Coffee, Princess, and a Hockey Game

I'm sitting at my favorite coffee shop updating my blog and sipping on my favorite drink, an iced coffee based Autum Pecan with Soy milk.  I am an admitted coffee addict!  Its probably my biggest downfall...which isn't too bad, eh?

Well yesterday was quite a busy day, but it was incredibly fun!  I picked up the boys from school, and they both had green cards all day!  That means there were no behavior issues out of either one of them.  With Lil' Man having Asperger's and Brown Eyes being hyperactive, that is quite a feat!

Lil' Man's one-on-one therapists were at home before we even got there.  Lil' Man came in and ate his snack.  He then asked, "When is time for therapy?  When will Miss K be here?"  I told she was already up stairs setting up in his room.  He said, "YES!  This is the best day EVER!"  It was so precious!  He absolutely loves his one-on-one therapy time.

While Lil' Man was in therapy his mom, Brown Eyes, and I decided to take a walk to the park about two blocks away.  There is no play ground.  There are just some garden swings, a large water feature, and a gazebo.  Brown Eyes brings some cars with him and rolls them around the water feature and down the hills.  Because he is a very active boy, Brown Eyes inevitibly got hurt doing boy things.  He layed under one of the garden swings and swung it as hard as he could.  It hit him on his back.  He has quite a bruise.  I can say with certainty though, that he probably won't be doing that again.  Oh, the imaginations of little boys! :)




Sitting on the infamous swing

 After Brown Eyes got some kisses for his boo-boos and cuddle time, he was fine and ready to go again.  As you can see in the picture.

On our way home we stopped at a local thrift store to see if we could find Brown Eyes some pants.  He is growing like a weed, and comes home at least a couple times a week with holes in the knees of his pants.  His favorite thing to do there is find costumes or sports regailia to play with.  He found a catchers mask (which he called a football helment) and ran up to me for me to take his picture.  Because he is so stinkin' cute, I couldn't resist. :)

When we got home, we found Lil' Man and his therapists sitting in the living room floor.  They were playing Lil' Man's newest favorite game...Pretty Pretty Princess.  That is not a typo.  You read it right.  My Lil' Man's favorite game is currently Pretty Pretty Princess.  I had told Big R (one of Lil' Man's therapists) about this new obsession with the game on Monday.  Big R told me that I would never find him playing that game, and that I would just have to leave that up to Lil' Man's female therapists.  Well when I walked in, this was the state I found Big R in:

Its a little difficult to tell in this pic, but Big R is in full princess regailia! :)

After Lil' Man's therapy was over.  Mrs K surprised the boys with a shaving cream balloon fight!  Even their mother joined in!  Sadly I had to leave right when they started their ganging up on Big R with the shaving cream.

I went to see the inagural game of the Greenville Roadwarriors hockey team!  It was a lot of fun.  I love hockey!  The team really came through in the last period, winning 4-1 over the FL Everglades team.  It was fun to get out.  I rarely do that!  I had great company and a great night!

This is just a bit of what happens in the day of a the life...When GOD calls a girl...

Open House, Pretty Hair, and a 100!

Tuesday night was open house at Bel's school.  She was excited because her chorus class was performing.  Does that girl ever like to sing?!  She even sings in her sleep!  She is literally singing from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed at night...and then she sings in her sleep sometimes as well.

Sorry for the low quality photo.  It was taken with my phone.  Bel is the third girl from the left.  This was a preview concert for their Christmas show.  That is why all of the girls are in casual clothes.

She did a wonderful job!  Not that I'm biased in any way, but she may have the best voice in the class! ;)

All day Monday and Tuesday Bel was telling me that she needed her hair done before her concert.  She would tell me that she wasn't going to go because needed a perm.  Generally, I would've ignored her manipulating behavior, but she was right.  She desperately needed a perm!

So on Tuesday afternoon I took her to the salon where a friend of mine works.  I had to convince Bel that it would be okay to get a perm from a "white" girl.  For some reason Bel has this preconceived notion that white girls can't do black hair.  Finally she gave in with a bit of coaxing. lol

I personally think my friend did a fantastic job!  My Bel is beautiful!  I love her hair.  Believe it or not, she loved it too!

