Media Monday: Rebecca's Journey Home

Rebecca's Journey Home by Brynn Olenberg Sugarman

We gave it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Here is a summary from Kiwi Magazine Online:
This book is a lovely story of the blending of a Jewish family and their traditions with a newly adopted daughter (and sister) from Vietnam. The family’s excitement and anticipation about their new member is told warmly and genuinely by the author who adopted her daughter Rachele from Vietnam.

Our Thoughts: We loved how excited the boys were to adopt, and how the parents included them in the adoption process. We loved how much it showed their religion and the way their synagogue (church) helped them out. Religion is a central part of our family and it gives us strength, hope and joy. It is also a huge support system of friends that are excited for us to adopt. We love how the family embraced the culture and heritage of the daughter they adopted.

Mooo!

Chick-fil-A had their annual cow appreciation day. We wanted to enjoy the free food, so we dressed up like cows and enjoyed a fun family dinner. We even had tails!

Caden was really excited and kept saying funny things. Our top 3 quotes from Caden were:
1. He said the prayer on the way there and said "we thank thee that we can dress up like cows"
2. When we asked him what he wanted to eat, he said "a hamburger and fries"
3. After giving the mascot cow a hug on the way out, he said "I love cows!"

We loved the good food and the play place. We even saw three other families from our ward (congregation) and many other LDS families from the area.

Cars 2!!!

Caden is OBSESSED with the movie Cars. We have just about anything Cars you can imagine (toys, puzzles, towels, sunglasses, clothes, etc). We only have a birthday party with friends every other year, and this year he wasn't going to have one. We had a fun celebration with family instead and went to see Cars 2. We have been excited for about a year about this movie. We went on opening night in 3D with Russ' parents (aka Wapa and Mimi). We also sat by two of Caden's friends and their parents that were also there. Caden LOVED it! (the pic above shows just how excited he really was) He kept his glasses on the whole time and kept telling me in a loud voice that Lightning was in front! Priceless.

Media Monday: Star of the Week

Star of the Week by Darlene Friedman

We give it 4 out of 5 stars.

You can read it here on Google Books.

Here is a summary from the book flap:
"It's Cassidy-Li's turn to be Star of the Week at school! So she's making brownies and collecting photos for her poster. She has pictures of all the important people in her life - with one big exception. Cassidy-Li, adopted from China when she was a baby, doesn't have a photo of her birthparents. But with a little help from her family, she comes up with the perfect way to include them!"

Our thoughts: We love that Cassidy-Li includes her birth family on her poster. That is a big part of who she is and it should be celebrated. In the book it states that she is a little worried about what questions her peers will ask, etc. We think that is a normal concern, but the class responded well to it. We were sad that it was a closed adoption and that she didn't have any pictures of her birth parents. She decided to draw a picture of them instead. We are hoping for an open adoption so that the child can have a relationship with their birth parents, and continue to celebrate and honor them forever!

FSA Play groups

We love going to Families Supporting Adoption (FSA) play groups. It is great to talk to other people that are involved with adoption. In June, we went to a fun park in the area that has a petting zoo and mini train. It also has a stream that the kids love to play in. We also got to meet our friend's son that she recently adopted. So cute!


In July, we went to an awesome splash park. Caden LOVED using his squirter to get everyone wet, including me. We loved chasing each other to get wet.

Fun with Legos

One day, Caden and I were having a great time with Legos. Then, I got an idea to spell words with them. Here is my attempt at writing love notes to Russ and Caden. It made both of them smile. Caden took the picture of me. He is a great photographer! Caden liked seeing his name built out of legos.

Media Monday: Porcupette Finds a Family

Porcupette Finds a Family by Vanita Oelschlager

We give it 3.5 out of 5 stars

Here is a summary from Picture Book Depot:

"In Porcupette Finds a Family, Oeschlager tackles the tragedy of suddenly losing a parent and going straightway into a foster home. The story is told by little Porcupette (the proper name for a baby porcupine), who gives a first-person account of his early life with his loving porcupine mother. His mother dotes on him and teaches him many things, but one day she leaves their home of rocks to find food, and something goes terribly wrong. Poor Porcupette waits and waits but his mother never returns, so he wanders out into the snow and cold to search for her. He never discovers what happened to her, but he does stumble upon a mother bear sleeping peacefully beside her two bear cubs.

Scared, hungry and tired beyond words, Porcupette walks right into their cave, snuggles next to the cubs for warmth, and begins to drink milk from Mother Bear. To his surprise, Mother Bear and the babies accept him, and suddenly, Porcupette has a new family.

But like any child who has been uprooted from what he knows and thrust into a new environment, Porcupette has a new fear: How long will this new family last? Things seem fine on the surface, but what if Mother Bear suddenly remembers he’s not really her child? And what if the entire family suddenly disappears on him, like his own mother did?"

Our thoughts: This book did a great job of describing the feelings of a foster care situation or an adoption with an older child. It talks about how the porcupine sticks out his quills when they are afraid, as is common in these situations. They were very vivid and sad descriptions of how these children feel and react to things. In the end, the Mother Bear comes to find Porcupette and he realizes that she does love him. We are hoping for infant adoption, but this book was good to read so that we could understand more of the feelings/reactions of kids in that situation.

Media Monday: Kung Fu Panda 2

We have not seen this movie yet, but we enjoyed reading this write up about the adoption aspect of this movie from a birth mom. Kelsey does a great job of writing her own commentary, so we will not add any more comments and just let you read hers! http://thebestforyoubook.blogspot.com/2011/06/kung-fu-panda-2-and-adoption-theme.html