A Family Affair

This may surprise some of you, but I am a white girl from the Midwest. I like to think of myself as half Puerto Rican [because when 2 become 1 it only makes sense that I'm half Puerto Rican...thanks babe!], half black [mainly because of my love for rap/hip hop and Ethiopia], and half Asian [Korean probably fits me best, but I'm a melting pot of Asian ethnicities...thanks Newsong!]. I know those fractions equal more than "1", but I gotta lot of personality!

My entire extended family is very white [minus my Hispanic husband, a Jamaican-by-culture sister-in-law, an Aussie cousin-in-law, and a Guatemalan cousin-in-law] - born and raised in the corn fields of Central Illinois. I don't even remember knowing anyone with another color or from another culture until late in elementary school when we moved from the small Midwestern town we lived in to Dallas, Texas. Pretty much everyone I knew growing up looked like me, even though I sang "Jesus Loves the Little Children". The "red, yellow, and black" children I sang about in that song were more theoretical than real.
But God's doing a crazy cool thing in my family!!! I'm not sure where it started but loving the little children of the world has caught a hold in the hearts of our family. I have 12 cousins and 2 brothers and the call to care for orphans is taking off!

• My cousin, Erin, and her family are looking to adopt a little girl from China.
• My cousin, Jeff, and his family are adopting a special needs boy from China.
• My cousin, Todd, and his family are adopting a Downs Syndrome little boy from Eastern Europe.
• I know other cousins are sponsoring kids through organizations like World Vision and Compassion International.
• My entire family has been prayerfully and emotionally supportive as we've sought to adopt our 2 kiddos.
  
• A number of my family have financially supported our adoption in ways that have brought head shaking and tears.
  

God is growing our hearts for caring for orphans!!! I never would've imagined our homogeneous family becoming so colorful, but God often does what's beyond our imagination to grow our faith and his Kingdom. Ever so grateful today for my increasingly colorful and diverse family! I am utterly convinced that it will grow us so much as we experience God through orphan care and different cultures.

Excited and proud of the Getz and Neukomm familia today!!! What a fun journey we are on together.

Practicing Parenting...with 2 fish

In light of the impossibility of topping my last few posts introducing Baby T and Lil' A, I would like to introduce you to the 2 newest Diaz family members: Ringo [left] and Spike [right]. Ringo is the cool, calm, and collected fish. Spike is a little crazy and fiesty. I worry about his mental health.

Last week a friend at work offered to give us 2 Betta fish. After more thought than the decision warranted, we accepted. [It's like it was a big decision.] After all, they were free, low maintenance, came with free homes, and they provided us with first attempt at parenting. Actually, at first Brian suggested we flush them down the toilet and see how long they'd fight for their lives, but at last he embraced these 2 fish as pets. We spent quite a bit of time trying to name them. Among the finalists were Maximus, Eddie, Edward, Cliff, Theo, Starbuck and Apollo. A very serious endeavor.

After a few days, they've managed to cost us $8.67 on colored rocks [see above pic] and food. Brian's become quite fond of them. He's feeding them, concerned about the poop levels in their water bowls, and wondering what they are thinking about their new home. I've told him these levels of responsibility and nurturing are promising signs of fatherhood. I've NEVER been concerned about these qualities in my husband - he's kind of a rock star in these categories, but none the less, he's never had to activate these qualities in a parenting role. Until now.

Baby T and Lil' A, Ringo and Spike are waiting for you. We got these 2 crazy fish for you. You already have pets [and blankets and a few toys with little brown people and lots of books!] We love you oh-so much. We look at your faces too many times a day to count and wonder what you're doing. We pray for your caretakers and friends at the orphanage. We are praying for every aspect of the legal processes to go smoothly and without delay so we can bring you home as quickly as humanly possible. Until you get home, we'll take good care of Ringo and Spike and practice our best parenting skills on them. We love you, Baby T and Lil' A.

Grandparent Resources

[dad, mom, and me a few years back]

My parents are pretty freaking great for a thousand reasons. But I've come to love them more throughout our adoption process. They are SOOOOOOO excited to become grandparents to 2 little Ethiopian babies. They read every blog post without exception, and my mom cries at every blog post without exception! They have given beyond comprehension to our process. They bought Christmas gifts for our kids last Christmas. They pray for our little ones and us more than I'll ever know. And they believe these grandchildren will fully be their grandchildren.

Recently, my dad and I exchanged a handful of vibrant emails about how they can be part of our "village" and how they need to grandparent our kids. I didn't have many answers of what they need to do. I mainly just told him all the things he can't do and how adoptive parenting is "specialized parenting" - different from how he'll grandparent his first grandchild, Jack. He wasn't satisfied with my answers. Very my dad.

So, I pointed him to our case manager, who pointed us to a resource specialist. She gave the following list for grandparenting. I haven't looked at anything specifically [I've got my own stack of books to read!], but I trust this source. Hopefully they'll help you and your "village".

• Adoption is a Family Affair: What Relatives and Friends Must Know by Patricia Irwin Johnson is a good general book for all adopting families.
• www.perspectivespress.com :: has some good articles on adoption
• www.emkpress.com :: if you click on "Resources" on the top tab, you will find an article "Why Grandma Can't Pick up the Baby", and several other good articles related to adoption.

If you have any great grandparenting resources - articles, websites, cliff note versions to books - please let me know! I'd love to give them to my parents.