Category Archives: Reece’s Rainbow

7 Quick Takes: Sad News, Grumpy Cats, and Spectacled Bears

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

Some very sad news. Henry, a little Ukrainian boy adopted by the Dobrovits family in 2011, passed away yesterday after an infection developed in his back from recent surgery to put VEPTR rods in his back. He may have only lived two years but his adoption was the catalyst for a number of people to become involved with Reece’s Rainbow including the family adopting Brett. I’m so grateful for his parents taking the leap of faith to adopt him because many children have found families because of him. Leila of Orphan Report and Little Catholic Bubble wrote a beautiful piece about all of this. Please keep his family in your prayers and if you can, please go show them some love.

— 2 —

Reminder: iTunes giveaway. I wanted to remind people that the iTunes gift card giveaway is going on until Sunday at 11:59. Just donate and let me know how much — you get one entry per $5 donated. You also get one entry per mention on social media so leave me a comment and let me know that as well.

— 3 —

Rain, rain, rain, and thunder. We got slammed with one storm yesterday and we’ve got one coming in tonight and tomorrow morning that should be hit harder. We’ve got wind advisories and there are areas of northern California that could be getting 14 inches of rain… which is a huge percentage of our yearly rainfall. I usually love rain but this one has been triggering some nasty migraines.

— 4 —

A spectacled bear. Daniel’s glasses arrived last week and we finally got him to wear them full-time this week.

A spectacled bear

I didn’t know he could get any cuter… but he did.

— 5 —

Grumpy cat source. You know the meme with the cat with a sour look on its face? There is actually a site for her called The Original Grumpy Cat. She is a real cat and her human posts the Daily Grump. You can also get Christmas cards with her on them… when her human gets them reprinted for the third or fourth time. (Seriously… they’ve been swamped with orders.)

— 6 —

Daniel’s Advent calendar arrived. I’m trying to create meaningful Advent traditions with Daniel and one that I’ve had since I was old enough to remember was Advent calendars. My mom bought them for us growing up, sent them to me in college, and even sent them after I was married. I’m looking forward to opening the windows with him.

— 7 —

How did I not know about this site???? I just discovered ZooBorns.Com. This is not a good site for me to know about — I’m going to be looking at pictures of baby red pandas all night!

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

Giving Tuesday

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In the spirit of shopping and buying and days dubbed with monikers, non-profits have dubbed today “Giving Tuesday” and invite others to make donations on behalf of others as an alternative Christmas present. I thought I’d help out with this by giving you a list of some charities I love and to whom I would give away 90% of my income if I could.

Heifer International: This is an organization that gives farm animals, trees, bees, and resources to people in impoverished places and teaches them how to make a living from them. When the animal reproduces (or the tree produces fruit), the offspring is given to another person in order to “pass on the blessing”. They enable people to be self-sufficient, pay school fees, and pay for medication.

Kiva.Org: This organization uses the principle of microlending and allows you to make loans in increments of $25 to people in 3rd world countries (and I think, parts of the US) in order to fund their businesses. When the loan is paid back, you have the option of taking the cash or re-loaning it. I’ve made 14 loans, 11 of which are paid in full. Only one person has defaulted and of the 14 loans, I’ve maybe invested $125 total which means most of it has been re-loaned a few times.

RAINN: This is an essential organization considering that 1 in 3 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. They provide resources, phone numbers, and information for victims and most of all, they help them to know that they aren’t alone.

Reece’s Rainbow: They facilitate international adoptions for kids with Down’s Syndrome and other medical conditions. Adoption is incredibly expensive and they provide grants to help families manage it. I’m involved with them as a Guardian Angel and it has been BY FAR one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. My child Brett currently has his adoptive family in his country going through the legalities there to adopt him.

Project Linus: They provide blankets to kids in traumatic situations like children’s shelters and hospitals. I’ve made blankets for them and I was blessed enough to receive several for Daniel during his hospital stays.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook: November 26, 2012

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Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY November 26, 2012

Outside my window… dark. It was in the 60’s today though.

