joy

Every time my life settles down enough for me to return to regular blogging, crazy stuff happens.  First there was the sudden arrival of newborn baby Z. - we were called at 2:30 pm and by 4:30, Eric was picking him up at the hospital.  Since normally one gets more than umm...two hours to prepare for the arrival of a new baby, we were a little discombobulated. Then there was much back and forth insanity as the County and C. and K.'s family attempted to make possible a visit from across the US to our area.  We didn't know until last Friday whether it would happen - and all of a sudden it was.  …

Thursday was Eli's end of school graduation - and I thought in honor I'd re-run a post I wrote at ye olde blogge back in 2009. One of the hardest parts of addressing our changing world is dealing with shifting expectations and assumptions, and not getting mired down in sadness or anger. I think one of the things that has helped me is that we've had to do this in other ways before. This year is Eli's last one at the nurturing school for kids with autism that he's attended since kindergarten, and I found myself thinking about this a lot this week. There are, of course, plenty of moments in…

Friday was a fabulous day, after a very, very long week. For a week, we frantically prepared for our final home visit. Some of it was pretty normal stuff - minor repairs, etc... Some of it, I think was pretty weird - who knew that freshly washed window screens were a requirement to be a good foster parent (yes, they did explicitly require that). They gave us hoops, and we jumped through like trained tigers ;-). But we passed - in what is still the first biggest news here in our particular tiny household in New York, Eric and I will be (as soon as the paperwork is processed) New York State…

Well, I need to do a Happy Christmas posting (and here it is, folks!) so this message from wonkroom seems rather festive: New psychological research finds that dire messages about the threat of global warming will strengthen people's acceptance of climate science when combined with solutions, which is the approach taken by leading climate activists. For some people, their response to dire messages is strongly dependent on whether hope is offered. (ht: Chairman Brian). Which means, I need to present you with The Solution. And that is clearly, dress up as Father Christmas and go rowing: