Once again, it is Volunteer Week. We kicked it off today with trash collection. All the kids did a sterling job. I wish I had brought a camera to take pictures of Ping-Ping and Roland carrying a bag between them and working together. I was very impressed that my somewhat fastidious daughter did not complain.
I realize it is unlikely that even the Internet can solve this one, but… I am looking for the author of a poem I read in the 90s. I am nearly certain that it was in an issue of Absolute Magnitude. John remembers that, too, but we asked the editor once and he did not remember…
Writing friend Merry Muhsman guest blogs with this delightful piece on Encouragement. My cousin’s daughter trembled in my arms, bobbing up and down as the wave rolled by us. “What’s the worst that could happen?” Her skis split apart, even as I wrapped my arms beneath her legs and pulled her close to…
Yesterday, thanks to the generosity of a friend, we took the family to see The Last Airbender, a movie we have been waiting to see for several years now. When we got to the counter, the price for the tickets was unimaginable. We could have gotten in to see God for cheaper–there was a $4…
People asked why the wait for children from China is so long, why there are less children. Here is one answer from: http://chinaadoptiontalk.blogspot.com/2010/07/amy-eldridge-of-lwb-speaks.html Why the significant change? First, she said, there has been a growth in more modern attitudes about girls. It is really only in the rural areas that the social preference for boys remains. …
My youngest son, Juss, is more outgoing than the other children (in America. Ping-Ping was more outgoing still in China and at camp.) He has been joining groups of neighborhood kids in an effort to become friends with them, but alas all the children are either too old or too young. Still, he’s been trying hard,…
One of the first people my daughter bonded with here in America is her godfather, Uncle Bill. For those of you who have not met him, he’s a gentle fire giant…a big fellow with long long red hair that he wears in a braid and long, chest-lenght red beard. Quite early on, she started calling…
Guest post today. Writer Friend Dolly Garland with this charming essay on why we write. What Keeps You Going? It’s funny being a part-time writer. It’s a dream. A step above hobby. A future career. But currently, it’s something that doesn’t pay the bills, only takes the time and effort. Lots and lots of…
Ping-Ping came home from camp today. I was so glad I had gone to the rather elaborate trouble and expense of sending her. For two weeks, she was away from the computer and TV. During that time, she hiked, swam, horseback rode, danced, etc…and, most importantly, made friends and spoke English! It was almost as…
"There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays,"And every single one of them is right!" From In the Neolithic Age by Rudyard Kipling People love to debate things. Writers, being people who use words for a living, love to debate things even more than the average Joe. One thing writers really love…