federal agencies to promote openness and transparency as
much as possible

10. Limits on lobbyists' access to the White House

11. Limits on White House aides working for lobbyists after their tenure in
the administration

12. Ended the previous "stop-loss" policy that kept soldiers in
Iraq/Afghanistan longer than their enlistment date

13. Phasing out the expensive F-22 war plane and other outdated weapons
systems, which weren't even used or needed in Iraq/Afghanistan

14. Removed restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research

15. Federal support for stem-cell and new biomedical research

16. New federal funding for science and research labs

17. States are permitted to enact federal fuel efficiency standards above
federal standards

18. Increased infrastructure spending (roads, bridges, power plants...) after
years of neglect

19. Funds for high-speed, broadband Internet access to K-12 schools

20. New funds for school construction

21. The prison at Guantanamo Bay is being phased out

22. US Auto industry rescue plan

23. Housing rescue plan

24. $789 billion economic stimulus plan

25. The public can meet with federal housing insurers to refinance (the new
plan can be completed in one day) a mortgage if they are having trouble paying

26. US financial and banking rescue plan

27. The "secret detention" facilities in Eastern Europe and elsewhere are
being closed

28. Ended the previous policy; the US now has a no torture policy and is in
compliance with the Geneva Convention standards

29. Better body armor is now being provided to our troops

30. The missile defense program is being cut by $1.4 billion in 2010

31. Restarted the nuclear non-proliferation talks and building back up the
nuclear inspection infrastructure/protocols

32. Reengaged in the treaties/agreements to protect the Antarctic

33. Reengaged in the agreements/talks on global warming and greenhouse gas
emissions

34. Visited more countries and met with more world leaders than any president
in his first six months in office

35. Successful release of US captain held by Somali pirates; authorized the
SEALS to do their job

36. US Navy increasing patrols off Somali coast

37. Attractive tax write-offs for those who buy hybrid automobiles

38. "Cash for clunkers" program offers vouchers to trade in fuel inefficient,
polluting old cars for new cars; stimulates auto sales

39. Announced plans to purchase fuel efficient American-made fleet for the
federal government

40. Expanded the SCHIP program to cover health care for 4 million more children

41. Signed national service legislation; expanded national youth service
program

42. Instituted a new policy on Cuba, allowing Cuban families to return "home"
to visit loved ones

43. Ended the previous policy of not regulating and labeling carbon dioxide
emissions

44. Expanding vaccination programs

45. Immediate and efficient response to the floods in North Dakota and other
natural disasters

46. Closed offshore tax safe havens

47. Negotiated deal with Swiss banks to permit US government to gain access to
records of tax evaders and criminals

48. Ended the previous policy of offering tax benefits to corporations who
outsource American jobs; the new policy is to promote in-sourcing to bring
jobs back

49. Ended the previous practice of protecting credit card companies; in place
of it are new consumer protections from credit card industry's predatory
practices

50. Energy producing plants must begin preparing to produce 15% of their
energy from renewable sources

51. Lower drug costs for seniors

52. Ended the previous practice of forbidding Medicare from negotiating with
drug manufacturers for cheaper drugs; the federal government is now realizing
hundreds of millions in savings

53. Increasing pay and benefits for military personnel

54. Improved housing for military personnel

55. Initiating a new policy to promote federal hiring of military spouses

56. Improved conditions at Walter Reed Military Hospital and other military
hospitals

57. Increasing student loans

58. Increasing opportunities in AmeriCorps program

59. Sent envoys to Middle East and other parts of the world that had been
neglected for years; reengaging in multilateral and bilateral talks and
diplomacy

60. Established a new cyber security office

61. Beginning the process of reforming and restructuring the military 20 years
after the Cold War to a more modern fighting force... this includes new
procurement policies, increasing size of military, new technology and cyber
units and operations, etc.