Since we're on Bel updates, my baby got a perfect score on a recent quiz in Drama!  Drama is one of the two mainstream class she participates in.  That means we celebrate C's in that class.

She was so proud!  Right when she got in the car after school, she handed it to me, and started squealling with excitement!  She said, "Mom, I have to give it to Grandad!"  Grandad (my dad) is her number one!  She loves him!  No one's opinion really counts except his.

I'm so proud of my daughter!  She has come such a long way.  I will update more a little later.  This is just snidbit of what happens When GOD calls a Girl...



Aparently I'm color blind...

Well I went to Bel's class party today.  Her babysitters came as well.  I love them!  I don't know what I would do with out them.

When we went into the classroom Bel introduced her babysitters as her "Mom and Dad".  She introduced me as her "other mom".  I was internally quite upset about being the "other" mom.  They are not her parents at all!  Why should I be the "other" mom?!  If anything they should be her "other" parents!

After I was able to calm myself enough to not be totally mad at the sitters, I realized something...they're black.  I mean I suppose I should have noticed that before, but it wasn't really an issue.  I mean I didn't care if they were black, blue, green, or purple!  I just apreciated that they loved GOD and loved my daughter!

Today however, I noticed that she does notice.  She notices that I'm not black.  That I don't have the same skin color as her.  More over, she notices that EVERYONE else notices that we don't have the same skin color.  So more as a convience than anything else, it is easier to introduce her sitters as her parents because they are also black.  It leaves her with far less questions to answer.  Making for a much easier day for her.

I've caught her answering the question "Why is your mom white?" this way before:
"My daddy is black.  I have his color."

Then she'll look at me and say "What?!  My daddy is black.  I not lie!" lol  She cracks me up!  She is talking about her bio dad.

This answer also leaves her with less questions.  She doesn't like to tell people she is adopted because she doesn't like to answer the "Why?".  That is completely okay with me.  One day she will be able to talk about it...in her time...in GOD's time.

All of this to say, today I learned that there is one thing I can never be for my daughter.  It hurts me to think I can't be everything for her, but this is reality!  I will never be black.  I will never be able to relate to my daughter on that level.  While I was the minority for a while (being the only white person in a Haitian community), I will never truly know what she feels.  I will never understand how frustrating it is to have to use a million hair products to make my straight.  I will never understand how it feels to feel like I have to live up to the white man's expectations of me.  I will never understand how it is to be immediately stereotyped as a trouble maker solely because of the color of my skin.  I will never understand these things.  It breaks my heart that my daughter feels less than because of the standard of beauty which is socially accepted set by the white man.

Reality is all I will ever be is the "white" mom.  GOD please make us color blind!  Help me lead by example!  This is the realties of what happens When GOD calls a Girl...

New at this...

Well I'm new to the blog world.  I've been told my life is pretty interesting, so I thought I'd give this whole blog thig a whirl.  I hope that I'm able to encourage those that are in similar situations, and inspire people that read my blog.  I'm pretty busy, but I'm going to try to keep it as up to date as possible!  Since there is too much to post that leads up to my life now, I'll give a brief synopsis:

At age 21 I was working as the Student Ministries Director of a local Haitian Wesleyan Church.  While there I found out that a couple of my youth should be removed from their home situation.  One was over the age of 18, and therefore not removed.  The 16 yr old was not removed because there were no Creole speaking foster parents.  I went to a lawyer and discovered that in the state of SC I would qualify to take her.  So, at age 21 I became the mother of a then 16 year old.  About three months later a judge made us a forever family!

My precious daughter, who I will refer to in my blog as Bel (Creole word for beautiful), has since turned 17.  She is a sophmore in high school, and I am so proud of her!  Most of blogs will probably be about her and my life as a 22 year old single mom of a 17 year old.

I will also post about my precious godsons.  Whom I refer to as Brown Eyes and Lil' Man.  They are also a huge part of my life, as I care for them 50% of the time.

This picture is of Lil' Man, Bel, and Brown Eyes at one of our favorite parks.  I love my babies! :)

This is the realities of what happens When GOD calls a Girl...