Out of the Mouths: “Suck Your Own Thumb”

Zoe has always been a thumb sucker. Luckily her teeth haven’t been affected yet, but it’s definitely a habit we would like to break.

The other day my mom saw Zoe sucking her thumb and said, “Let me see that thumb. Does it taste good?” and she put Zoe’s thumb in her own mouth.

Zoe got mad, yanked her thumb back, and said, “No Grandma! Suck your own thumb!”

Out of the Mouths: “That Freakin’ Monitor”

We have a baby monitor problem in our house. We have a double monitor that we use in Noah and Zoe’s rooms, and then another monitor for Colin’s room. They interfere with each other ALL THE TIME and it’s really annoying.

Apparently Christian and I have been very vocal about how annoying it is, because the other day Noah said, “Ugh. Why is that freakin’ monitor beeping again!?”

Oops. It could’ve been much worse I guess, but maybe we should watch it.

Haiti – Part Two: I’d Like to Punch Those Idaho Idiots

…but first I would like to punch the woman who came into my office this week and said, “How many of those little Haitian babies do you want? My god, they are beautiful. Every one of them. I just can’t get over it. And they look so clean.”

Idiot. Seriously, I wanted to punch her in the face. I told my friend Chris, who responded, “As if the world is our own little cabbage patch…”

Now on to the Idaho idiots I want to punch: If you haven’t seen it on the news, ten Idaho Baptists went to Haiti, gathered up 33 children, and tried to take them across the border into the Dominican Republic without any paperwork. They have since been charged with child kidnapping and criminal conspiracy.

When I read the news as it broke on January 31st, I thought their motives were at the very least paternalistic and misguided. First, now is not the time to speed up adoptions from Haiti. Second, I don’t agree with their mission to convert those poor little voodoo babies (please note dripping sarcasm). Their website (since taken down) said “NLCR [New Life Children's Refuge] is praying and seeking people who have a heart for God and a desire to share God’s love with these precious children, helping them heal and find new life in Christ.”

Then I read more. Their “Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission” was really meant to recruit children for international adoption. They had learned that there is a 60-90 day required residency period in the DR for adoptive parents, so they came up with a solution. Their website outlined their plans to build an orphanage in the DR, along with a seaside resort and restaurant that catered to American adoptive parents:

Future Buildings and Plans for NLCR in Magante

• Nueva Vida Refugio de Ninos: Provide a loving Christian home‐like environment for up to 200 children, both boys and girls, initially focused on ages 0 ‐ 10 years old, later expanding to include teens up to age 16.
• Nueva Vida Escuela Cristiana: Provide a solid education for children in the refuge as well as in the local community if have sufficient space/resources. Plan to begin with PreSchool/ Kindergarten up to 6th grade, teaching English/Spanish, Reading, Math, Science, History, Geography, Health, Music/Art, as well as Christian values/truths. Plan to add higher grades and courses on vocational skills when needed.
• Nueva Vida en Christo Capilla: On site Chapel for the children from the refuge and the community
• Sick Bay/Medical care: for incoming children that are in need minor medical care
• Greenhouse/Livestock: Provide for nutritional needs of the children by growing fruits and vegetables and raising cows/chickens for milk and eggs
• Seaside Villas at Playa Magante*: Villas for adopting parents to stay while fulfilling requirement for 60‐90 day visit as well as Christian volunteers/vacationing families…
• Seaside Café at Playa Magante*: small beachfront restaurant serving the community and adopting parents

I read even more. I learned that most of the children they were spiriting away to the DR were not even orphans. Though the group’s leader told officials the children were from a collapsed orphanage, it turns out they scoured a hillside village with a flyer of their new paradise resort, complete with color photos of the swimming pool, convincing parents to give up their children. 

I read more. I said to some friends early on that I thought it pretty unrealistic for the Idaho Ten to be ignorant of Haitian laws since they had researched the laws of the Dominican Republic, and knew about that pesky 60-90 day waiting period. A day or so later, my thoughts were confirmed. I learned that they knew their actions were illegal. The Wall Street Journal reported:

New light was shed on the early activities of the missionaries by Anne-christine d’Adesky, a writer and human-rights activist from a prominent Haitian family who is a U.S. citizen. She emailed several U.N. authorities and said she met Laura Silsby, the leader of the American group, on Jan. 24 in a hotel in the Dominican Republic.

