Congratulations Fluffy!

My cousin Michael just graduated...off to UW-RF in the fall! Just so happens his 27-year-old cousin Casey is also off to UW-RF this fall for a second undergrad degree this time in Music Ed.

It's official...finalization day!!

Bob Rock

Across the street live the neighbors we call "the Grandparents" because they have over 20 grandchildren and do daycare for many of them. Anyway, we often see one of their grown sons stop by. We call him Bob Rock. He looks like Kid Rock with long stringy hair and is really skinny. I'm not sure what his deal is but he drives over every morning in his maroon van to take a shower at their house and then he gets dressed in the street. Every day he stands next to his van and puts on his T-shirt and Old Spice Red Zone deordorant while I watch. The sad thing is I kinda look forward to seeing Bob Rock prevent body odor. That's community.

EDIT: Don't get the wrong idea people, this guy is gross. I thought the Kid Rock reference would imply that!

Bad feet

Interesting Article: How We're Wrecking Our Feet includes some observations about my shoe of choice...

"Similarly, you may have heard of a shoe called MBT, or Masai Barefoot Technology, which was developed in the early nineties by a Swiss engineer after studying the barefoot walk of the Masai people. MBTs have gained a cult following because wearing the shoes forces you to work—and presumably tone—your leg muscles. I can attest that this part is true. After wearing MBTs for a short walk, you feel it in the backs of your legs. What you can’t feel—at all—is the ground. In an obvious irony, these “barefoot” shoes look like orthopedic shoes for Frankenstein. You stand on a rocker-shaped sole that’s designed to be soft and unstable. This improves your forward step but makes it nearly impossible to move laterally, i.e., slalom through slow-moving tourists in Soho. And a ride in MBTs on the herky-jerky D train feels like someone’s throwing an ankle-spraining party and you’re the guest of honor."

Happy Wednesday!

Adoption Panel

It's kinda like a solar panel but fueled by hot air.

On Thursday Jake & I, along with baby Nori, are going to sit on a panel at Lutheran Social Services' Adoptive Parent Training for waiting couples to speak about our experiences. We can thrill with them with the story of going to the Women's Correctional Facility to meet a recovering crack addict (we didn't even have to go through a metal detector!) or prepare them to get their "hearts ripped out" (quote by Andy Ho) if a match fails.

Really, we have only positive things to say and even during the the not-so-fun times we knew it would all work out...we were holding out for our girl! At our training last June I remember there were a lot of questions about openness and what a relationship with a birth family is really like. I got really sick of hearing "it depends" or "every situation is different". I wanted an example! I will bring a copy of the newspaper article and some photos from the hospital. Currently, there is a lot of upheaval in the adoption world as several big international programs just closed thus driving up the demand and wait times for domestic adoption.

I am grateful for our experience and enjoy sharing how joyful adoption can be with others, many of whom have experienced extreme sadness on their quest to become parents. Hopefully they can see that adopting is NOT second rate but a wonderful, amazing way to create a family that allows you to wear a bikini instantly afterwards. (In case you don't know, that is the real reason we adopted, Jake did not want me to gain any weight).

Welcome Josiah!