I’m starting a new blog series– Special Needs Sunday. I’ve partnered with several adoptive families to tell their stories and advocate for special needs adoption. Each week will feature a different child, family and special need(s) and we will cover medical needs, physical needs, and developmental disabilities. I’ve asked the families to write up their answers in either a Q&A format or a story-like format. The questions I’ve chosen are commonly asked questions when a family is considering adopting a child with special needs– what is day to day life like, what are the costs associated, etc.
There are two purposes of this blog series:
To help families share the reality of parenting a child with special needs.
To advocate and encourage families to be open to special needs when adopting.
Are you ready to learn? Any specific needs that you’d like to hear about?
Both kids had a great year. They both had exceptional teachers who just seem made for teaching their grade.
(I’ve had some requests for a tutorial on how to make a photo like this. It’s coming.)
All 3 kids on the first day and the last day. Can you tell how much harder I tried at the beginning of the school year?
Now, we were just trying to get out the door on time. Ha!
I’m thankful for teachers who made my kids want to go to school each day and inspired them to learn. I think it’s rare to find teachers who genuinely care so much and are so good at their job.
I said that we wouldn’t be hosting this summer. I should probably never speak with any certainty.
We were originally hosting with New Horizons for Children. All of our fundraising went directly to them. I have only the best things to say about them. I would highly recommend them.
But, when our host kiddo was no longer available, there were really no other children still available and listed with New Horizons who fit our criteria. We had decided to host pretty late in the game.
In my tight-knit adoption group, I mentioned how I wished we could host one of the children available with a different organization, but all of the money we had raised was with New Horizons.
“Why don’t you ask if they’ll transfer the money?”
Ohhhh.
So, I fired off the email, just to ask, even mentioning that I knew it was a “long shot”.
Meanwhile, I drafted another hesitant email to my contact person with Project One Forty Three, “can you tell me more about this girl ‘L’?”
I heard back about L first. I was led to two different people who had met her. In less than 24 hours, I learned more about her than I had known about any of my kids before I met them. Birthdate, region she’s from, her orphanage, what she likes to do, her approximate clothing size and more.
She sounded like a sweet girl and like she might fit in here.
It took several more emails, but New Horizons agreed to transfer the money!
We said, “YES!”
So, meet L.
Here she is making a Ukrainian soup for her winter hosting family.
We’re super excited. She’ll be with us for just over 10 weeks this summer!
So, because L had a grant AND we had already done quite a bit of fundraising, her actual hosting fees to the agency are covered.
However, she will be flying into JFK, which works out well with our summer plans to visit family, but it means that she’ll also be flying out of JFK at the end of her trip. So, we’re going to keep on selling more Moose Prints to pay for plane tickets for one of us to fly her back to JFK at the end of her stay.
Are you ready to help?
I’ve added many sets of notecards to the Moose Prints store. They’re all ready to ship as soon as they’re purchased. Selling those out will get us pretty far along with paying for that plane ticket. Purchasing prints will help, too and I have a few ready to ship prints as well.
I have 3 copies of “Pink!” in the 8×10.
Pink!
And I have 2 copies of the Blood Moon Timelapse in 8×12.
Blood Moon Timelapse.
I’m also happy to order what I don’t already have ready to ship. You can find the notecards and rest of the prints on the Moose Prints page.
And you can order by filling out the form and using the Paypal link here.
A few months ago, Lena came home from school and told me how good she was at gymnastics. The next week, she came home and told me the same. They had been trying gymnastics in gym class, and she really loved it. So, we asked her and Reed if they would be interested in taking it. To which, we got a resounding YES.
So, we signed them each up for a 7-week class. This was their last week. They had a parent’s observation day, so I got to go in and see what they’d learned.
Lena’s class was first.
Then, Reed’s.
He rocked this rope. Made it look easy. It’s really high!
So, my thoughts after one gymnastics class? I’m not sure we’ll be doing it again. Don’t get me wrong, the program is great, but I think gymnastics didn’t really meet their expectations. They both enjoyed it, but neither one of them was very disappointed that it was over. I think they were both expecting more open-play and less focus/working on skills. We’ll see if Reed or Lena expresses an interest in the future and then maybe we’ll reconsider. At the very least, they learned some new skills and got to try some new things!
I never used to be such a fan of black and white. I have a wonderful photographer friend, who would give me discs or folders of images, often with both black and white photos and color. I always preferred the color. I really didn’t understand the appeal of black and white. Why have just the grayscale with ALL the beautiful colors out there?
But, I’ve developed an appreciation for black and white photos. And, I’ve even started converting some photos TO black and white. I thought I’d share a few I’ve done recently and why I converted them, as well as a color edit of the same photo.
Reed
This is not the same photo I shared six ways last week, although it was taken just before that one. In the one I shared last week, he has more of a smirk on his face. Here, he has a more intense look. I think a black and white edit really draws out that intensity. It makes the image more piercing and more timeless. I love this photo of him because it says so much.
Here’s a quick color edit. It’s okay, but I think it lacks the intensity of the black and white.
Lena
Lena loves to blow dandelions. She was in the moment and I loved it. But, I wasn’t so crazy about what she was wearing. And, on top of that, doing something like blowing dandelions is such a timeless moment that it translates well to black and white.
Here’s the color photo. Do you see what i mean about the red sweater, navy bandana, pink hair tie and green background? It’s a lot of color for one image and I find it a bit distracting.
Gus
My reasoning here was pretty similar to the others. I love the intensity and contrast in his eyes. I love smiling photos of him, but someday, I will look back, see photos like this and remember the agony of being 3. Those big, big feelings that come along with all of the growing up. The color photo also had some bright colors, which were not working. The brightness of the colors really doesn’t go along with his emotion.
So, what do YOU think? Do you agree with me about the black and whites? Or do you prefer the color images? Either way, I’d love to know!
a moose in moscow 