Ava's New Book

I made a book for Ava about Moses coming to our family. I wanted her to start to get a general idea about how this all came about. I wrote a little story and put pictues with it. I finally got it finished last night and we read it for family night. When we read the part about Moses' birthmom she said, "A birthday cake?!" It may be a while before it all makes sense.... I plan on making a storybook for Moses too that has more details about his other mama, but that can wait a little while.

Here is the story and a couple pictures I included:

Ava and Moses

Once upon a time there was a pretty little girl named Ava. She had a beautiful smile and bright, shining eyes. She made everyone happy with her funny laugh. Everyone loved Ava.

One day Ava found out she was going to get a baby brother. Her mommy and daddy wanted Ava to have a brother to play with and they knew they would love a little boy.

A mommy who lived far away heard about Ava and her mommy and daddy. She thought Ava was so pretty and looked liked a good big sister. She wanted her baby boy to come to Ava’s family and be her baby brother. She knew that Ava and her mommy and daddy would love her baby boy.

She came to where Ava and her mommy and daddy lived. She went to the hospital and Ava’s mom and dad went too. It was a wonderful day. Do you know why??? Because that is the day Moses was born! Moses was a perfect baby boy. He had curly black hair and big, dark eyes.

Everyone was so happy when he was born. Everyone loved Moses.

Ava came to the hospital to see her new baby brother. She thought he was really cute. Moses started making squeaking noises and Ava called him a “monster”. When it was time to go home, Mommy and Daddy said goodbye to Mosey’s birthmom. They said thank you for giving us Moses. She was happy Moses had a family that loves him. Then Mommy and Daddy took Ava and Moses home. Everyone was happy that the pretty little girl, Ava, now had a perfect little brother, Moses.

Life After Exhaustion

The last three nights Moses has slept from 8:30pm til 6am. To celebrate we cleaned the house, went to the zoo, and today, shopping. Life is liveable again, I can come out of survival mode. Oh, the thrills in the life of a mama.

Love You Pops

My dad had a heart attack yesterday. Quite the scare. He had an angioplast and a stint put in and he is 'fixed' for now I guess. Still, you are never ready for a call like that. It makes you contemplate on a lot of things--how fragile life is, everything that would be different without this person, your own health and habits, etc. I kept thinking, "I'm not old enough, I still need my dad." But when will I ever not need my dad? He's a good one, the best really.

He should be getting out of the hospital soon. He is being his old stubborn self and just wants outta there. Glad he didn't go anywhere, after all, he told me he is going to die when he's 95, on his motorcycle, doing a wheelie across the train tracks. I'll hold you to it, Dad.

My Funny Ava

A few funny stories:

We have church at 3 pm and sacrament is last. Yes, it is brutal. So last Fast Sunday we are halfway through testimony meeting and a man is finishing up. Right when he says, "Amen" Ava shouts out, "Amen! Enough, Mama. Enough!" I couldn't agree more.

So Halloween has arrived in the stores. The kids and I were passing the monster aisle in WalMart and we see a demonic figure in a black hooded cape. Ava says loudly (like she says everything), "Look, Mama, it's Jesus!" Uhhh, sometimes words escape me.

Ava has a secret stash of pens somewhere. I always keep the pens out of her reach, but she always manages to find one. The other day I found a lovely picture drawn on my couch. I called her in, pointed to it, and asked her if she drew on the couch. She replied, "I draw on the wall

too!" And she wasn't lying.

Heaven help me with this child.

Good Mojo

The title of this post is a tribute to my favorite cousin Emma. For those of you who don't know, Mosey's name is Moses Jordan--MoJo. We took a little while after he was born to decide on a middle name. Jordan is actually the name his birthmom picked out. Emma was very helpful in the process. She came up with gems like Moses Theodore--MoTed and Moses Matthew--MoMatt. I can't remember them all, but there were quite a few. Emma, feel free to post the others, they were quite funny.


Anyway, on a more serious note, recently my mom has told me about a couple incidents of extended family members having negative reactions to Moses being in the family. Now these are family members that I am not particularly close to, and I will grant that they are older and I realize it was different "back in the day", although racism was, and is, never okay. He is my son and while I don't let it bother me too much I do have a gut reaction when I hear these things. The ignorance of racism is not my fault, and cetainly not Mosey's fault. I didn't go into this unprepared. I've known I would adopt since I was 15. I've read many a book and study on transracial adoption. I was fully aware that the moment we adopted a black child we would become an interracial family and open up even our white daughter to racism. And in a way that is good. I think it will be good for Ava to know what racism is like and why it is so despicable and ridiculous. The very thing that makes certain people think my son is beneath them is the thing that made me want him. So I'm not surprised and I'm not hurt. I don't have anything to say about racism that has not been said before. Racism is an expression of ignorance and fear. Racism can only result from a lack of understanding of God and an unwillingness to step outside your comfort zone. Racism is a tragedy that has plagued us from pretty much the beginning, and probably will until the end. I will be a fighter when it comes to racism, but not a warrior. I will fight some battles for my son, then let him fight his own. His road won't be easy, and I wouldn't want it to be. How can he change the world if he never learns to rise above the nonsense?