Ms. Silsby said her authorization to collect Haitian orphans and bring them to the Dominican Republic was from an unnamed Dominican official, according to Ms. d’Adesky’s email. “I informed her that this would be regarded as illegal even with some ‘Dominican’ minister authorizing, since the children are Haitian,” Ms. d’Adesky wrote, adding that she directed Ms. Silsby to U.N. agencies helping the Haitian government handle orphans and adoptions. In a telephone interview, Ms. d’Adesky said she recalled Ms. Silsby’s response: “We have been sent by the Lord to rescue these children, and if it’s in the Lord’s plan we will be successful.”

Ms. d’Adesky also told the U.N. officials that Ms. Silsby had planned to bring children back to the Dominican Republic on Jan. 25, four days before the group was arrested. She therefore urged the U.N. officials to “check on the orphanage” in the Dominican Republic because children might have been brought there before the group was arrested.

The next day the Wall Street Journal reported further evidence that The Ten knew their actions were illegal:

Carlos Castillo, the Dominican Republic’s consul general in Port-au-Prince, said in an interview that he met with the group’s leader, Laura Silsby, on Friday at the consulate in the Haitian capital and told her she lacked the documents to transport children.

She told Mr. Castillo she had applied to Dominican authorities for a permit to cross the border, he said. But Mr. Castillo checked and found no such application. “I told her I could authenticate Haitian documents but she had no Haitian documents of any sort,” said Mr. Castillo. “She told me she would try to reach the border in order to cross. I told her not to do that without the necessary documents because she could be accused of trafficking children.”

Mr. Castillo said that at the border Ms. Silsby showed Haitian authorities his business card and said he had authorized her to cross. Border authorities called him and he denied it.

Steve Hersey, director of the Quisqueya Christian School in Port-au-Prince, said by email that he told Ms. Silsby’s group that their plan was “unconscionable” when they approached the school looking for help. He added, “It was clear they had little understanding of Haiti law and customs.”

I read more, and became further disgusted, when I learned that the group’s leader has had financial and legal troubles. The Idaho Statesman reported:

But even before Laura L. Silsby and seven other Idahoans ended up in a Haitian jail accused of trafficking in children, Silsby had a history of failing to pay debts, failing to pay her employees and failing even to follow Idaho laws.

Silsby has been the subject of eight civil lawsuits and 14 unpaid wage claims. The $358,000 Meridian house at which she founded her nonprofit New Life Children’s Refuge in November was foreclosed upon in December. A check of Silsby’s driving record revealed at least nine traffic citations since 1997, including four for failing to provide insurance or register annually.

Kind of makes it seem like she had reason to want to start a new “business” huh?

To be fair, I think nine of The Ten probably were clueless do-gooders in all of this. That’s even what the lawyer for all of the defendants, including Silsby, is saying. CBS news reports:

…the lawyer for all the defendants is putting the blame on the group’s leader.

Attorney Edwin Coq said Laura Silsby knew the group couldn’t remove the youngsters without proper paperwork, while he characterized the other nine missionaries as unknowingly being caught up in actions they didn’t understand.

“I’m going to do everything I can to get the nine out. They were naive. They had no idea what was going on and they did not know that they needed official papers to cross the border. But Silsby did,” Coq said Thursday after a magistrate charged the 10 at a closed hearing.

Honestly, I’m pleasantly surprised that the Haitian government filed charges. I really thought they would bow to pressure from the US to release The Ten. I think charges against those nine will eventually be dropped, but I hope they stick it to Laura Silsby. I hope she is punished, and I hope it sends an example to other child traffickers.

 (UPDATED: See Robin’s blog and comment below. Maybe Laura Silsby is not the only one to blame!)

 

** On this same topic, I found a really interesting blog. See parts one and two of “Kidnapping (Even For Christ) Is A Crime.” **

Haiti – Part One: If There Was an Earthquake in Indiana

If there was an earthquake in Indiana and Christian and I were killed, I would want my government to make EVERY effort to locate my parents, Christian’s parents, my cousin, Christian’s brother, our aunts and uncles, and our friends to see if any of them could care for Noah, Zoe, and Colin. I would want Noah, Zoe, and Colin to remain here, with family, if it was at all possible. I would want my government to explore every available avenue before even CONSIDERING allowing someone in another country, or even another state for that matter, to adopt my children.

That is why I believe now is not the time to start new adoptions from Haiti. This belief is echoed by UNICEF, PEAR, Ethica, and many other concerned organizations.  I understand that many people have been moved by the images from Haiti, and that they have the desire to help, but “babylifting” children out of Haiti is NOT the way to do that. It will take time to determine if children who appear to be orphaned really have living parents or extended family. Those who want to help now should donate to a reputable organization to make sure that the Haitian people have food, water, medicine, and shelter.

From an editorial in the Boston Globe:

Every effort should be made to pair verifiable Haitian orphans with caring adoptive parents quickly. But that should not come at the cost of following international norms and the Haitian government’s requirements surrounding adoption. This includes proper documentation of parents’ or surviving relatives’ relinquishing their rights to a child, as well as screening and authorization of the groups who want to take children out of the country. These safeguards help ensure a child is indeed an orphan, as opposed to kidnapped or separated from their parents temporarily…

International adoption can seem needlessly cumbersome. Yet even when the rule of law has eroded in a country, it is crucial to adhere to the rules that protect children from being sold away from their homes and into illegal labor or sexual exploitation. They also prevent mismanaged adoptions that leave birth parents without any say in their children’s fate. Parents who have been separated from their children in the recent earthquake need the opportunity to find their sons and daughters. Missionaries and adoption agencies alike must respect that right even as they seek to help.

Here’s to nothing in 2010!

I realize we’re already into the third week of the year, so a post about the “new” year isn’t exactly timely at this point, but oh well.

Our goal for 2010 is…. (drum roll please)…. NOTHING. Seriously. I hope that nothing major happens in 2010. We are due for a calm year. Christian and I have gone through some major life-event together every year of the last decade.

Let me re-cap:

• 2001  – Christian and I started dating. He moved two hours away shortly afterward, and we continued in a long-distance relationship. I knew he was moving away when we started dating, so I figured we would just go out a couple of times, and that would be that. Little did I know that he would only be gone for 50 weeks, and that one of us would make the two-hour drive 48 of those 50 weekends.
• 2002 – Christian moved back, and we moved in together. Neither one of us had ever lived with a significant other, so it was a bit of an adjustment. He proposed a few months later, and we started planning our wedding.
• 2003 – We had our dream wedding, complete with 300 guests. Later that year we bought our first house and I started working on my Master’s. I also started a new job.
• 2004 – We tried, unsuccessfully, to get pregnant, and learned that we had fertility “issues.” We started fertility treatments and battled with our insurance company to get them to cover some of it.
• 2005 – We continued fertility treatments and got pregnant, but miscarried. Two months later we finally got pregnant with Noah. I finished my Master’s and Christian went back to school.
• 2006 – We had Noah! Several months later we began the paperwork to adopt from Vietnam.
• 2007 – We adopted Zoe! Later we started the paperwork to adopt from Vietnam again.
• 2008 – We learned that we would not be able to adopt from Vietnam again, and started the paperwork for domestic adoption. Though we expected to wait 12-18 months, we brought Colin home just seven short weeks later! Also, Christian started a new job and graduated with his Bachelor’s.
• 2009 – We sold and bought a house (very quickly).

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining or anything. These were (mostly) wonderful things that happened to us, and we are blessed to be where we are now. It’s just time we had a NORMAL year.

So SERIOUSLY. Here’s to nothing in 2010! Please!

Favorite Photo Friday – Christian in Kindergarten

FROM CHRISTIAN:

I thought that we have abused ourselves and our family enough on the Favorite Photo Fridays, so I thought this week I would drag a few friends along for the ride. Yes, you can still make fun of me though, as I am in the picture, too. See if you can pick me out. Anyway, this week is inspired by some of the nostalgia I feel when Noah and Zoe talk about playing with their friends at school, and the fact that I have been freaking out thinking about how soon Noah will be in kindergarten himself. I actually have a ton of unusually vivid memories from my younger years, so I’d like to share some stories and hopefully embarrass a few old friends who may or may not read the blog.

If you didn’t already know, Tracy and I were in the same grade throughout our school careers, but went to different elementary and middle schools. However, if I continued on in public school for high school, we would have been in the same school and class so we would have conceivably known each other. Since a bunch of people I went to elementary and middle school with went on to go to the same high school as Tracy, we have quite a few mutual acquaintances. (Our friend Stacey is one, but too bad she didn’t go to kindergarten with me or we could pick on her as well). The picture has numbers and names on it that I will explain. Sorry if this is too hard to see small, just right click the picture and open it in a new tab or window to see it bigger while you read.

