The Butterfly is About to Start Kindergarten!

The time has come (all too quickly it seems), and the Butterfly is raring and ready to go.  Hard to believe that our little baby girl is now ready to start Kindergarten.

She is growing so quickly and has turned into quite an independent spirit in the last few years.  I love that she fiercely sticks up for what she "thinks" is right and doesn't let people walk all over her.  However, as her mom, trying to parent this head-strong little girl, I have definitely earned a few gray hairs!

Despite her maverick personality, Mommy is a little worried about her new adventure.  There are so many what-ifs and possibilities for what could happen, and of course my mind wanders toward the negative stories I have heard about from other mothers (there are also amazing stories I hear as well).  She will be starting a new school and meeting many new people who do not know anything about her.  They don't know why her hand is different.  They don't know that she was born this way.  They don't know (yet) that she doesn't need extra help and she will get rather frustrated if you don't let he do things for herself.  They do not know that she can do anything she sets her heart and mind to.  They also don't know that she is just a normal kid who does normal things.  She is just like other kids, each unique in their own way, but also just the same.  They just don't know her yet.

So, her daddy and I decided to create a book about her that we plan to share with her class on the first day of school.  This book should take away any stigma about her hand and open the door to a conversation with the students, teachers, and parents that our little girl can do anything and everything her classmates can do... and more!  Nothing stops her.

Here is the book:

Good luck little girl!  Enjoy Kindergarten and make them see that you can do anything!!!

~~Mommy

Words Have Power

The following photo is another one I pulled off of Facebook recently. Being a middle school teacher, I see first-hand the effect that words can have on my students, both positive and negative. So many kids feel that words are inconsequential, after all, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." But the brutal truth is that words do have an effect. Sometimes a very powerful one... a very negative one.

With the rash of bullying and subsequent depression and even suicides that are plaguing so many schools and towns across the nation, I can only hope for all of this hatred to pass. I can only hope that kids will eventually understand that their words can inflict such lasting damage. I can only hope...

But I will do what I can in my own school to stop it.

~~Aloha!

Some People Dream

The following photo has been making its way around Facebook recently. I saw it and froze. How, after seeing this, can anyone think that the problems we face everyday are not minute compared to what others face in elsewhere throughout the world.

"you hate your life, while some people dream of having your life"

For the past month I have been having a pretty difficult time at work. Nothing major, but the added stress has really been getting to me, so much so that I have been bringing the frustration home with me each and every day. I have never been like this before for such an extended period of time. Yes, we all have a bad day here and there. But stress that just keeps building every day for well over a month... I'm just not used to it, and honestly I am not dealing with it very well. Many of you out there reading this do know the added stress that the adoption process can bring to people. I have lived it! But, I'll tell you that the stress involved with adoption at least brings with it much joy at the same time (or at least eventually). Just look at my two little loves. They are the joys in my life (as is my dear husband). So what is making this stress so different and so much worse? Probably the fact that there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel or much joy that accompanies it. Thus, my total frustration. Frustration that I pray each night will go away, to no avail.

So, yesterday I saw this photo and I froze. I froze right where I was, just stunned. I think I needed to see this, to help me see the bigger picture in life. I realized that everything that has been causing me so much frustration and stress is nothing compared to what other people in many other parts of the world face on a day to day basis. I am truly blessed. Blessed with a wonderful family, a roof over my head, a wonderful career that I do love, and loving friends. It is so easy to dwell and focus in on the minutiae that fills our lives. And, that minutiae is where I have been living for the last few weeks. Until yesterday...

I am already feeling better. Even co-workers have noticed. I will not let my recent frustrations get the best of me. I am going to enjoy my job, my children, my husband, and my life. I have so much to be thankful for and I am going to thank God everyday for what makes my life wonderful. Yes, I will still have stress in my life, I am just not going to let it get to me any more. Ahhhhhh...

Sometimes we just need a little perspective to thrust us back into reality. Hello reality!


~~Aloha!