I'm a jei jei...

Ok, not to sound like a broken record but....I'm sorry I'm terrible at posting. To be fair; the past month has been a terrible mash of unstructured snow days and stress about the upcoming school trip to Costa Rica. Also the event which I'm about to reflect on.

About four weeks ago, my parents and J left on a jet plane (reference to the song; I don't actually know what they flew on) to head to China. Two weeks later, they came home with my newest sibling, Zhi Sai, 13 years old.

So here we are, 6 Tiers. My parents have two adult children and two teenagers. (Good luck!) And we all. live. together. (I smell a reality show...) But back to the newly built family. Especially since my blog is half food half new things. I have a new sister! Is there anything bigger in life than that? I mean besides getting married or having my own child?

It's weird, no lie. And it's hard. But I keep trying to remind everyone that we knew it'd be like this. We knew she wouldn't speak English. We knew there are attachment issues with older adopted children. It's easy for me to despair and assume we'll never be able to talk to her...but I remind myself that it's only been 2 weeks. Things will change.

For now, keep praying. That she would learn English quickly. That she would connect with Mom. That she would learn discipline.

Thanks everyone!

Differences

Happy Martin Luther King Day! It seems like everything that's happening in my life today has a common theme, so I'm thinking it's time for a blog post.

MLK Day is one of those things that stays on your calendar and you think, yes, a day off! Or, if you're in college, you think, Why don't I have off? (At least that was my mind at Messiah.) Today, though, is special in a lot of ways. Earlier my parents and Jordan picked up a new member of my family in China, a thirteen year old orphan. They have basically no way to communicate with each other. Awkward turtle in the hotel room? Maybe.

Because I've apparently become a procrastinator in my post-college life, I've popped up Google a few times today for various and a sundry searches, like Why do we keep the thermostat at 68 degrees, hating winter, etc. and saw their image in celebration of today:

Which I love. Here's why. Growing up my school was pretty much 98% white, and I live in an area that is shockingly racially divided by county line. The public schools in my county are super-white, and the public schools across the bridges are super-black. But right over the bridges is also my school, and it looks different from when I went there. I'm not talking about the additional middle school classrooms; I'm talking about the students. This Google image looks like the elementary classes that I teach. And I think it looks the way Martin Luther King imagined it looking. I love that I teach in a school that does that, that brings together kids on both sides of the water.

Moving on, I've been plugging away (in between google searches) on my Philosophy of Special Education paper. Part of our philosophy has to include "fully reflecting on the role and value of individuals with disabilities to society." I came across this article about that very topic. I won't go into it, since it's pretty short and legit and you should all read it, but it got me to thinking about how working and living with people who are different is what makes us grow. This is why I can never live alone; I would be too selfish. I am tickled that as a Spanish teacher I not only teach my kids another language, but how to celebrate and appreciate other cultures besides our own. And that's part of my philosophy on Sp. Ed. That we appreciate the differences around us. That differences force us to think outside of ourselves, and that's always beautiful.

I'm so excited and nervous to welcome a stranger into our family. And I'm excited about the ways that it will stretch me and force me to become more like Jesus. What an amazing thing!

I hope you all celebrate the differences around you and in your life. Even if you share a bathroom with someone who accidentally leaves their stuff all over the place. (I'm making you become a better person Kels!)