I am thinking… one of my library books should be available soon.

I am thankful… for the weekend with my family and that it did not include a hospital stay for Daniel like it did last year.

In the kitchen… leftover fungus risotto.

I am wearing… faded charcoal shirt and fleece pajama bottoms.

I am creating… crocheted snowflakes and Christmas stockings.

I am going… to get my massage tomorrow.

I am wondering… when the Advent calendar I ordered for Daniel will arrive.

I am reading… nothing — just finished The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling over the long weekend.

I am hoping… Brett’s family is able to do well with all the adoption-related stuff this week and that they’re able to come home soon.

I am looking forward to… my massage.

Around the house… lots to do.

I am pondering… Christmas crocheting.

A favorite quote for today… ??To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.?? — C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

One of my favorite things… Coca-Cola even though I know it’s bad for me.

A few plans for the rest of the week: blood work and massage tomorrow, Morning Prayer on Wednesday, and Christmas crocheting throughout.

Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook

Two Announcements

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Two announcements:

1.) I’m going to be hard to find this week because the hard disk on my laptop failed and I lost everything. Please pray that the church’s tech guru can get my files off of it and that the new one can successfully be installed. I’m sharing a Netbook with Jon and it’s been an adjustment to learn to type on it.

2.) I’m doing a giveaway over at Blogging for Brett to raise the extra $4000-$5000 that his family needs for his adoption.

Go check out the giveaway! Do it now!

7 Quick Takes: Brett Has A Family, Cringe Worthy Thanksgiving Songs, and Lots of NaNoWriMo

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

A cringe worthy Thanksgiving song. It’s about two weeks to early to be hearing Christmas music. Seriously… it’s not even Thanksgiving yet — let’s celebrate The Day of the Bird and then we can ponder the presence of Christmas carols. In the meantime, here’s the KLOVE Thanksgiving Song which was composed and sung on the spot by Matthew West last year when Scott and Kelli had him on the show. Warning: this song is seriously facepalm worthy.

— 2 —

BRETT HAS A MAMA!!!! Do you see the adorable child on my sidebar? His name is Brett and he just got a mama!!! His family needs to raise an additional $4000 to bring him home with his sister Delilah who they are also adopting. Click here for the post on his adoption blog to share with others. If you want to cut to the chase and kick a few bucks toward the cause, click here.

— 3 —

I’m almost halfway through NaNoWriMo and I’m slowly getting caught up. There are days when I have written more than 2000 words and other days when it is less. At present, I am about 1 day behind in word counts. If I can catch up and get a bit ahead, I’ll be able to finish strong on November 30 and have my novel certified. If that happens, the NaNoWriMo graphic on my sidebar will change to say “Winner”.

— 4 —

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, my friend Anita is fundraising for NaNoWriMo to be able to attend Night of Writing Dangerously. Anita has been involved with NaNoWriMo for years and she has organized write-ins this year to support those who are participating in the East Bay. Could you maybe kick $5 toward her? (As I’m compiling these takes on 11/15, she is $115 away from her goal.)

— 5 —

My car is in the shop. I finally got the fuse for the automatic locks replaced two weeks ago and the next day, the rear passenger door decided it didn’t want to unlock. I finally took it in to be looked at and they told me this morning that the actuator needs to be replaced. They’ll hopefully have it replaced by tomorrow at 5 p.m. because I’ll be headed to a write-in for my area for NaNoWriMo. *crosses fingers*

— 6 —

We’ve got a few storms coming in. It’s been a gray day today and we supposedly have a storm system coming in. This would be lovely but my migraines are frequently triggered by weather changes. Oh well… I can enjoy reading on a rainy day and I can hopefully introduce the bear child to new and cool cartoons or something.

