Water park

Last weekend we went to the Big Splash indoor water park in French Lick, IN. (thank you Groupon) We met our friends the Parkers there and we all had a great time. Daniel had such fun swimming, enjoying their basketball hoops, Karlen family Wipeout on their obstacle course, the lazy river and shooting down those BIG slides!!! On the weekend before Thanksgiving when I should have been home cleaning house and preparing to have 21 people over for the big day, we were off splish splashing around. It was a nice get away....

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another new belt

Daniel is now a blue belt. It's impressive. We are so proud of all he has learned and his accomplishments!!

This is before the test - he is showing off his blue 'character stripes'. He works hard each week to add to this row of stripes...

Howdy Partner!

The rodeo came to town last week, so Daniel and I had to go check it out. The redneck in me has been trying to convince Jason to go to see PBR for a long time now (that's the Professional Bull Riders, for you Yanks out there) so this was my big chance. The rodeo was fun because they had not just bull riding, but steer wrestling, roping, bare back riding, rodeo clowns and cowboys galore. But I was with the cutest cowboy there!

Daniel spent most of his time there doing this:

We love that caramel corn!! I have to tell you about a conversation we had the other night when I was putting Daniel to bed. We were talking about all of his mosquito bites and he said, 'Mom, I think the mosquitos bite me because I look Chinese.' What? That doesn't make any sense?? then he said, 'Mom, somtimes when I come into a room with lots of big kids, I hear them say - that kid looks Chinese.' Hmmmm...I am totally unprepared for this (what else is new!).

'Well, you could tell them that you weren't born in China but you were born in Ukraine. I bet they never met anyone born in Ukraine - it's pretty special you know. Then you could ask them where they were born.'

'Yeah,' he says, 'but they might say something mean to me.' (very true - why are kids like that?)

'You could try it once and see what happens.' I tell him. 'How does it make you feel when they say that?'

'It make me feel bad. I just wish you could change your face mom. I really do.' (whoa - my heart cracked a little when he said this)

'There is nothing wrong with the way you look. You are perfect. But I know exactly how you feel' I told him. 'When I was little, the kids made fun of me for having all these freckles. They would call me 'polka dot' and I hated it. I wished I could change my face too. But my face is exactly how God made it, so that means it's just right for me. And your face is just right for you.'

I was totally not ready to deal with this. I look at him and don't even see it any more. He's just my sweet, perfect little miracle. I hate to think that the kids are saying things and making him feel bad but if it wasn't this, it would just be something else, right? He is a mixed race child and it's my job to help him navigate this predominantly white world and still be secure with who he is. To us, it doesn't matter in the least what he looks like but I know kids pounce on anything different. [and there are other internationally adopted kids at his school - not dominant, but they are there]

That's part of the reason I love having him in karate. It's a great atmosphere, they promote a positive attitude and character building AND it's a chance for him to be around people that look like him and see that they are leaders.

With today's melting pot of our culture I really didn't think this would be an issue. How naive is that! Any suggestions??

Shopping

Any guesses as to where I do a lot of my shopping?

Goodbye Mickey

One of my favorite cousins passed away today. Goodbye Mickey! We love you and you will be missed!!

(this picture is from 2009, it's the only one I have of Daniel and Mickey. He has grown so much!)