Celebrating National Adoption Month

Since beginning this blog adventure I have become friends, to varying degrees, with scads of people. The adventure of it all has been peeling off in layers of pure blissful discovery. I've always loved learning, but I never thought I would learn so much just by connecting with a global audience of complete strangers. 

Two of these new friends happen to be adoptive parents. Becoming friends with Abby and Jeremy Kidd has taught me about adoptive parents from a perspective I couldn't have gained any other way. The pure love they have for their first adopted child is heartening and provides a wonderful example of how adoption can turn complicated situations into blessings for everyone. 

Now, Abby and Jeremy are seeking a new addition to their family (and from what I've heard, their oldest is more than ready to be a big sister). So, in order to help the Kidd family in their quest to make their family more complete, I want to share with you how we all can help them. 

The following information was written by Abby Kidd (and edited and embellished by me): 

We are home studied and approved, hoping to adopt an infant or sibling group of two children one year of age or younger through private adoption or the agency LDS Family Services.  To learn more about our story, we have included several links for you to choose from: 

Our profile on itsaboutlove.org can be found here: https://itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/27857648/ourMessage.jsf%E2%80%9D 

You can learn more about us at our blog here: http://jeremyandabbyadopt.wordpress.com 

Follow the Facebook group here: http://www.facebook.com/jeremyandabbyadopt   

Follow us on Twitter: @jeremyandabby 

We are doing various things to raise funds to cover fees. We have an Etsy shop with beautiful handmade aprons and dishcloths. Currently, there are two aprons available in the shop, and I can do made-to-order aprons as well if you contact me through one of the gazillion links I've provided. The dishcloths are made with 100% cotton yarn. Many people like hand-knit dishcloths because they are good scrubbers while still being gentle. These products would also make a nice gift to give for any occasion: http://www.etsy.com/shop/JeremyandAbbyAdopt 

If you aren't interested in our Etsy shop offerings, alternate ways to help us raise funds can be found here: http://jeremyandabbyadopt.wordpress.com/fundraising/. 

The very best way to help us is to follow and share. In order to find an adoption match for our family, we need for women experiencing crisis pregnancies to see our links and learn about our family. We kindly ask for support in any way that you can.  

Also, we love to meet other adoptive families, adoptees, and birth mothers who have placed children for adoption. So, as you follow and share, we also hope to benefit by creating an even richer network of families similar to ours. 

--  Abby and Jeremy  

A GIVEAWAY ***ENDED DECEMBER 2, 2013***

November is National Adoption Month. In celebration of it, we will have a giveaway! Abby has generously offered one of her hand-crafted aprons from their Etsy shop to give to one lucky winner. And it's fabulously PURPLE (surprise, surprise)!

The apron we're giving away is an adult size, made to fit just about anyone.

What I hope is that my small effort to lend a hand to the Kidd family will somehow send out a ripple effect in the pond, thus helping these friends of mine who have taught me so much about parental love and determination. 

Remember to follow, share, and enter this special giveaway honoring National Adoption Month!

The Best Things Come From Texas

From time to time, a person crosses your path who changes you undeniably for the better. I used to believe these special angels on Earth had to be someone you have actually talked to on the phone, seen where they live, maybe even had them over to the house, or at least have been a pen pal with them for a few months, still knowing where you live as part of the deal—the old-fashioned definition of what a friend looks like. Right? Over the past couple of years, my perception of who real friends can be has been changing drastically. I've written about it before, but I need to say more, today.

I have become connected with people around the world through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and this blog (I even have a Tumblr, somewhere out there). Each passing day gives me proof that there are people who can and do appreciate the pictures I paint with words, the feelings I wish to convey. There are real people who actually enjoy reading what I write and seeing what I see, and I am astonished and grateful, every day. 

When I first began to dream of becoming a writer (a writer of poetry no less), I had never heard of blogs. Honestly, I don't think there was such a thing, or at least, they weren't commonplace in any way, shape, or form like they are now. There wasn't such a thing as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, for certain. I could not imagine how my aspirations would come to fruition, so I simply dreamt of it, for years and years, still not knowing what to do to make this dream reality.

But then, something happened. I woke up from a nightmare of a dream and began gathering the remnants of the person I once was, and began to build. I began building with tools of hope, vision, and determination, and I still put those tools to use as I continue on my journey of reaching my dreams, for I have many dreams which have been brought to life by freedom and confidence. I haven't always had confidence of my own though. The several people who reach out through these various venues lend me some of theirs whenever mine is waning.  And they always come through. Always.

