2022 NCFA Conference

Kids, just remember you had a three-day string of fabulous Indianapolis adventures with your dad while mama attended the NCFA Conference to be a better adoption professional and mom.

IAC Sessions 543-548

 The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 543 which was held on March 11, 2022:

1) Belgian dossier from March 2015 referred a female child aged 1 year and 8 months with a family history

2) US dossier from April 2018 referred a female child aged 3 years and 1 month with features in health status

3) German dossier from September 2021 referred a female child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status

4) US dossier from March 2022 referred an identified waiting child

 The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 544 which was held on March 17, 2022:

1) Spanish dossier from November 2013 referred a female child aged 1 year and 4 months with a family history

2) Italian dossier from December 2015 referred a male child aged 15 years and 3 months

3) US dossier from October 2021 referred an identified waiting child

4) US dossier from January 2022 referred sisters aged 6 years and 2 months and 7 years and 9 months with features in health status

 The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 545 which was held on March 24, 2022:

1) Spanish dossier from September 2014 referred a female child aged 5 years

2) Italian dossier from November 2015 referred an identified waiting child

3) Spanish dossier from December 2015 referred a female child aged 4 years and 4 months with features in health status and a family history

4) Italian dossier from September 2020 referred a male child aged 10 years and 6 months

5) US dossier from April 2021 referred a male child aged 1 year and 2 months with features in health status

6) US dossier from March 2022 referred an identified waiting child

 The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 546 which was held on April 7, 2022:

1) Italian dossier from July 2014 referred a male child aged 9 years and 9 months

2) French dossier from June 2019 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status

3) US dossier from August 2020 referred a male child aged 1 year and 9 months with features in health status and a family history

4) US dossier from March 2022 referred an identified waiting child

5) US dossier from April 2022 referred an identified waiting child

6) US dossier from April 2022 referred an identified waiting child

 The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 547 which was held on April 14, 2022:

1) US dossier from August 2018 referred a male child aged 1 year and 5 months with features in health status and a family history

2) Italian dossier from January 2021 referred a brother and sister aged 9 years and 11 months & 4 years and 3 months with features in health status

3) US dossier from June 2021 referred female child aged 3 years and 2 months with features in health status

4) Belgian dossier from April 2022 referred an identified waiting child

5) US dossier from April 2022 referred an identified waiting child

 The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 548 which was held on April 28, 2022:

1) US dossier from March 2020 referred a sister and brother aged 6 years and 4 months & 3 years and 11 months with features in health status and a family history

2) Italian dossier from September 2021 referred a female child aged 12 years and 11 months

3) US dossier from April 2022 referred an identified waiting child

4) US dossier from April 2022 referred an identified waiting child

Summer 2022 - One Week In

We've been on our summer schedule for one week already although our two outgoing fifth graders have a bit of funding left yet to be used by June 30th, so they are seeing some of the teachers still but for noticeably fewer hours.  Middle Kiddo also continues with daily ABA therapy through the summer months which he quite enjoys at the moment, given that his therapist is fantastic and makes it a great time.

For the month of June, Big Girl has a weekly chore chart that has actually worked surprisingly well thus far.  I didn't hear any complaints of boredom yet, I know she's maintaining academic skills, and the chart supports healthy habits and life skills.

She still had plenty of fun sleeping in late, going to the roller rink with her friends, swimming and reading for hours.

Family Mental Health Day

Even though we home school, the end of the academic year gets hectic with final assessments and mandatory reporting, teacher gifts, various celebrations, and squeezing in those last required hours. So today, we decided to have a family mental health day and go to a regional park we've never visited. We hiked a beautiful forest trail there, went to the scenic overlook, and watched water being let out of the dam.  

On the way home, we stopped by our favorite international market and everyone picked his or her own dinner and dessert items from around the world, including sushi, cannoli, Mexican street corn salad, French cheeses, and sourdough bread.

Strawberry Week

Two Saturdays ago, I went strawberry picking at our local U-Pick farm.  One day I hope to write about how much things have changed there since the first time we visited in 2015, but for now, I just want to post some photos from our strawberry extravaganza.

Twenty pounds of freshly picked strawberries...

... most of which Ella helped me turn into strawberry freezer jam.

And we had our traditional waffles with fresh strawberries and homemade whipped cream... twice by popular demand.

And there was strawberry rhubarb pie, too.

And one night, dinner consisted of strawberry soup (akin to a milkshake, but thinner) with sweet potato fries.  I know, we're strange.

Strawberry week is a perennial family favorite, so we enjoyed it as always.

The One About The Arm

After nearly eleven years of a unique parkour lifestyle with questionable skills for risk assessment, our sweet boy experienced his first ever bone fracture.  His ulna and radius are broken.  Given his extremely high tolerance for pain, we were not entirely sure how hurt he was, but several X-rays confirmed the need for setting the bones under anesthesia.  He's now in a splint for a week, followed by a check-up and then a cast.  He's expected to make a full recovery with healthy bones that will continue to grow.  True to form when not feeling well, he's resting calmly as he allows his body to do its healing.

Singing Her Song

Home school has been at its finest here with a birds nest (despite my best efforts to discourage them) in our front door wreath.  Apparently our covered porch is desirable real estate in the avifauna of our tree-lined street.  Little one has enjoyed observing the process from egg to bird close up which is great... even though I'll probably have to repaint our door when this is all said and done and the chicks have flown the coop.

Little one is known to process what she has learned in her own hands-on ways and she recently drew an entire bird family and then crafted them a nest in a little basket that she carried around with her for a while.  At the same time we were learning about the needs of all living things, such as water, food and air and connecting this information back to our plant and animal friends in nature.

While Little One can recite the list of needs during a structured lesson or even when asked about it out of context, she was a bit stumped when I questioned her about her little paper bird family in the basket nest for whom she had provided care in the form of kisses, songs, and walks.  "What do these little birds need to survive?" I asked.  After a moment of thought came a clear and confident response, "They need mommy."

Baby bird

It doesn't matter if we're studying science or art, for my youngest child the story always condenses and connects to a single thing.  She always finds her way back to mothers, the devastating loss of her first mother and the subsequent gain of a new mother, the love and care of a mother or the lack thereof, and the indefinable qualities of mothering and being mothered.  Her earliest experiences have led her to believe that without the protective and devoted wings of a mother our physiological and safety needs cannot be met, so if she were revising Maslow's hierarchy, having a mother would be at its base.

Little chick, I cannot heal your primal wound, but my wings are yours for as long as you need them.

A bird does not sing because it has an answer,

it sings because it has a song.

- Maya Angelou