Michael has decided he loves Christmas movies. He watched Eloise’s Christmas Movie on Saturday – a movie he found while channel surfing. I was surprised he wanted to watch a movie where a little girl is the main character. Yesterday, he watched Twice Upon A Christmas – a film which I found appallingly bad. I ordered A Christmas Story from Netflix, which is my favorite Christmas movie. At some point we will see It’s a Wonderful Life, too, of course. He needs to understand American culture, and movies [that are actually good] are a terrific way to help him do that.
We had a snow flurry or two today. Here in Hot-Lanta that’s a major event. If one flake hits the road somewhere in North Georgia and doesn’t immediately melt, the TV stations go on full crisis mode and launch 24 hour Storm Track coverage. The last time we had a substantial snow, which was about 4 years ago, that’s what happened. They have actually canceled school around here because snow was predicted. Not falling out of the sky, no, just predicted.
When it does actually snow, the entire city goes crazy. There is a run on bread and milk at the grocery stores. The roads are clogged. Even northerners who moved down here years ago, join the frenzy. Nobody knows how to drive in snow or ice because those weather events happen so seldom.
When I got home from work tonight I was in an incredibly foul mood, for several reasons, but Michael was in a worse mood. He refused to work on his spelling words with his grandmother. He refused to give me a hug when I got home. I tried to talk to him but it didn’t do much good. I finally found him sitting under the Christmas tree, playing with toy soldiers. He seemed OK after that. I think he just didn’t get enough sleep last night.
It’s so hard to switch from a holiday schedule back to a normal one.
I wanted to take a photo of our tree, but I totally forgot until just now. I can’t go downstairs and vacuum and straighten up the family room just now, darn it…
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I read an article today on a blog written by a lady who has survived horrible abuse as a child. She writes really well. She talked about things that trigger her to remember the abuse, and the resulting anxiety she feels from the flashbacks. It set me to thinking about my own kids and wondering if things are triggering their painful memories. Sometimes there’s no rational explanation for their foul humors. I told the kids a little about the article I’d read. They both understood what I was saying, although only Alesia could think of a concrete example in her own recent life.
I wonder now if I “jumped the gun” on that… I hope not. I think it’s always better to have knowledge, to know what makes us act a certain way. Lord knows we all act bizarre sometimes. We are all driven by the subconscious, far more than we like to know.
This is part of why I rely on faith so much. There’s no rational explanation of why these kids are with me, or why we fit together as a family. I have to believe God put us together. I know we are certainly better together than we are apart. We all need each other, in different ways. Maybe that’s the only real explanation of family, that need, although I want to believe Love is the glue that really holds us together.
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I feel the need to clarify something important. The Salvation Army is a WONDERFUL organization, and I fully support their work. In my post the other day where I said my worst Thanksgiving was working for them one day, I didn’t mean to say they are not good folks, not at all. I simply meant to convey that I felt such a sense of helplessness that Thanksgiving Day, years ago, when I helped serve a meal to those homeless men. I felt like I wasn’t doing anything of value, really. In truth, I was doing something very valuable. I was honoring my father and the charity that he chose to give so much time and money to. I was serving God’s purpose in caring for folks who had nobody else. It’s just that I was young and didn’t yet have enough maturity. In my mind, that always stands out as such a bleak day, as I remember my feelings. I have always liked quick fixes for things. The Salvation Army isn’t a quick fix but it’s an amazing organization. It’s there for the long haul, for people that society says don’t matter.
When Michael was living on the streets of Kazakhstan with his birthmom, if they had had something like the Salvation Army in that country, he wouldn’t have been so hungry and cold, and frightened. There would have been help. We take it for granted in this country. We have safety nets. We have churches and charitable groups. We have Alcoholics Anonymous. We have battered women’s shelters. Those kinds of services are few and far between in Russia and Kazakhstan.
If you have any money to spare this Christmas, please give it to the Salvation Army. Put some money in a kettle in front of a store. Write them a check and send it in. With the economy the way it is, I am sure The Salvation Army has a greater burden this year than ever before. They serve families and children, too.
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Before I adopted Michael, I was totally unaware of kids with limb differences. I knew when I was planning my second adoption that I wanted a child who was considered “special Needs” – which means, hard to place. When I saw Michael’s little scowling face on the website, and I realized how much he looked like my brother and how strongly God was telling me to adopt that little guy, I realized that I was about to learn a whole lot more about limb differences.
Michael attended an awesome camp last summer for kids with limb differences, the Adventure Amputee Camp. He had a wonderful time. He was able to swim, ski, climb, etc. He learned a little bit about tennis, and that has led to his interest in tennis and to being on the neighborhood tennis team – a huge blessing for him. There were kids there with congenital limb differences. There were kids who had lost one or more limbs to cancer. All were able to fully participate in everything, thanks to dedicated volunteers. Most of the kids have never been around other kids with limb differences, and they feel a sense of relief that for once, they are not perceived as “different.” This is the website.
If you click on photos and scroll down and look to the right, you will see a group photo of kids in yellow shirts. Michael is in the first row, next to a tall kid with blue jeans. He looks a little bummed only because the photo was snapped the day they had to come home.
The camp is trying to raise money, so more kids can attend and can possible stay longer than 4 days. No camper is charged - it's free to all kids. So many kids simply could not afford the cost of the camp, but they benefit from it so much, and that's where donations and sponsorships come in.
If you are so moved, please consider sending a donation to:
Adventure Amputee Camp, Inc.
176 Saddleback Lane
Winchester, VA 22602