1. Ray – Ray is a mutual acquaintance and he lived pretty close to the house where I grew up. I recently told Tracy a story about going to his house for his birthday party where his ENTIRE family was there.

2. Jill – Not a mutual acquaintance, but I remember she and I used to hide behind trees and kiss at recess!

3. Noah – Noah was a mutual acquaintance and when we were picking out baby names while Tracy was pregnant with our Noah, we would each veto names when we knew or had known someone with the same name that we didn’t like for some reason. Happily, this was not the case with the name Noah. He was (and I assume, still is) a very nice guy.

4. Amanda – Amanda was a mutual acquaintance and it is amazing how paths can cross after so much time has passed. I met Amanda again when I was a senior in high school and dated her briefly. She even was my senior year prom date. (I guess I must have been some kind of ladies man in kindergarten.)

5. Darnell – Darnell is a mutual acquaintance who Tracy and I had diner with shortly after we were married. I remember singing in choir with Darnell in middle school.

It really is amazing that I can remember almost everyone in this picture. Several others who I remember very well also went on to high school with Tracy, but I didn’t have any super funny or interesting stories about them (yet?). Maybe we will re-cross paths with some of them someday, who knows?

Out of The Mouths: “I need some privacy”

Zoe went into the bathroom. A few minutes later she started yelling for me to come wipe her butt. I wiped her butt and then started to help her pull up her pants, but she said, “No Mommy, I’ll do it.” She paused for a second and said, “Can you leave Mommy? I need some privacy.”

What?! She still wants me to wipe her a**, but then she needs privacy?

Whatever. She probably just didn’t want me to see how much hand sanitizer she pumped out afterward. She is obsessed with it (and she calls it “hanitizer”). I often find puddles of it on the bathroom floor, and I am certain the hand sanitizer handprints on the bathroom wall are hers.

Protected: He wasn’t THAT p*ssed

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Protected: Colin’s doctor just might be p*ssed at me

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A Smokin’ New Year’s Eve

I could be all negative and say that our New Year hasn’t started out well since we almost had a fire New Year’s Eve and our new house may have some electrical problems, but instead I will focus on the positive. Our 2010 started off very well because our new house DID NOT BURN DOWN.

New Year’s Eve began as a pretty typical night. I was in the family room with Colin and Noah while Christian was having a battle of wills with Zoe at the dinner table because she would not sit still and eat. I had started some laundry a while earlier, and we were waiting for some friends to arrive with their kids.

Suddenly I started to smell a horrid burning odor. We tracked down the stench and found that the electrical outlet where our dryer was plugged in was probably about 30 seconds from bursting into flames. Fun times. I guess the wiring in the receptacle was loose. LUCKILY, we were home and awake when it happened. Scary stuff.

Ironically, the man we bought the house from was a firefighter, but we realized we did not have a single fire extinguisher here. We had them at our old house because we purchased them in order to pass our home study visit with the social worker before we adopted Zoe. We left them though because they were mounted on the walls.

New Year’s Day involved a trip to the hardware store to buy fire extinguishers for each level of our house, and a resolution to test our smoke detectors monthly.

Favorite Photo Friday – Zoe’s Birthday

From Zoe’s third birthday at Chuck E. Cheese’s

My Favorite Picture Ever

If you’re my Facebook friend or you got our Christmas card you’ve already seen this picture, but I still had to share it here.

Yes, it is a cheesy posed photo. No, there is nothing artistic about it. BUT DO YOU SEE THAT ALL THREE OF MY CHILDREN ARE LOOKING AT THE CAMERA AND SMILING!? They aren’t whining or hitting each other or running away from the camera or making silly faces. It has never happened before, and it will probably never happen again, so I cherish this photo.  It was taken at their pre-school, so I really didn’t have high hopes for it, but I was ECSTATIC when I got it back. I bought the biggest photo package and the copyright.

(Oh, and by the way, Christian HATES it when I dress them alike, but whatever. I think it’s cute. And, I found those plaid shirts on clearance at Target for $4 a piece, so it’s cute and it was a good deal. Besides, since I’m the one who shops for their clothes, washes them, and lays out their outfits for each day, I get to pick.)