— 7 —

I wasn’t all that enthralled by the second part of the NCIS: Los Angeles that aired on Tuesday. I recognize that they’re trying to create material for later in the season but it would have been more interesting if they had discovered the arms dealer and the nukes. Oh well… the original NCIS is my favorite anyway.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

7 Quick Takes: Some Baseball, Halloween, and an Exhortation to Vote

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7 Quick Takes

— 1 —

The Giants swept the Tigers in 4 games, making them WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!!! Serious love here for my homeboys again because they proved that they were not going down lightly. Two of those games were shut outs and Game 1 involved some Kung Fu Panda power as the Panda bamBOOMed a few balls out of the park. I wish some of these wins had come when I was growing up in the South Bay but hey… they’ve happened when I’ve been back in northern California so I shouldn’t complain.

— 2 —

The victory parade and celebration were… interesting. I was catnapping during part of it which made for trippy dreams. It was surreal, especially the people with balloons on them who were riding on Segways. There were so many sights that reinforced the weirdness of some of the members: Pablo Sandoval (the Kung Fu Panda) wearing red leggings and white Hush Puppy-like shoes), Brian Wilson going Rasta on the Giants’ cable car, and Sergio Romo being… himself. (You had to laugh at the policeman assigned to him in the parade because Romo left the convertible and was running around the parade route getting high-fives. That was a policeman with a major sense of humor — he was shaking his head and laughing.) In addition to the key to the city, the mayor also presented them with a golden broom for SWEEPING DETROIT!

— 3 —

My AWESOMESAUCE Halloween costume. I was going to go as a black cat (because, as the house panther on my chest would say, I have good inspiration) but my kitty ears disappeared so I took strips of glow-in-the-dark duct tape and put strips of it on my long sleeved shirt. My costume: Daniel’s “mummy”. It was both awesome and safe because the duct tape was visible in the dark and reflective so it was safe for crossing the street. I would have gone as a “tired blogger with a sinus infection” but Jen of ConversionDiary.Com kind of stole that idea. (OK… she had the same idea.)

— 4 —

Do you see the boy on my sidebar. His name is Brett. He has CP, is incredibly cute, incredibly brilliant, and he needs a mama!!! Do you know someone who might be his mama? Go share his blog URL and show him some love.

— 5 —

Because I am a sucker for punishment, I am doing NaNoWriMo this year. I haven’t “won” since 2009 but I’m attempting it anyway. (I got derailed last year by my little bear ending up in the hospital over Thanksgiving.) It’s a chick-lit/mainstream fiction piece called “How To Be a Perfect Pastor’s Wife” — I’m writing about what I know. It was either that or a murder mystery taking place at an import brokerage and involving cross-border stuff. As I have been out of the import brokerage world for 2.5 years now (which bums me out — I loved that job), the latter idea would involve too much research so it has been scrapped. I have a widget on my sidebar (below the Obama graphic) so if you were to go to just plain http://grace-filled/net, you’ll see it. I don’t remember if it has my word count or not.

— 6 —

They are preempting NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles next week. I’d rather watch my shows than election returns… hands down. Election returns don’t matter until the polls close. By that time, I could have watched 2 hours of freaking awesome forensic dramas. *grumps*

— 7 —

And finally… my public service message: GET YOUR BUTTS TO THE POLLS ON TUESDAY AND VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!! This is not THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION IN US HISTORY (kinda reserving that for 1860 and a few others) but it is incredibly important nevertheless. If you need help sorting through your ballot, the League of Women Voters is awesome for that and has LOTS of local chapters in a ton of states. (They’re non-partisan and exist to help like this.) If you’re like me and have already voted by mail or early voting, THANK YOU!!! If not, please get yourself to the polls. I’m not going to tell you how to vote (I know that there are probably people posting Quick Takes on why you should vote a certain way) but I will say as an American, it is imperative that you vote. We are blessed to live in a country with universal suffrage (as in everyone over the age of 18 can vote) where we can vote for whoever our consciences lead us to support. Please take advantage of this. /steps off my soapbox.

