Journey(s). Everyone has one. This is mine.: And For a Laugh

July 19, 2003.
Said our "I Do's" after living in sin in Sin City for a year. At this particular blissful moment, we were completely oblivious to the fact that in a few months' time, we'd be making a decision that would change our lives for a really long time.
February 2004.
Enthusiastically (and naively) accepted teaching positions in Cairo, Egypt. Three years, eight trips to the Pyramids and hundreds of hours of Calls to Prayer later, we dusted off the desert sand and declared "khalas!" It was time for a change.
January 2007.
Enthusiastically (and not naively) accepted better teaching positions in Manila, Philippines. Here, we were challenged professionally and we lived happily (usually). Life was busy, but full of small blessings.
July 2010.
Bought a place on the Washougal River, left it empty, returned to Manila and moved into a townhouse in a village named after a local beer.
March 2011.
Started the adoption process in the Philippines. The events leading up to becoming parents were the hardest in our journey together so far. But it would all be completely worth it.
August 24, 2011.
The most wonderfully peaceful, joyous and memorable day - the day we brought our son, Aiston, home to live with his forever family; the day we became a trio.

June 9, 2013.

Legal adoption complete, traveled to the States and spent seven heavenly weeks in our home on the Washougal River. It was Aiston's first opportunity to meet his extended family and experience his other "life," and his parents' opportunity to regain their sanity after a very time-consuming and frustrating process.

November 2014.

Interviewed with and accepted teaching positions in Prague, Czech Republic, at one of the four schools we were aiming for. We look forward to a change of scenery, all four seasons, nature aplenty and a phenomenal school in which to work and send our son.

December 1, 2014.

Discovered we are pregnant. Baby Boy is due around July 20. Life is full of surprises.

April 26, 2015.

The day Aiston became a U.S. citizen.

Adoption and Parenting

Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents by Deborah Gray
Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina
Carried in Our Hearts by Jane Aronson
In On It: What Adoptive Parents Would Like You to Know About Adoption by Elisabeth O'Toole
Loved By Choice by Susan Horner and Kelly Fordyce Martindale
Nurture Shock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child by Patty Cogen
Secrets of the Baby Whisperer and The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems by Tracy Hogg
The Adoption Resource Book by Lois Gilman
The Connected Child by Karyn Purvis, David Cross and Wendy Sunshine
The Family of Adoption by Joyce Maguire Pavao
The Price of Privilege by Madeline Levine
The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
Your Baby and Child: From Birth to Age 5 by Penelope Leach

Passion Reading

Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken
Brain Rules by John Medina
Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
Farm City by Novella Carpenter
Farm Sanctuary by Gene Baur
Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating by Mark Bittman
Food Rules by Michael Pollan
Forty Chances by Howard G. Buffett
In Defense of Animals: The Second Wave edited by Peter Singer
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed edited by Vandana Shiva
Organic, Inc. by Samuel Fromartz
Quiet by Susan Cain
The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
The Pig Who Sang to the Moon by Jeffrey Masson
The Sacred Balance by David Suzuki
Traffic by Tom Vanderbilt

Words to Live By

We are living on this planet as if we have another one to go. (Activist Terri Swearingen)

We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. (Native American Proverb)

What is personally sustainable is globally sustainable. What is good for you is good for our planet. (Dean Ornish)

You are only as busy as you want to be and you are never as busy as you think you are. (Unknown)

The greatness of a nation, and its moral progress, can be judged by the way its animals are treated. (M.Gandhi)

People look and think 'Who cares?' But what will they say when extinction is knocking on the door of the human race? (Unknown)

Only when the last tree has died, and the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we cannot eat money. (Cree Saying)

Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart. (Unknown)

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. (Emerson)

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. (Dr. Seuss)

May the sun bring you new energy by day. May the moon softly restore you by night. May the rain wash away your worries. May the breeze blow new strength into your being. May you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life. (Apache Blessing)

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. (Og Mandino)

Live with intention. Walk to the edge. Listen hard. Practice wellness. Play with abandon. Laugh. Choose with no regret. Continue to learn. Appreciate your friends. Do what you love. Live as if this is all there is. (Mary Anne Radmacher)

If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always got. (Unknown)

When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves. (Viktor E. Frankl)

What you allow, is what will continue. (Unknown)

Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind. Always. (Unknown)

Journey(s). Everyone has one. This is mine.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

And For a Laugh

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