Random Ramblings and What We're Learning

First off, your dose of random ramblings:

Hashtags

I think everyone has the friend or two guilty of excessive use of hashtags. You know the ones. They're making dessert and their post reads like this:

Making cookies! #chocolate#chip#oven#350#for#10#minutes#memories#batter#spatula#milk#yummy#pauladeeneatyourheartout#nestle#bettycrocker#burnedmyfinger#ouch#coldwater#stillhurts#bandaid

Seems like a bit much to me. I don't use twitter but now that it's everywhere, I can't help but think in hashtags. I don't even know exactly how they work but I'll be at Walmart and think things like #crowded#nolanesopen#friedchicken#noPublix#inpajamas#peopleofwalmart#lowprices#thisscooterhasscabies

Things like that. Not sure what it means but it's probably nothing good.

Car Decals

We live in a southern town that is rife with y'alls and hunting. These decals are all over:



I swear I thought it was a person on fire that was dancing. Imagine the snout (or muzzle?) as the person's right arm bent at the waist, hips jutted out in a saucy manner, hair aflame. I can only assume that he or she is listening to Gloria Estefan or something. (If you, like me, only saw the people on fire...this is a deer head)

Then I saw this decal and thought "Aw, two people dancing together, heads aflame."




My Girl

This is my 6 year old, reading the Children's Illustrated version of Oliver Twist. She reads and reads and reads. She is my girl indeed. I asked her what the story was about, just to make sure she was understanding it. She told me a sad tale of a boy whose mother died and he lives with people who are mean to him. He has only two people who are nice to him and Oliver is concerned that if something happens to those people, he will be stuck with the mean ones. I told her to carry on.

What We Are Learning

Adoption is hard. Really, really hard. But that's a whole different post. It's extra tricky when you homeschool. There is no break during the day when the older ones skip off to school (we have segregated the kids in olders and littles, thus pitting them against each other for life). Our last year of homeschool has basically gone to seed. Lots of movies, lots of "Please be quiet! I'm on the phone with Department of State!" type days. Now that we're back I'm dealing with dueling toddlers and a sweet little girl who frets when I'm out of sight, afraid that I have left her as all the other adults before me have. We're supposed to be learning about the Middle Ages but all we've done recently is watch "A Knight's Tale." I'm checking it off anyway, even if it means that when the kids play knights, they chant "We will, we will, rock you!" It's nothing if not authentic.

There are so many evenings when I think "A whole day has gone by and we haven't learned anything." But I have to hold on tight to God and trust him that they will be ok. And as I watch my kids throughout the day, I realize they are learning. Nothing that will be on a test - but nothing that truly matters usually is.

Talitha is learning that she can trust us. That we are family and we are permanent and it's ok to be sad or stressed because we will be here to hold her. She is learning that we will be there every morning when she wakes up. She is learning that a mama kisses and rocks and reads silly books and gets her bottles of milk because that's what a mama does. Always. At this point she still eats and eats and eats like every meal could be the last. She is learning, one day at a time, that she will not go hungry here. Through the years she may grieve for her past and I will there, holding her tight and kissing her cheek while she cries. Everyday her trustbank grows a little bit more until one day it will be full and she will know she is forever safe.

Jack and Kate are learning that there are things in life that are worth fighting for, worth sacrificing for (and yes, I know you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition. But that's not important right now). They are learning that money is just money after all and that a child's life is more important than the slew of nice things we could buy instead. Sometimes Jack will tell me that he wants to provide heart surgeries for free for kids like his sister. And then when Noah gets upset with Talitha over a toy, Kate will quickly tell him "No, no, sweetie, we are nice to babies. We love babies." And I know that they are learning after all.