Their individual pictures are pretty stinkin’ cute, too, don’t you think!?

Special deal on a Florida vacation condo for My Minivan Rocks! readers

I know some people are bugged by blogs who do product reviews or try to sell stuff, but I’m doing this to help my parents!

My parents have a two-bedroom condo in Indian Rocks Beach, FL, that they rent out for most of the year. We spent a week there in August, and it was awesome. You can read my posts and see my pictures from the trip here, here, here, here, and here. It is the perfect place for a relaxing family vacation.

Rentals are down because of the economy, so I thought I would see if I could help drum up some business for my parents through this blog. Weekly rental rates are normally $750-$1300 (depending on the season), but my parents will offer a special rate of $650 for any available week between now and December 2010 for anyone who mentions My Minivan Rocks!

Please contact Sherry at vacationmemories2003@yahoo.com or go to www.fiftygulfside205.com for details!

Apparently I have this thing called a blog?

And I have been very neglectful of it. Thank you to my husband for posting a brief update the other day. Also, thank you to the people who have told me lately that they miss the blog. I was so far behind, and wondering if anyone cared anyway, that I was really just considering calling it quits.  If you’re still reading, would you mind dropping me a comment? It’s good for my ego to know that people are still out there.

So anyway, we’re moved now. The move and everything the move involved were the primary reasons for my blogging absence. Things are starting to shape up at the new house, I guess, but we have a long way to go. We can only park one car in the garage and I don’t even want to think about the basement (a.k.a. “The Dumping Ground”), but the rest of the house is starting to look somewhat like we live in it. I think it will probably be a while before I feel settled. I thrive when things are orderly and organized, and right now, things are neither. (But I’m doing my best to accept that.)

I’ve moved A LOT in my life, but never with children and never on this scale. I think my mom and I moved 13 times before I was 12, but that was just the two of us and we were moving to and from apartments or condos. I remember most of the moves pretty well, and I remember that we always got settled in quickly. We would move during the day and be unpacked and hanging pictures by midnight. Within a week it looked like we’d lived there forever. We had it down to a science.

This move, however, has not gone so smoothly. There are five of us instead of two, with three of those five under four-years-old. And those three are very good at putting up road-blocks to efficiency and progress. VERY good – like it’s their job. On top of that, by the time we get home from work, make dinner, clean up, give everyone baths, do laundry, etc, neither of us feels much like hanging pictures or organizing closets. Oh well. We’ll get there. It will probably be three years from now, but we’ll get there.

Happy Holidays and Moving All-Stars

FROM CHRISTIAN:

Wow, I know that there have been a few gaps in posting before, but probably not one this long! I wanted to say happy holidays to everyone and to assure everyone that we are indeed still around. I imagine there will be quite a few catch-up posts coming. In the mean time, I’d like to say that we had a great Christmas and the kids have been REALLY busy playing with all their presents today. The move was stressful, as moves typically are, but we are getting settled and are beginning to fall into a rhythm again. However, we still have a bunch of projects and a ton organization to do (the basement and garage have become dumping grounds for things we don’t know what to do with just yet).

In addition, I would like to specifically thank a few friends and family that have been instrumental to the success of our move. Grandma and Grandpa,  for keeping the kids occupied when Tracy and I needed it the most; Mimi for the same and for her support; Grampie, for his extremely dedicated help with projects, his support, and kid distractions; Leah, for her help with the kids and her support; Kurt for his extremely dedicated help with all the projects and his support; Charlie, for staying late with me stripping wall paper and his help with projects; Matt, for his help with the light fixture project; Steve for his moving prep projects (swing set and playroom shelves) and his help with the laundry room project. Thanks to these all-stars and to everyone not mentioned specifically who have helped with the move and continue to help get us settled.

-Christian

Three little monkeys jumping on (in) the bed

 

Happy Birthday Zoe!

Out of the Mouths: “…usually”

In Noah’s pre-school class, the teachers and students were discussing being thankful. Noah told the class, “I am thankful for my sister usually.”

Fun with Bubble Wrap

They think packing materials are fun…

I just wish they were old enough to help pack boxes!

Trafficking reports raise heart-wrenching questions for adoptive parents

From the Los Angeles Times:

Trafficking reports raise heart-wrenching questions for adoptive parents