— Bonus —

Regarding Hurricane Sandy… Unless you happen to be in New Jersey or New York or someplace else that is ground zero for damage, donating canned food to the Red Cross is probably not the best idea. There are a huge number of ways to help: donating money is one but they’re also pretty desperate for blood. I can’t donate blood for medical reasons but if you are eligible at all, get thee to your local Red Cross!!! Those who are on the ground in affected areas, is there anything we can send you? Leave me comments.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

7 Quick Takes: Lots of Baseball and Some Politics

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7 Quick Takes

Jon will be home from St. Louis tonight and I’m looking forward to it. It’s been a relatively easy week of solo parenting but I’m exhausted.

— 1 —

Oh. Em. Gee. NLCS Game 7!!!! The Giants are the comback kids of the MLB. They came back from being 2 games down in Cincinnati and 3 games down in St. Louis. Game 7 was two excellent teams playing and while the score wasn’t even close, there were awesome moments. It was hysterically funny to watch Marco Scutaro enjoying the rain the 9th inning and I loved seeing Sergio Romo’s reaction to winning the game. Probably the best moment was Scutaro catching the fly ball from Holliday… who had injured him in Game 2 while sliding into second base. I have profound respect for the Cardinals — they messed with Texas last year. I also have a great deal of respect for Jason Motte, their closer, who issued this tweet after the game.

— 2 —

My World Series bet. I have a World Series bet with Emily. If my Giants win, she’ll donate $10 to International Justice Mission. If her Tigers win, I’ll be donating $10 to To Write Love on Her Arms. Both are worthy organizations and I’m glad that one (or maybe both) will benefit.

— 3 —

I’m wondering what happened in Game 1 of the World Series. Seriously… all the sports talking heads have been playing up Verlander and how he was going to shut out the Giants. Yeah, that totally happened… NOT! Verlander lasted only 4 innings and our Panda bam-BOOMED three home runs out of the park. Scutaro (whose jersey I’ll be acquiring one of these days) made it on base every time he was up and continued his 11-hitting streak. My homeboys won it 8-3 (2 of those points coming because Angel Pagan couldn’t jump high enough to catch a homer).

— 4 —

What truly disgusts me. You all have probably heard about Ann Coulter’s tweet in which she calls President Obama a “retard”. Many of you probably saw the well-written letter to her from a Special Olympics athlete. What really disgusts me, however, is seeing people who advocate for special needs children defending Ann Coulter. I saw someone on a message board explaining that Ann Coulter is “just a comedian like Stephen Colbert”. Two problems with that: 1.) Ann Coulter is not a comedian by any stretch of the imagination. She is a political commentator. 2.) Stephen Colbert may be a comedian but he knows that there is a line between being funny and being insulting. Ann Coulter never fails to go for the insult. Hearing people defend her is as nefarious to me as Greta Van Sustren’s statement that “nobody was insulted” by Todd Akin’s statements on “legitimate rape”.

— 5 —

Do you see the handsome young man on my right sidebar? His name is Brett and he needs a mama. Could this person be you? Go click on his picture and see how amazing he is. While you’re there, would you mind contributing to his grant?

— 6 —

Really? This morning, I was walking the bear child to preschool when two minivans pulled up behind each other, barely avoiding us on the sidewalk. Two adults pile out and were pulling kids out of the car while screaming at them to get moving and that they were going to be late for school. Granted, I may or may not have been walking Daniel to school in my pajama bottoms but seriously??? YOU MORONS ALMOST RAN OVER MY SON AND ME!!!! This is freaking preschool — your kid is not going to get detention for being late like they would if it was middle school or high school where they were responsible for getting themselves to school. If you have a persistent problem with being late, try getting your precious sweetling up earlier. It’s not even like there was a drop-off line issue — the two of them came flying out of nowhere and the second one almost rear-ended the first one. Watching the adults and kids piling out was almost like watching a bunch of circus clowns.

— 7 —

Game 2 tonight. I used this as my last take because I generally put together Quick Takes over a few days and I was watching the game while assembling these. The pitchers seemed equally matched tonight. There were no runs batted in and had Posey not tagged Fielder out in the 2nd, it could have been Detroit who won. I also loved the interview with Romo and seeing him photobombing the Panda.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.