Some of you might be thinking to ask, "What about your family and (traditional) friends?" Well, I have to tell you something—I have amazing family and friends who love me, think I'm a brilliant writer, read my stuff, share it from time to time, and fuel my fire to keep reaching my dreams. However, I also have a great deal of "family and friends" who are quite oppositional, unfriendly, unkind, and flat out jerks to me because I am the way that I am.

By reading my blog you might have got the sense that I say things as I see them sans sugar coatings (with exception being made for my poetry of the sweet variety). You also might have gathered that I have strong opinions and feelings. All of these things are true about me. I step on toes because I haven't learnt to tip toe around sensitive people and topics just yet—though I am trying to learn. I also say things that are unpopular or abrasive because I have been a prisoner in many ways for much of my life and I will not go back to that. I will not be quiet. This causes me some scrapes and misunderstandings (I apologize a lot out of necessity). Yet, anyone who cares about me knows that if we can just talk it out long enough, you can get to the heart of it with me, and things are made right.

I learned about apologizing and talking things out from my dad. He wasn't well-educated, but his West Texas roots and upbringing taught him to make things right when things go wrong. He was a professional apologizer and good at helping you come around to seeing where his heart was in a situation. He gave me intangible tools for navigating my world. Sometimes I wonder if he knew I'd need his imperfect example from which to gain these tools . . .

And that brings me to where I am right now, today, in my journey to becoming who I am meant to become and the inspiration for me sharing some of my layers of individuation with you.

I have this friend, who I've never met but know what he looks like (thank you, Instagram) and have a sense of his sense of humor (thank you, Twitter), and he has made me smile, without ever having heard his voice or knowing where he lives, and he made a simple comment to me that I had missed—until yesterday. It is one sentence, but sometimes one sentence can be life-changing, especially when negativity gets force fed to you on a daily basis by the truckload. It showed me that I do make a difference—not only as a mother, sister, or daughter; not only in my neighborhood; not only at church; not only at school or even in person anywhere I may be—but I make a difference with people who I probably will never meet in any tangible way. I've been shown this before, but I needed to be reminded. I know I needed reaffirmation of this something that I hope to be true because I was feeling low and humiliated. I was feeling like I don't matter and that my goals are unachievable nonsense. Life has become a suffocating mess for me as of late, and this one sentence whispered encouragement into my heart to keep reaching.

I want you to know this is gold to me, treasure beyond price. Throughout my process of individuation, I have come to know that this is what I want out of life; to make a difference is my life's work. I hope that, as I move forward from this point, I will be able to keep this treasure in my pocket of remembrance. The so-called red but actually purple onion will stand as my reminder because no longer could it "just be an onion" again, thanks to my friend, "a Texas guy in Colorado . . . Lover of the Perfectly Flawed."

A Social Experiment

The other day, I was perusing Facebook and liked a bunch of awesome statuses from my friends--stuff like running marathons, singing national anthems for baseball games, their children winning trophies, and other accomplishments. I have been pondering lately on how we simply do not have any super amazing stuff going on in my immediate family, and this got my mind going again. I can't afford to put anyone in dance or gymnastics or soccer or baseball. (And, to be honest, I don't really want our life's schedule being dictated by the all-powerful Game/Competition Scheduler.) After doing an indoor cycling class, I had thought it would be a healthy fun thing to get into cycling as a family. Then, I saw how much the bikes cost. I can't do that either. Also, I simply don't have the support necessary to do more than what we already have going on. (Divorce and college are my hobbies.)

So, I began to go down the list of things we are doing individually and as a family and concluded that we aren't over-the-top excelling at much of anything.  Well, until my daughter started up some negativity about her grades. She said to me that everyone in her class got straight A's except for her, and so she is a poor student. No way was I going to let her think that! I told her that B's are good grades too; Straight A's are nice and it feels great to get them, but A's and B's are something to be proud of.

This brings me back to Facebook and feeling my mediocrity. If I'm going to tell my daughter that A's and B's are awesome, I need to take my own advice. Hypocrisy is not acceptable. So, I decided to write a snapshot of our day and see if people would appreciate our version of fabulous. This is what I wrote:

Shameless Brag Update: My 16-year-old with Autism totally went down the slide at the park about five times, and said, "TagYouIt" to her siblings. My 13-year-old is still alive after forgetting who he was talking to when he blurted out, "Be quiet.". My 9-year-old got A's and B's on her report card. My 7-year-old is really cute and quiet.

My friends did not disappoint. I have 27 likes and counting as well as the best comments telling me how I'm a good mom for seeing the little things, they couldn't do it without me, and one friend who understands what TagYouIt means did a metaphorical cartwheel in celebration of our "accomplishments". 

This social experiment proves to me that it's all about perspective. I could have said all of those things with bitterness and sarcasm. I could have friends who look at it and think What a weirdo. (Actually, I think they already do that, but it's not because of my family being lame or lesser than.) If I want to feel like what I'm doing is important--no matter what it may be--I only need recognize it as important and worthwhile.

