"The Big Question"

I was asked the "big question" again at work today-will we adopt again? The answer to this is yes, but not now. Jay-R is full of energy and honestly, I like having my children spaced 6 years apart. Ashleigh helps Jay-R. Jay-R reminds us all of the innocence of younger children and cracks us up with the things that come out of his mouth. Because my kids are spaced out, we seldom have arguments because they have such different interests and abilities. The sibling fights are usually more like "quit messing with me." On the otherhand, they do annoy each other sometimes because their interests and abilities are so different but they really do get along well. Plus, from a parenting standpoint, it spaces out expenses-prom, driving, class rings, senior pictures....will all be 6 years apart. Kory and I have a heart for older child adoption so we are thinking in a few years, we will begin thinking about adopting again. So, the answer to the big question is yes, but later, God willing.

Tired but Inspired

I am tired. Very tired. I spent the weekend on a "me" weekend at the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference in Indy. I came home with a lot of information and ideas unique to my story. And, I came home tired. I feel inspired, though, to dig into my writing and write, write, write. I feel that my writing is my ministry. It is my God-given talent. I know I need to work hard to guard my free time, make no more committments, and work on my writing. It is a great stress reliever. And I am inpsired by the great potential material that might make it into a book someday by the words that come out of my children's mouths. Like this one...

I was told that Jay-R, my 6 year old first grader, came home from school on Friday with a girl's phone number in his pocket. And what's more...he had the number memorized!

Another one...J: "I know why you eat slow, Mommy."
Me: "Why is that?"
J: "Because you have acid reflux."
I didn't know he paid that close of attention to the things Kory and I talk about!

Kids that are so entertaining and inspiring even when you are exhausted!

He's Speaking Tagalog Again!

Our Filipino foreign exchange daughter Leigh Anne arrived on Wednesday. She is wonderful. So sweet...she fits into our family wonderfully. The awesome thing, too...Jay-R is speaking some Tagalog again. We discovered a few months ago that he still understands it, but he hasn't been able to speak it. He is now remembering words and using them. It is awesome to hear him and Leigh Anne converse together! We want him to remember his culture, and language is such a huge part of it. I am excited for what this school year holds!

Amazing....

It's an amazing, crazy life...

We just returned from an awesome 2 week vacation out West. We went to Yellowstone, the Badlands, and Mount Rushmore. We visited the Mall of America and the Minnesota Zoo. We spent time with some family. We met some wonderful bloggy friends in person....Julie and Rachel. And, Jay-R was reunited with a friend from White Cross Orphanage. We enjoyed spending time with his family, too. It was so fun watching the boys interact and play and sharing our experiences. It was a wonderful vacation.

Now, it's back to reality....we have our house on the market because we want a larger house so we can adopt again. We are looking forward to our exchange student arriving in August. Soccer season will be starting next week. Yep, it's an amazing, crazy life.

I'll post a few pictures of vacation tonight and promise to post more later. We saw such beautiful country. Jay-R kept saying, "Mommy, look at the beautiful world." I agree!

Identity Issues

We are still alive...just have a lot going on right now.

I wanted to share something Jay-R has been saying and wondering if anyone else out there has had to answer any questions like this....

The other night, we had an exchange student from the Philippines visit us. We have met her before, she leaves soon to return home to the Philippines, and she wanted to tell us good-bye. During her visit, she spoke to Jay-R in Tagalog to which he was able to appropriately answer her in English. He still has the ability to understand Tagalog but he has lost the ability to verbally communicate in Tagalog.
Okay, the next day, he tells me, "I don't want to be brown."
I say, "Why not?"
He says, "I don't want to be Filipino. I want to be white."
To which, I explain to him that God made people many different colors because He loves all his people and loves that people are different. And I told him that I am his Mommy because we wanted a Filipino little boy, and he is the perfect one.

In his 6 year old mind, he processes this all his own way. Later, his sister heard him tell his cousin after getting their arms stamped at Cedar Point Amusement Park, "I can see my stamp because I'm brown, but you can't see yours because you're white." And last night, we spent some time with friends who have adopted an African American little girl. We talked again about how God made us all different, and how O doesn't look like her Mommy or Daddy either, and that's okay.

Jay-R also made a statement to me that he couldn't speak Tagalog anymore. I told Kory, maybe he is in a way having a 6 year old identity crisis. Maybe he doesn't feel like he fits as a Filipino because he can't speak the language but yet he knows he is different from us because he isn't white. When these questions or statements arise, we reassure him that we love him just as he is and that God made him perfect as he is. I love my little boy and can't imagine him any different. I knew we would deal with questions/statements likes this, and I know there will be more to come. I always pray that God will guide my words.

We are excited about hosting a Filipino exchange student for the upcoming school year. She will arrive in August. We are committed to keeping Jay-R connected to his culture, and I guess with the recent conversation, now is the perfect time for us to welcome a student into our home. We are hoping he might be able to pick up the language again, and that I might learn some basic Tagalog to use when we adopt again. We want Jay-R to understand it's okay to be both Filipino and American. I think it is best to deal with these things now, everyday as they come up, so when it is time for him to spread his wings and leave the safety of his home, he is grounded in who he is.

Anyone have any thoughts or similar experiences or conversations?

Brown People

We are getting ready to go to a Filipino heritage camp for families who have adopted children from the Philippines.

Here's last year's post for an explanation of Camp Mabuhay: http://ktallisonfamily.blogspot.com/2009/06/camp-mabuhay.html

Jay-R remembers our experiences from last summer. On the way to his ball game last night, Jay-R says, "Are there gonna be lots of brown people there?"

We chuckled to ourselves and then continued the conversation to explain to him that brown people like himself are called Filipinos. Silly boy!

The things they say!

Photo Update...Finally

First time tubing. He loved it even though they fell off the tube the first time!

Beach Day at school. He looks like quite the little tourist!

The kids decided to dress up the dog for beach day, too!

Rock on! Jay-R saved up his allowance money and bought this drum set. Thanks to our friend Aaron from band, Jay-R also now has a snare drum, too. He loves to play his drums...loud!

A spring pose of the kids