Japan memories

As a junior in high school, I had the amazing opportunity to spend a school year in Japan. It was a wonderful experience and I brought back a lot of memories.

This trimester, AV's class has been studying Japan. I volunteered to share my experiences so last week I was the guest speaker in AV's class.

I had great fun pulling out all my Japan memorabilia. I shared a couple games with them, let them look at my photo album, play with real chopsticks, etc. At the end, I dressed AV up in my yukata (summer weight kimono). The funny thing is the Japanese ladies made it extra long and big to fit my western frame. So putting on an extra sized adult kimono on a small child was fun!

Here's a picture of AV all dressed up...

Holiday Mutterings

Happy Memorial Day to you!

And to all the familes of the service men and women who lost their lives, sincere condolences on this day of memories. And to all those still serving, my sincere thanks.

The latest behavior focus in our household has been obedience - doing what you've been told, when you were told, even if you don't want to!

This is apparently a new concept for my sweet child who would rather argue a thing to death than simply do as she has been told.

So she had her skateboard and was playing with the neighborhood children at my parents house. She had her helmet on and they were on the sidewalks and trying to jump the curb - no problem. So I go out and tell her to gather her stuff; it's time to go. 10 minutes later, no daughter. I go outside and call, no daughter.

I'm looking around and out of the corner of my eye I see movement. I whip my head around in time to see my daughter skateboarding down a steep driveway, into the street, without a helmet after I've told her to come in!

I was so scared and furious in that moment. I don't think she had any idea how fast she was going or how long it would take a car to see and try to avoid hitting her. Later, in my fear and rage I told her "you could have been killed!". She only tried to argue and wanted to know how she could have been killed. Anything to deflect attention off her choices and actions.

So as a consequence, sweet child is in room restriction for two days. No TV, no outside play, no going in the just-opened-this-weekend swimming pool. Her comment when I said no swimming? "You didn't say no swimming just for doing that!" So, she deliberately chose to disobey. Argh!

Too Soon!

So this morning AV and I are sharing the bathroom counter as we do every morning when she decides to "draw" a line down the middle. Teasing her, I step over the "line" into her "space" and she bursts into real, sobbing tears.

She's crying on a Monday morning, in the bathroom because she has no room to do her hair.

I have one word for you people...

HORMONES!

(and may I remind you this is my 9 year old, third grade daughter!)

New favorite quote

Have you seen Akeelah and the Bee? A great movie for kids and adults too! I loved cheering for Akeelah.

Anyway, Akeelah has a spelling bee coach (played by Laurence Fishburne) who has her read a quote from the wall. The movie incorrectly attributes it to Nelson Mandela. It was actually first said by Marianne Williamson. It's now my new favorite quote.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness,

that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves,

who am I to be brilliant,

gorgeous, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.

There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking

so that other people won’t feel

insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest

the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone!

And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously

give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,

our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

And just in case you were wondering, this is my old favorite quote:

MIND WITHOUT FEAR

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up

into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason

has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action---

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore - GITANJALI "Song Offerings"

Just another rambling recap

Mother's Day was horrible. I wasn't really expecting much. You can't really expect much from a child who's had four homes and is terribly confused as to what a mother really is.

What I didn't expect was the amount of attitude and disobedience the day would bring. Guess I should have anticipated that since the last foster mother promised she would return from Afghanistan and come get AV on Mother's Day. Grrrr.

Anyway, day is done and today was much better.

AV's social worker came over and we all discussed adoption vs. guardianship. AV is very confused but is not opposed to adoption and has actually said several times she would like to be adopted. So we're postponing the guardianship at least three months and AV is going to go back to the counselor she really likes and trusts for several months of counseling focused on adoption. So we'll see.

In other news, I actually asked my boss to go full time. We've been having some issues with one person doing payroll, one person doing time keeping and one person (me!) doing HR. Needless to say, we've had some communication with a capital K issues. So I proposed I take all things payroll and timekeeping and move into a full-time (with benefits!) position.

My boss is actually open to the idea. The issue is timing. I want this to start May 28, the first day of the next pay period. My boss wants to wait until Sept, the start of the new fiscal year. Waiting would not be good for me. My business has really dropped of and I rely on that income. I really want these additional hours to make up for the lost income. So pray for me!