62. Ended previous policy of awarding no-bid defense contracts

63. Ordered a review of hurricane and natural disaster preparedness

64. Established a National Performance Officer charged with saving the federal
government money and making federal operations more efficient

65. Students struggling to make college loan payments can have their loans
refinanced

66. Improving benefits for veterans

67. Many more press conferences and town halls and much more media access than
previous administration

68. Instituted a new focus on mortgage fraud

69. The FDA is now regulating tobacco

70. Ended previous policy of cutting the FDA and circumventing FDA rules

71. Ended previous practice of having White House aides rewrite scientific and
environmental rules, regulations, and reports

72. Authorized discussions with North Korea and private mission by Pres. Bill
Clinton to secure the release of two Americans held in prisons

73. Authorized discussions with Myanmar and mission by Sen. Jim Web to secure
the release of an American held captive

74. Making more loans available to small businesses

75. Established independent commission to make recommendations on slowing the
costs of Medicare

76. Appointment of first Latina to the Supreme Court

77. Authorized construction/opening of additional health centers to care for
veterans

78. Limited salaries of senior White House aides; cut to $100,000

79. Renewed loan guarantees for Israel

80. Changed the failing/status quo military command in Afghanistan

81. Deployed additional troops to Afghanistan

82. New Afghan War policy that limits aerial bombing and prioritizes aid,
development of infrastructure, diplomacy, and good government practices by
Afghans

83. Announced the long-term development of a national energy grid with
renewable sources and cleaner, efficient energy production
84. Returned money authorized for refurbishment of White House offices and
private living quarters

85. Paid for redecorations of White House living quarters out of his own pocket

86. Held first Seder in White House

87. Attempting to reform the nation's healthcare system which is the most
expensive in the world yet leaves almost 50 million without health insurance
and millions more underinsured

88. Has put the ball in play for comprehensive immigration reform

89. Has announced his intention to push for energy reform

90. Has announced his intention to push for education reform

We Bought a Zoo

2009-11-21T20:06:00.001-08:00

Beach driftwood with seaweed details colors beauty, originally uploaded by designermamaphotos.

I am mid-way though the book, We Bought a Zoo by Benjamine Mee and it is excellent so far. Can you imagine buying a zoo?! I think the best part would be walking around early in the morning visiting alone with all the animals. Right now I am at the part about the food they feed the cats...crushed skulls and dead horses. My husband worked as a vet tech for four years and one of his jobs was in a tiny town in Alaska. Because the vet clinic was the only one in town they got to work on all kinds of animals. One day he got to help with a Musk Ox birth at the local Musk Ox farm-if you don't know what these animals are click here to see where the baby was born, these animals are HUGE and very wild. One of my old roommates worked at this farm and while working was attacked by a running male who knocked her over and stepped on her back, her back was badly broken-she had a long recovery but seemed to hold no ill will towards the animals.
I always came inside to wait for him after work and got to see an otter, bald eagle and lots of cats and dogs get treated. One of the saddest days there a dog had been missing and a stranger finally found him a week later caught in a trap (in the winter, in Alaska) starving, shaking and so very happy to see his owner. The dog laid on table, barely alive but panting in happiness to see his dog dad-then in front of us all he passed away. We all were standing in silence crying, it was horribly sad. There were also beautiful moments that I got to witness, the birth of puppies, tiny and wet, covered in clear sacs of fluid, animals brought in sick and after getting treated left prancing and healthy. I imagine that owning a Zoo would be like a vet clinic job on steroids times a million.

Seattle Bloggers

2009-11-20T09:24:00.001-08:00

Spring buds, originally uploaded by designermamaphotos.

Last night my friend Katie and I went to a blogging event held here in Seattle. It was an event hosted by RedPlum, they have been traveling all over the country and hosting these "mama blogging" parties in an effort to market their brand and services. Now----I am one of those people who hate getting bulk coupons and mass mailings and have been removed from these lists (which apparently does not stop them from arriving in the mail) so I was really not the best person to invite. I generally don't support *mass mailing advertisements on the whole because of the Killing the Earth aspect-because you know that 99% of those weekly papers are ending up in the trash not recycle, and the inks, and jet fuel. Regardless of all that it was awesome to see all the vibrant, happy, laughing women. The drinks were liberally poured, the food was delisous and I met some very smart and funny people. As a marketing tactic I think hosting these get together is a very powerful idea because I came away with a good feeling toward the company and there employees.
*I don't recommend bulk mailing/mass mailing for my clients either, nowadays mass EMAILs are a much better option!

Fall TV

2009-11-18T22:14:00.001-08:00

IMG_1763, originally uploaded by designermamaphotos.

I just saw an ad on tv for a new show where adoptees and birth parents are reunited in seemingly tearful, joyful reunions. Does anyone else find this a little weird? I get the drama aspect, but it sound exploitative to everyone involved. I wonder how real the reunions actually are, they must find the families and make sure the reunions will be happy.

Announcement!

