bzzzzzzy

I have things to say, thoughts to think
and no time to mark them up in ink!



I hope to be back with a real post soon! Two kids and work is time consuming....who knew!

Back to it!

Hello!

I'm back! Back to work, back to a little normalcy, and hopefully back to blogging.

Life is good.

We're all moved in to our new house (insert shriek of joy!) and really enjoying it all. It's really everything I wanted in a house for us, including a fully fenced backyard (that needs lots of work, but we'll get to it), a quiet dead end road with friendly neighbors and kids, new construction on the inside, a master bath, a family room, and little things like lots of outlets and a built-in dishwasher.

We are blessed and happy.

I can't believe we're now on the other side of all the changes I had anticipated for so long!

New baby girl


New house


Addison's goodbye to one preschool and hello to another


and of course, my return to work.

It's all gone pretty smoothly, and I'm looking forward to getting back to the new normal!

How are all you doing, my fine readers?

a different kind of labor

Of all the things that a parent goes through.... pregnancy, labor, sleepless nights, tantrums and more, I had no idea that finding good child care would be such a drain on my energy.

First, I should mention that our family is super fortunate and blessed to have one of Addison's grandmothers, my mother-in-law, Cheryle, living close by and always willing to help out whenever she can. She was his sole care provider for the first two years of his life while I worked part time, and she continues to be available for afternoon pick-ups, sick days and the occasional scheduling snafu. This has been an amazing gift to our family in many many ways, and I have tried to always recognize how lucky we are and show appreciation, but I'm sure I still manage to take it for granted on some level.

After 6+ months of researching daycare facilities and other child care options, we finally found a school for Addison that we felt comfortable with, we could afford, and was fairly close by. He's been here for over a year, and we have been really happy with it. I was so happy we waited for the right place to come into our lives before we finally enrolled him.

Now, a little over a year later, we find ourselves in child care transition again, and the process has been difficult. Researching, open houses, tours, more research, dead-ends, filling out forms, long waitlists, exorbitant fees, turn-offs, let downs, waiting with baited breath, miscommunications, and on and on and on.... I keep thinking to myself, Why does this have to be SO hard?

I don't have answers. I wish I did. My heart goes out to all the other mothers out ther who are having similar experiences... I guarantee I'm not alone in this.

I'm just still waiting and hoping and praying that the school we've got our sight on now comes through for us so we don't have to start this exhaustive process all over again from square one.

Wish us luck.

And now for something real....

I work at a truly amazing organization. I made a silent promise to myself that I would not blog about my work, but this topic transcends the day to day of my workplace and really isn't about my day to day job at all.

I work at a non-profit that is in the "business" of helping children, human beings, to become healthy, whole people as they grow up among extremely difficult family circumstances and within impoverished neighborhoods. I work with amazing individuals who have made this their life's work and who come to the office every day with wisdom, courage, tenacity, patience, a sense of humor, and a story to share. And, we all come from very different walks of life. Then again, don't we all -- every single one of us?

Today was the first of a 2-day staff retreat, and the topic up for discussion was diversity. I learned so much, and felt a wave of truth and good intention and humanity swirling through the room as we all discussed difficult topics. I feel so honored to work somewhere that facilitates this kind of real human interaction and creates a safe space to take on some of the tough stuff. Diversity is such an important topic, and our discussion impacted me so much that I want to share a little bit with you. Its complex, but I hope it comes through ok over my blog...

Can I tell you a little bit about something called The Human Value and Goodness Approach? It goes a little something like this...

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We have a tendency to categorize people as good people or bad people. This sets up a false dichotomy in which we take sides against each other, requiring the elimination of one side. (One mild example: If we place a lot of value on eating good, wholesome and nutritious foods, we may look at those who eat at, and take their children to eat at fast food restaurants on a regular basis as bad people.) This approach is less effective.

A more effective approach: See all people as having value and on a continuum together, some with more awareness than ourselves and others with less. No one being completely bigoted or aware. We can give a hand to those with less information than we have and receive help from those with more.


Less Effective:

Human Behavior = Human Worth

We have a tendency to equate human behavior with human worth. In this model, our value as people is associated with how we behave. If we behave well we are good people. If we behave badly we are bad people.


More Effective:

Human Behavior does NOT = Human Worth

Human Worth --> All Humans Have Value

Human Behavior --> Based on Conditioning, May Be Good or Bad

In this model, our behavior does not impact our positive value as humans. Our behavior is reflective of our conditioning, and it is appropriate to evaluate behavior, but outside of the context of human worth and value.

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There is a lifetime that can be said about this topic, and many have dedicated their lives to it. But rather than me talk at you about it on my blog, I just wanted to share it with you so you can think about what it means in your life, if you'd like to. It's powerful, and challenges all of us to come from a place of love when interacting with one another.



My next post will have some lighter, fun stuff in it. But I hope you enjoyed this meaty post too! Thanks for sticking with me...