After all, I have found something we are doing smashingly. We are excelling at living, and that's quite an accomplishment.

 

Source: twowritingteachers.files.wordpress.com via The Purple on Pinterest

Thirty Days of Gratitude: Reflection

When I first began the Thirty Days of Gratitude experiment, I had an idea that it might help me; however, I could not have anticipated the breadth and depth of the positivity I would encounter as a result of following through with it.

I have to admit that some days were easier to write than others. About a week into it, I thought to myself What the heck were you thinking? Blog EVERY day with mid-terms and final projects and divorce issues and holidays coming up??? I must want to go nuts. But then, I wrote the post and realized how much I have to gain by stepping outside of myself every day.

One of those pay days happened to be yesterday. A twitter pal sent me a music video attached with the simple words:  Because I know you are thankful for dancing, here's a special wish for you today. While he had obviously read my gratitude blog on dancing, he could not know how much the song he sent means to me. Several years ago, a cousin of mine tragically died in a car accident and they had the lyrics to that song on the back of the program at her funeral, so ever since then I think of her when I hear it. Until now. Those few words from a social media friend opened the door to another perspective. I listened to it anew, and all the meaning was transformed in my mind and heart.



I have found my fight song--a theme for what I want for me, for you, for my children, for everyone I can ever touch or hope to touch with these words that I keep spilling onto the page. As I reflect on how consistent gratitude has opened my heart, I give thanks for all the good and bad that have brought me here, to you, that I might share my life adventure of hope, love, and faith.

Thank you for being part of it all. 

related link:

My Battle Cry: Canta y no llores

Social Media Friends: IRL or not so much?

There was an article on a blog I read during the Slice of Life Story Challenge in March (which means I don't know which one exactly since I read so many) that brought up the topic of friends we make through social media--blogs, comments, twitter, etc. I have been pondering on it so much lately because I too have had the thought cross my mind: What happens if my social media friends just stop posting or tweeting? I would not know if they just decided to stop cold-turkey or if a tragedy had occurred. There would be no way to know and no way to help if they needed help. There is not much I can do, so the rational person within me says to stop thinking about it because you can't do anything anyway. But the worry bug bites (and it does quite often) and I start thinking about how I need to give my passwords to my BFF and maybe someone else so they can send a post out along the wires in the event that I can no longer communicate, just in case people might care if I inexplicably dropped out of the picture one day. I know it sounds ridiculous, yet I don't think it really is when you think about it. So many people consider social media not real life and refer to things going on outside of social media as IRL (in real life), but aren't I actually, in real life, sharing my thoughts, creativity, and parts of myself with everyone here reading this?

Please don't misunderstand. I recognize that my live interactions are different, but I refuse to discount the friendships I make with genuine, real people even if I have never met you. There are countless people who visit my blog, leave a comment, and by doing so become part of my support team--part of my real life. I have made friends with a quite a few men and women whom I would miss if I never heard from them again. There are even a handful of them I would miss after a couple days of not interacting because we have become good friends. There are two sweeties on twitter who, almost daily, wish me a good night or a good morning or do a shout out to their peeps about how I am so awesome. Who wouldn't miss that?! Those are definitely part of the rays of sunshine I have glimmering through my tempestuous storm clouds-- in real life. I feel like I have a support group of the virtual sort for my autism aspect of life. One of my autism buddies lives in Hawaii and we have leaned on each other during some really hard moments these past few months. I have a friend who I can tell pretty much anything and I never feel judged. We interact nearly every day even if it's just to make sure the other is alright--especially since we all know I'm not doing alright lately. even the opposite of alright.

So anyways.

This friend is who prompted me to write on the topic. I haven't had any interactions since Friday, and I know it hasn't been that long but it feels like a long time since I have grown used to having that particular friend as a facet of my daily sanity support staff.  I hope all is well. I hope my worries are not justified. The thought comes to mind that maybe I have become a bore. Or the opposite-- a car accident has occurred and my friend is suffering or worse. But, I stop myself and recognize I cannot change any of it. People find others boring after awhile sometimes, accidents happen, and sometimes there are unexplainables in life.

My life is crazy right now. I can barely keep breathing straight. But one thing I know is that I appreciate all my friends no matter the source from whence you came. 

I talk about the friends who do things for/with me to offer thanks for them. Well, I hope every single one of my virtual friends knows how much you make a difference, how you are helping me IRL, how I count you as for real friends (FRF).

And my biggest hope is I might make a positive difference in your real life too.

Source: twowritingteachers.wordpress.com via The Purple on Pinterest

Baby Chicks LIVE!