2009-11-17T20:32:00.001-08:00

Hello There!, originally uploaded by designermamaphotos.

I've been looking for a good way to economically print and send my photography work and have found a new service that seems to work very well. If there are any images on the site you are interested in just click on the link below. There are a lot of images on my actual website as well, handtohanddesign.com. I love taking pictures and think they make a nice gift...holidays...hmmm. The cards start at 1.56 so they make pretty affordable gifts.

I can:

2009-11-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

A. just came in her with a cloth bag full of food (fake) and dishes and told me she went groceries shopping in her kitchen. Ha. I hope she comes home from college someday and shops from my kitchen.

Why was I worried about three? Three has been awesome! Other than the whole “I CAN do it MYSELF” bit where she sobs if I dare (and I do dare) to put on her coat as we rush out the door. I read somewhere that the main difference between toddlers and their parents is the sense of time-they have no agenda, no schedule to meet and thus take their sweet time with everything.

Today she was struggling and getting frustrated while trying to write the word dog because she could not find the letter G sticker, I handed her a number nine sticker that looked similar enough to a lowercase g and she was appalled. “NO mama! That’s a number! I can do it myself.” Clearly I am not to be trusted with the word writing responsibility.

Peace

2009-11-15T20:55:00.001-08:00

R.T. I hope you are in a place of peace and rest. I hope your family is able to heal and find solace in this time.

bus people

2009-11-11T22:56:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of yippies**** here. Today there was a couple on the bus that looked like they were trying out for a mtv special called “How to be a Seattle hipster yuppie band person” they guy was wearing skinny jeans and pointy cowboy boots and had more bleach highlights then you can imagine.

The woman was on the phone and said:

“Hi Dad! Happy Veterans day!

Pause.

Pause.

Pause.

Right

I know.

O.K.

Its not a happy day.

O.K. I love you too.

Silent.

Hi mom, yea I know.”

I felt kind of bad for her, she was just trying to connect with her Dad after all.
She then talked about her day and we then we got off the bus. I don’t think she, or anyone around her will be wishing their relative a Happy Veterans day again.

****YUPPY + HIPPY = YIPPIE

11.11.2009

2009-11-11T22:54:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday my dear sweet bunny girl. I love you beyond words and am so very glad to be in your life. You are funny and sweet and smart and so amazing. You are the sun we rotate around.

the obvious

2009-11-06T00:11:00.000-08:00

Image, TMS, handtohanddesign.com

We took A. to the surgeons office today for her consultation appointment and it was intense. The hospital, called Children’s Hospital was fancy and super beautiful but (Why did this surprise me? We were at a children’s hospital!) there were sick kids everywhere really ill little kids. In wheelchairs and hooked up to Ivs and laying limply in parents arms with too bright eyes and red cheeks.

When we first pulled up there was a little kid, clearly with cancer sitting in a wheelchair about to get in the car. I felt such shock. Because we don’t see these kids, nobody around here is aware of all these sick kids except the families and staff members. And I guess that is how it is always, that the sick and ill and injured are sequestered away to heal or die and its just so sad. I could not stand to see the sick babies. The parents looked so tired and tough, like just getting though this moment was all they could think about.

We were there for a simple surgery consultation which ended up with us all, the Dr, nurse, and us, deciding to wait until A. is five when she will understand what is happening and the danger of general Anastasia is much lower. The visit was fine, other then the minor fit throwing by the almost three year old---I believe we’ve entered a new phase, one that is making me flush with embarrassment as my child throws down fit in public----

We left quickly and disinfecting hands on the way out along with about ten other people crossing the walkway. It seems like such a futile thing to do, this rubbing a little squirt of sanitizer into our hands, its almost a nervous twitch, all these grown adults self comforting by rubbing their hands together, as though they are saying, its going to be ok, ok, ok and now my hands are clean and I am healthy once more.

It was a dumb time to go to the hospital because there were signs about disinfecting hands, lack of vaccinations, coughing into arms, all in all it was just about screaming, PANIC FLU PANIC and I wished dearly for a mask or better yet a full body HVAC suit to wear and stuff my kid into, maybe a family suit…

what do you think?

