November is NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH!

Te celebrate the occasion, I was given the opportunity by Tribute Books to review two of their children's titles on adoption here on the blog.

The first was Red in the Flower Bed: An Illustrated Children's Story about Interracial Adoption by Andrea Nepa From the moment I started reading it, I loved it. It follows the journey of a poppy seed who was carried by the wind far from the place where is was "born" (but unable to grow) to the perfect garden for it to grow big, strong and beautiful. I found the allegory of the seed being unable to grow in the soil a lovely way to smooths over the rough edges of "why?" and really liked that the garden wasn't complete until there was Red in the Flower Bed. I know for sure that our family wasn't complete without Mariana and this book is something that my girls can relate to...but at very nearly twelve years old, the rhyming text and flower theme just doesn't do it for Kyle.

That's where title number two comes in. Second Chance: How Adoption Saved a Boy with Autism & His Shelter Dog by Sandra J. Gerencher is written from the perspective of a shelter dog who is adopted into a family with three other dogs and a little boy who is also adopted. It gently introduces adoption by conversations between the pup, Chance, and the little boy, Ryan. Ryan has autism and I was glad to see how this book explains a little about how he understands and interacts a little bit differently than others do but focuses on the similarities...not the differences. This is something that Kyle is learning more and more about as he learns more about how his new sister does things a little differently but that we are more alike than different. By far my favorite line of this book is when Ryan sums up the meaning of adoption for Chance by saying, "so I guess you can say adoption means to be loved forever."

Both of these books would be great resources for children who are experiencing adoption from any angle. I appreciate the opportunity from Tribute Books to review them and I would certainly recommend them. Our family is very interested in raising awareness and interest in adoption (for obvious reasons) and there are tons of things going on around the web this month to help do just that. Maybe you could take a minute today to pop around and see what you can find?

The snails weren't cute enough?

Try this:

What do you do on a RAINY DAY?

Well, I don't know what YOU do,

But WE play in the rain until we're soaking wet



And then we play with all our new friends who like to come out to play!

Now doesn't that sound like way more fun than hiding out inside all day?

This is tougher than it looks

A post a day is not as easy as it sounds. And I made it precisely 3 days into NaNoWriMo before I decided I don't have any earthly idea what to write a novel about, so I can't give up on NaBloPoMo or I would be TOTALLY lame!

So that means you get a limited access pass to experience the complete randomness of my thoughts - from the possible plans coming around the bend to my favorite classic literature to random conversations with my kid to whatever comes to mind when I sit down to do my post for the day.

Today it's the grocery budget for the week. I blew. But I mean I blew it BIG TIME. I started a (really short lived) blog on our grocery savings earlier this year. Perhaps I should go back to posting there - clearly, I require accountability in order to succeed.

Up tomorrow: running stuff, I think. Or maybe not. Depends on my ADD.

Car Conversations

[Upon seeing a high school athletic team running down our street]

Katie: Ewwwww!!! That guy has no shirt on!

Kyle: Dude! He's got a six-pack! I want a six-pack.

Me: Well, that takes a LOT of hard work...either that or some great genes.

Kyle: Maybe I have the great genes.

Me: Ummmm, buddy, you do have some seriously great genes but I've gotta tell ya we just don't have the natural six-pack genes.

Kyle: Well what do we have then? [Getting excited] 12-pack genes?

Me [snickering just a little]: Well, yeah, I guess you could say that.


I wonder when he'll realize that it's not at all the same thing?

Candide, indeed!

So I'm one of those people who go through phases of longing for my college literature classes wherein I will thumb through the collection of anthologies that I have grown over the years (by my refusal to resell my texts from these courses) as some would thumb through scrapbooks. In fact, during these phases I often consider registering for an online literature class at the college here. Just because. I happen to be in one of those phases right now and, in my thumbing, came across a passage about the rules for success as a playwright (or any writer, if you ask me) that I had marked and flagged while reading Candide that I still find pretty cool:

"one must be new without being grotesque, frequently touch the sublime but never depart from the natural; that one must know the human heart and give it words; that one must be a great poet without allowing any character in the play to sound like a poet; and that one must know the language perfectly, speak it purely, and maintain a continual harmony without ever sacrificing sense to mere sound."

Sounds simple enough, 'eh? Gotta love Voltaire. And Milton - I am thinking of digging out Paradise Lost as I type this. Or Metamorphasis (Kyle would LOVE it, maybe we can read it together sometime). Or Madame Bovary. Or ... How do I even decide?! I just started Firefly Lane, sent to me by my best girlfriend. Not to mention I just borrowed the The Vampire Diaries from another good friend. I could just read them and save the heavy hitters for another time. But I can't help but wonder what else is out there that I need to read? I need suggestions. A little help? And you know what else I'd love to know? What did you "have" to read that you ended up loving? Those, I think, are the best little surprises.

I hear I'm weird...

I don't really get attached to stuff. I mentioned before that we are contemplating a cross-country move. Having made several (at least 4) long-distance moves in the past couple of decades, I have developed a rudimentary philosophy that goes a little something like this: if it doesn't fit in the car it doesn't go. Period. I sell off the rest and move on.

Now, granted, "the car" has gotten progressively bigger over the years, and this time we're moving a family of 5 not just me (or me +1) as in the past, but I still don't think it's weird to shoot for as LITTLE heavy lifting as possible in a long distance move. I'll probably be looking to sell the house at least partially furnished and to undergo a major stuff-purge if this cross-country move actually comes to pass.

'The More The Murrayer' goes for the loved ones in our lives and the memories we make, not the material stuff that turns to junk and clutters everything. At least that's my take on it. Who's with me?