Live stream by Ustream
Live stream by UstreamI'm not a big fan of animals (understatement of the millennium), but my BFF has these chicks they are broadcasting and I find the whole idea absolutely captivating. Many of us can't raise chickens, for one reason or another, although now we can see what these creatures go through every day to get to where they can provide delicious eggs, be live food storage, and enjoy the free range life my BFF and her family will provide.

I wouldn't want to actually touch the little guys, yet watching the animal antics and witnessing the chicks turn into chickens is definitely something I can do. Plus, it is a streaming slice of life that I can't resist.

I hope you enjoy the view!

Source: twowritingteachers.wordpress.com via The Purple on Pinterest

What Just Happened?

That slice of cake was on FIYAH!

Last week something unique and interesting happened on Twitter. A couple of friends made up their minds that another of their friends needed to be celebrated because they missed hanging out with him. Now, I'm not talking about just any old 2-hour-long small gesture of a party type thing. These tweetie pies decided to declare a week-long Twitter holiday and hashtagged it #DaveWeek. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, except several other people became intrigued by the idea and joined in the festivities-- me included. Some of the events included dinners, a dessert rendezvous at @TheChoco, bowling, a Dave Rave, rumors of blood and bruises due to a Broom Hockey activity, and the favorite event of the entire week: going to the Utah Jazz game and all the excitement that came about from that excursion.  When asked what was the most unexpected thing about #DaveWeek, David replied,

I'm not often surprised, but this week I began to expect a new surprise around every turn, and I wasn't disappointed.

-- @downrightdave The Original Dave of #DaveWeek

A super fun aspect of #DaveWeek was when it got trending in Salt Lake City on Twitter twice due to the contributions of many fans (it actually made it to the number one spot that Monday). @plaidspolitics, @nitrojoy, and I had a little more fun than most running with it, I must say. I was even able to get the infamous David Jackson of the Nottingham Rugby team (@JackoNR) to join the celebration. He is a Dave and a super good sport, so it didn't take much encouragement. Essentially, #DaveWeek turned into a global excuse to tweet off the wall stuff and get together with old and new friends every single day, for a week.

#DaveWeek: where all your dreams come true

The reason I write about this event is because I want to savor this slice of life and how it showed me a good example of the simplicity in celebrating those we care about. We don't have to wait for a birthday or any prescribed holiday. If we see a need to show someone they are special and loved, we can just make up a reason, put a plan into action, and wahlah! You have yourself a celebration of epic proportions.

Celebrating life is a key ingredient to any heart healing process, and #DaveWeek was a celebration on hyper drive (Twitter-fueled) helping me to make several new acquaintances in an extremely short period of time. #DaveWeek reminded me that I am an adventurous, fun-loving individual who knows how to make friends and be a good friend in return. My best friend encourages me to understand these things about myself, but there's nothing as solidifying of the facts as near-complete strangers wanting to invite and join in with you just for the fun of it. 
 

photo credits: E. Hawks @starmile83

Thanks goes out to the creators of #DaveWeek: @lauremonoto and @starmile83. 

You two are simply amazing friends. I hope to get to know you better.

Related Links:

http://downrightdave.blogspot.com/2012/01/daveweek-wrap-up.html 

Without Them Life Would Be Miserable

Tell Your Tale in Six Words

Button, Button I {finally} Grabbed The Button

Not to sound ridiculous, but the truth is the truth.

I have seen several blogs with that little red Pinterest follow button and could not--for the life of me--figure out how to grab one to go on my little, purple niche. Well, until now... :)

In all my research into blog development, I have developed quite the vocabulary for fun, cute stuff that only looks like gibberish if you don't paste it into an html friendly zone (said from GREAT amounts of experience). Widgets, buttons, etc. have been part of this high adventure--as you can very well see if you go exploring the page.

Don't Mess With My Facebook

I was introduced to this video during a listening exercise in my Spanish class and am enchanted by it!

No, I do not understand all the words. Yes, I am certain many of you will not understand but a small portion of it (there are bits of English-based words). With all of that laid out, I know you will enjoy it. This video screams whimsical!

Also, I decided it would be a great way to explore divers avenues of multiculturalism. What do you think of these four minutes of creativity?

Hope you have as much fun as I did watching and listening!

How Facebook is Changing Our World

I am one of those individuals who resisted Facebook--up until nearly a year ago. And I can honestly say I enjoy the connections and newly renewed friendships. It does have it's problems though, doesn't it?

One keen observation I have been pondering is how people can only LIKE people to their FACE and the feature for blocking posts of a particular FRIEND enables and fosters passive-aggressive behaviors. I know it is a lot stickier than that, but that also proves how powerful Facebook has become in our social circles.