yoohoo!

Hey folks. Several people are still checking this blog daily. Unfortunately, nothing is happening here, because I've changed URL's.

Message me if you need the new address. You're all welcome to the new place, just give me a shout.

mosessupposestwo@gmail.com

- - - - - - - - - -

“...the numbers seemed distant, removed from our daily life in suburban Birmingham. But everything changed when we made our first trip to the orphanage in Kazakhstan. We saw children playing outside. We walked past their rooms inside. Suddenly those numbers on a page came alive in our hearts. We realized it was [our son] Caleb who was sleeping in one of those cribs, and it was Caleb who was included in those numbers. All at once the numbers became real... And personal. We learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they’re not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.” (139)

David Platt

Read more...

new blog

Well friends, I'm afraid I need to open a new blog with a new blog address.

If you have been following 'moses supposes' and would like the new URL, you can email me. I will keep past entries from this blog open so that you can track back if needed.

My email address is mosessupposestwo@gmail.com.

Read more...

my husband was right

By the time Bobby got home from work yesterday, I was about to drop. Moses is such a good boy, but he is also three years old. And since our whole house is new for him, he doesn't yet understand what is OK to play with and what is not.

With the birth kids, I got to train them about boundaries from the time they started crawling. But Moses arrived very mobile, knowing no English, and with a voracious appetite to understand how everything works. For instance, he didn't know until yesterday what happens when you spin a lamp shade on a lamp as hard as you can. Now he does.

He is still developing emotional security, and neither one of us benefits from a day full of "No's". It would be different if he were being disobedient, but this is just misdirected curiosity. He really wants to be a good boy.

Last night, Bobby said it was time to find a solution. I had resisted spending money buying stuff to fix the problem, especially as we are trying simplify, but this was a becoming a definite need.

In the end, Bobby ran out and picked up a portable play yard gate. You can use it indoors and out, and I can keep it in the living room near me while I work. It has totally revolutionized our day. Moses has been HAPPILY playing in it for hours. (I keep taking him out, and he keeps wanting to get back inside.) I haven't had to tell him, "No," once.

Anyway, Bobby was right. Soooooo right. Sometimes simplification isn't found only in discarding the wrong things, but in picking up one of the right ones. I wanted to give him a shout. I love you, Bobby!

Read more...

the crux of new shoes

If they had been glass slippers
instead of foam clogs
he couldn’t have placed them to rest
any more tenderly
against the wall.

They were perfectly aligned.
He checked twice to make sure
that they were even and safe.

They were his shoes. His own.

No one would be rushing ahead
to grab them tomorrow before him.
The soles did not flop
because they were not broken.
No strings tied about the heels
to make them last one more day.

Two whole shoes. His own shoes.

Waiting side by side
on child's commission
to carry life another 14 hours away
from terrain he knows
to be unwhole
and unholy.

Read more...

normal day

Nothing extraordinary to post.

The library was fun. Returning to Cynthia Rylant through child #3, and her writing is every single bit as wonderful as I had remembered. Two favorite quotes of the day:

"These are kittens," he [Mr. Putter] said. "I was hoping for a cat."

"No one wants cats, sir," said the pet store lady. "They are not cute. They are not peppy."

Mr. Putter himself had not been cute and peppy for a very long time. He said, "I want a cat."

And another one...

Tabby loved Mr. Putter's tulips. She was old, and beautiful things meant more to her.

The sun was bright today, and Moses noticed his shadow on black asphalt for what might have been the first time. (I wonder if the smog in China prevented strong shadows?) Anyway, he SHOUTED and started pointing at it! "Look Mama! Jun Jun! Jun Jun!" then, "Blah, blah, blah, blah," (really fast toddler Chinese). He was amazed that our shapes were made so perfectly on the ground. It was like it was some fabulous wonder instead of something ordinary. And maybe he was right. Soooo cute.

Got some books to read for myself. That library never seems to have the books on my "seeking" list, but I DID find some Faulkner and Flannery O'Conner. I'm thinking about declaring this the autumn of Southern authors. If you have favorites in that genre, I'd love to know what they are.

Better run and get dinner on the table before the boys get home...

Read more...