2009-11-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

We went to story time at the local library today and after a few books the librarian lead the packed room in song. She started off with twinkle twinkle little star and the segued into Baa Baa Black Sheep. I was taken aback instantly because the song, to me and apparently a lot of other people, is very racist. As most of the other parents were belting out the tune and the kids muttered and few lines I caught the eye of another mom, who happened to have a bi-racial child snuggled into her lap. She made a grimace at me which I returned, both of us acutely aware of the children in our laps and the message they were getting. Is this song still sung where you're kids play? Do you think its racist? I don't take offense to the term Black Sheep, its the line,
"One for the master, one for the dame" that kills me.

stuck

2009-10-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

I’ve been stuck and not able to write because my brain is going a million miles a minute but every time I try to write about this particular subject I end up kind of stuttering around with my words and not making much sense.

Basically what I want to say can be summed up in this sentence:

Women deserve to have Meaningful Work outside of parenthood.

I just finished reading two excellent books; Not Becoming My Mother: and Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way by Ruth Reichl's and A Season in Hell: A Memoir by Marilyn French.

Reichl’s says at one point in her book that somebody asked her why she works so hard on her career and her answer was, Because I can. Her work is important to her, it’s a career, a life’s focus and a body of work to reflect upon when she is no longer able to actively work.

These two books have me really thinking about women and the inherent right to work, to have meaningful work in our lives, about how in this day and age we as women have the privilege and ability to work outside the home if desired or needed. We have the right to create careers for ourselves, where our minds and hearts are fully engaged and activated. Work that makes our hearts sing and our brains zip around with passion. Work that is full of purpose and intent, that is deeply fulfilling and important to ourselves and others.

The past year and a half of being a new mama has been intense (!) and amazing, I would not change anything-however the shift to being a working women to being a stay at home mom has been difficult. I am totally grateful that we get this time together and have the privilege of being able to just be home with my girl, but part of my brain is freaking out! I have SO much I want to accomplish, there are so many things I want to do and I have in my mind this little dream of getting up in the morning, walking out the door and going to work at a job that I love, that allows me to use my creativity and education, one that values my time and worth and pays me a nice salary. I work from home now, with a small client base and fitting in design time between 9 pm-2 am. It’s a little crazy.

I think that women really are forced to chose between parenthood and career and that’s truly not fair or just and that divide between men and women has me mentally picketing, stomping around yelling, Feminism! Feminism! Equality! Equal division of labor! Meaningful work!

My women friends who DO have huge, full on careers that they love and have children also have-HELP, as in hired, full time nannies, housekeepers, landscapers, etc. Because to be a mom and have a career you have to have help, and apparently, most women have to pay for that help (unlike most men, who seem to have gotten the help via the wife). One of my friends, Janine Driver, has become pretty successful in the past few years at her job and its been amazing to see her transform and emerge as this total powerhouse of a women who is managing to be an amazing mom and business women at the same time. My closest friend, an amazing artist is showing at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art in Anchorage, Alaska this summer and I am so proud of her! Another friend of mine is going to school right now to become a Doctor, she is in her third year of medical school and knows that she won’t be having children for many years to come-and that is difficult for her to deal with, that sacrifice of mama hood for a career.

My daughter will go to school in two years and I am ready to launch my own career, I feel happily obligated to show her that women can and do work and have jobs that they love, that fulfill a very important part of their lives that women can be loving mamas and powerful businesswomen.

All in all-it’s a jumbled up mess of words and thoughts, but I want to say to all the mamas who are making it work GOOD JOB and to remind myself that we all have the right to having a family and meaningful work in our lives.

duct tape fail!

2009-10-20T00:45:00.000-07:00

I had this great idea the other night to revamp my tired bedspread by hand dying the fabric and creating a design. Well, the plan was to make a reverse stamp of sorts with duct tape and then place the fabric into a dye bath, than removing the tape to see a crisp white tree. What actually happened was the tape completely fell off in the water and the whole blanket is a pale, uneven orange color. boo. I guess I need to actually batik it correctly. I wish I had a big studio where I could make huge wax stamps like they do in Thailand, lots of cool fabric patterns and amazingly bright (and uh toxic)dyes to use.

Fall

2009-10-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well, its feeling truly like fall here now. Pouring rain for days on end, crisp weather and leaves falling everywhere.

The noise that I love.

2009-10-13T20:49:00.000-07:00

My kid is a talker, she wakes up talking and rarely takes a breath for silence until she falls asleep at 7:30 at night. She sings and chats, mutters and meows.

Her noise is the constant background to my days, her little comments pull me back into the moment time and time again. Often with a jolt like when I hear a little "uh oh" and sudden splash.

