mid-August

Dang, I've been wanting to a better job of blogging...and again, the month is half over and I've not blogged. Shoot. Okay. Looking forward to the girls being in school so that I will have time to work on things like blogging! Geez. The days just FLY by!

I've been thinking about blogging...and all the things I've wanted to include. So let me post a few things that come to mind tonight. I teach a class next week, then Rachel & I start classes on the 22nd. Megan starts on the 29th. I'm not sure where the summer went. Sigh. But back to my list:

Megan

• She is reading at probably 1st or possibly 2nd grade level. She is instigating more and more reading opportunities. I'm not sure how much further she's going to be by the time she starts kindergarten. I'm scared to think about it.
  
• She's starting to express interest in math (Lord help me!). I've been dragging my feet so she has some sort of challenge in the future!!! Geez.
• She LOVES to build towers with blocks. As in she can literally spend an hour or more multiple times a day in her room building towers and pyramids with her alphabet blocks. I'm sure glad I didn't get rid of all of them!
• She's recently gotten into "decorating" her room (aka taking the bow hair clips and clipping them on her curtains, drawer pulls, picture frames, etc.) during naptime and/or in the morning after she wakes up, but before she's allowed to get up (before 6am)
• She's started asking for a clock in her room with hands so she can tell what time it is to get up (which she says is when "the hand is on the 6"...she determined that time...not us, but I'm good with that!!!).

Rachel

• Rachel's English is coming along. She's doing awesome! Its incredible how far she has come!!! She's doing amazing.
• She loves beautiful dresses (as in formal dress up clothes)
• She enjoys going to church and is making friends there.
• She loves crafts and drawing. She loves making bracelets with beads, especially.
• She hates to wear her glasses (Megan loves to wears her "just glasses"...still)
• She loves Americ@n foods especially pizza! She loves my homemade pizza--well, not MY truly homemade pizza as she's not had that yet--but there are various types of pizzas that we make at home that she likes.
• She's very excited about school...she'll be in 8th grade.

Okay, that's the best I can come up with at the moment...so I'm calling it good for the time being...I hope to update once classes start next week!

Book Review

In the spring I was contacted by author, Sheila Kelly Welch, about a new fiction book she had coming out for pre-teens and teens. She wanted to know if I was interested in reading the book and reviewing it for her. Seeing as how we getting ready to bring Rachel home and we wanted to begin finding books that she could read (when we got that far!), I said absolutely! So, last week, the book Waiting to Forget arrived in the mail. The book looked interesting and I looked forward to being able to read it.

Once I had the chance to open it and begin reading, I was hooked! Its well written and holds your attention. Its written in a now/then format with the entire book essentially taking place in one day, but the reflection pieces cover a number of years. The main character, T.J., and his younger sister have recently been adopted through foster care. The reflection pieces tell how they came into foster care, talking about different painful times of their life with their biological mother. Welch uses T.J.'s life book to help him process his past and tell the story.

I will be blunt. While this is fiction, the things Welch includes as what T.J. (and his sister) experience while living with their biological mother are things that kids who have been placed in foster have (and unfortunately often do) experience. They are painful. They will cause you to be angry. They will bring up tears. They will not be easy to remove from your thoughts. These characters will stay with you. I am still thinking about them--and its been several days since I finished reading it.

So, who should read this book? Well, I don't think that all pre-teens or teens should, however, if you have a child who has experienced foster care or a foster care placement, this might be a good book for them to read. If you work with children, it might be a good book for you to read simply for awareness. If you are looking for a book that will move you, it would be a great book to read. The writing/word choice is exceptional. You do not feel like you are reading a "kids" book. Its good. I don't get much time to read, but I was done in about 2 days. Its definitely worth the effort. You won't be disappointed, but you certainly will be changed. THAT I can guarantee.