Mother’s Day: Grief and Joy

Today was a happy Mother’s Day. We had brunch at home, played together outside with Nathaniel and our dog Higgins, and I dabbled in oil painting while my guys napped. We all watched a movie together while I finished some knitting. The day was wonderful, especially on the heels of a huge birthday party for Nathaniel the day before.

Mother’s Day hasn’t always been a happy holiday. I cried through the holiday the last three years.

The Toothfairy is coming to visit…again!

Back to Seattle we shall go…

You may have noticed that I have been absent for a bit on this space. We are in the middle of a busy few weeks and months before our transition back to life in Seattle. We are selling, packing, preparing, and saying goodbyes.

We are taking Higgins, our beloved German Shepherd, with us as well. I am thankful to have our little Zambian family of 4 around me as we move back. I am very sad to leave as I love Zambia so much. We will arrive back to Seattle in the middle of June. Our family is anxiously awaiting our arrival and we will be happy to greet them as well.

I know that Zambia will always live in our hearts and if God would allow it we pray that we can return soon.

Book Review: The Red Tent

This is a series of brief book reviews of literary works that have been read by Ben or myself. The book list will be published at the end of the month and will include titles that have been finished in the previous month. All books are rated using the following system:

5 Stars – Excellent. Couldn’t put it down, a real page turner. It’s easy to be a bookworm when the material is this good!

4 Stars – Very Good. Liked most of the book, a little slow in parts. Was an enjoyable read overall.

3 Stars – Average. Nothing really made it stand out. A bit boring. Unrealistic plot.

2 Stars – So-so. Blah. Could only read a few pages before I fell asleep.

1 Stars – Poor. So boring…I couldn’t even finish it.

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Cover of The Red Tent: A Novel

• “The Red Tent” by Anita Diamant
• 3.5 Stars

The Red Tent is a historic fictional tale of the story of Dinah from Genesis. I kept hearing about this book and finally decided to pick it up. The kindle sample amused me enough to pay for the full copy.

The story chronicles the life of 3 generations of women who are the wives or daughters of the descendants of Abraham. The red tent is a fictional place but functions to explain some of the life and separation of women during their monthly menstruation.

In many ways, it is a beautiful picture of the bonds of womanhood and the daily lives of these nomadic families. I really love how they included the torture and despair of Rachel’s infertility, as that is a personally important area for me. Although even with this angle brought to light, It was still hard to read at points because much of the focus was about the amazing nature of the female and the wonder of our bodies producing offspring. That’s just not the case for me or many other women.

Some notes of caution: it is highly sexualized and may be offensive to some. Also, there is still a lot of idol worship in spite of the forefathers worship of the “One true God.”

I enjoyed the author’s fictional take on the story of Dinah and her later years. It was an interesting read and would be a great book for discussion groups.

The Toothfairy is coming to visit!

Ben and I were talking on the way home from work today (we are lucky enough to get to carpool home together) and I was totally stressing about my to-do list. There is a ton of things to get done both personally and professionally and not enough hours to do it in (and yes, I completely forgot it was Monday). We pulled into our driveway and were greeted by our sweet boy riding his plastic motorcycle. Our sweet boy who was missing a tooth. Wait- he’s missing a tooth?!? My baby is growing up!!

Cue mom-guilt for being at work when the momentous occasion occurred.

The non-Grief of Special Needs Adoption

We don’t fit in. Ben and I are special needs parents by choice. It wasn’t forced upon us by birth, sickness, or congenital abnormality. We don’t fit the stereotype. From reading many stories and knowing people personally who were surprised to learn of their child’s disability, there is a process of grief and coming to terms with their child’s disability.

Many people will ask me if parenting Nathaniel is “hard” or if I grieve his disability.

Menenberg Family Walks

We go for a family walk almost every evening these days now that rainy season has finished and the dirt roads are dry. Ben and I need the exercise and enjoy the time we get to talk. Nathaniel loves seeing the ‘motocars’ and greeting everyone we pass. Higgins is excited about the new smells and loves to be with us.