I've said here before that sometimes I get frustrated with the level of noise, the constant chatter, written about how I sometimes have felt desperate for a moment of silence. Well, let me say now-that noise will never be unappreciated again.

On Sunday and Monday this week A. became quiet. Very, very quiet. She tried to talk but stuttered horribly, almost choking on her words in a effort to get them out. Any talking she was doing was in gibberish and nonsensical. The first day I chalked it up to her being overtired and fighting a cold. The second day a cold hard shot of fear struck me with a shock. What if this was serious? Was she ok? Is this normal? Why won't she talk?!

I burst into tears when she was fighting so hard to say a single word-not very chill of me, nor helpful, but I was overwhelmed with worry. I think we can prepare for parenthood by getting the correct supplies and reading books, but nothing prepared me for the worry, the visceral weight of love and concern I would feel for my kid, seeing her struggle was far worse than struggling myself.

I talked to my sisters, my friends, family, read advice online (thank god for bloggers, what did we do before?!) and felt somewhat relieved. Apparently stuttering around the age of three is pretty normal, and the silence could be her just feeling frustrated and being quiet.

We had a rough night last night with very little sleeping for mama, papa or kiddo and today A. was tired, still quiet, but starting to talk again. She pointed out some "Pretty purple flowers" outside and talked about her doll and read a few books with me. She is slowly returning to normal chatty self. And I hope in the future when I am seeking silence that I remember how precious this noise is, the little high voice that has become my background cadence, the sound that says, everything is alright now.

Help the kids of Haiti:

2009-10-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

This is the creche where my daughter was taken care of for so many months-she was loved and nourished and came home tiny but healthy. After traveling to Haiti four times I can tell you that the need is real and anything we can do helps enormously. The cost is low, only around 30.00, to send out some peanut butter (protein so desperately needed) formula and shipping. Please click on this flier to get more information and help if you can!

change of heart

2009-10-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

City living:

2009-09-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

What I like most about living in Seattle is the ability to walk anywhere. If we move to the country this is what I will miss the most-going to the grocery store and coffee shops by walking down the block. . .notice the teddy bear? Poor Pooh bear, he is constantly hauled around on our trips and now is no longer bright yellow, but a dingy tan.

Do you like to party?

2009-09-25T01:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight we drove out to Snoqualmie pass which is around two hours away. Well. The car broke and died in the mountain pass. Died dead done! We called a few people for rides and C. s friend came out and rescued us, which means he drove TWO HOURS to pick us up and then drove us home, another two hours, So Nice! C and R talked the entire drive home. They talked more than my sisters and I talk. They covered: global warming, other planets, camping, cars, cabins, traveling, Alaska, New Zealand, vet surgeries and labs, animal pathology tests and procedures, music players, I tunes vs. Amazon, food, getting older, exercising, biking, feeling their age, 34 & 41 respectively (this was a weird moment for me, listening silently in the backseat, thinking, wait, uh, are we old people now?!) living in Seattle, , insulation, power inverters, power system transfers, wire gauge, more wiring stuff and powering solar systems, batteries, grid lines, uhhhhhhh and bunch more stuff I can’t even recall!

They talked and talked and talked.

Avery sang in a whisper to herself while holding my hand.

The song was:

“papa, the car is broken/
Papa, oh no!/
The car is broke/
Going home to Seattle/
This man is driving the car
Oh no/car is broke
Papa is a man/see the moon
See the moon/
Pooh is wearing a scarf/the car
Broke”

She sang a variation of that song about a million times over.

Tonight, after we were all settled back home, girly in bed, C. looked over at me and said, you know the little stuff we freak out over and fight, but the big stuff like getting stranded with a broken car and a kid we handled without fighting and stayed happy.

Mostly because we stayed busy with purpose-we cleaned out the car, organized all our stuff to take home, got the mile post from the D.O.T workers, removed broken parts, read stories and took A. for three mini walks/dances while we waited for hours and hours by the side of the road. It is amazing we did not all freak out in retrospect.

The car is sitting on the side of the road, empty and waiting for the towing company in the morning. Good bye little Toyota, you were cheap and lasted a year, thanks for the trips and hauling all that lumber.

BTW: You know that song by the wiggles, "Who likes to party-Dorthy's Party, who likes to party, Wow!" ? That song is stuck in my head!! Help! If you don't know it DO NOT LISTEN TO IT. You will be haunted forever.
WOW!