Chen Chronicles

An observation of a friend prompted today's blog post.  I usually do not go overboard when it comes to political correctness, or PC as my husband and I like to call it. This is a sensitive enough topic, alone, without having to throw in the PC issue.  This friend observed some signs at our church which advertised for our Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPs) group.  The fliers had a who, what, when, where, kind of format and under the who, they stated, "In utero through eighth grade."   As many of you know, I am an adoptive mother and this bothered me as well as a friend of mine who understands that not all mothers come in the form of biology. I normally would not take offense to something like this, except that the audience the group wishes to attract is ALL mothers-to-be.   I know many might argue that a "prospective adoptive parent," isn't an "expectant mother," but many of us travel this journey of miles of paperwork and red tape because we h

I am, by no means an expert on marriage.  With that said, I have been married for seven years and together with my husband for eight...so the better part of a decade.  I can say WITHOUT RESERVATION that he is the best thing that has ever happened to me, aside from my sweet adopted daughter from Russia.   This weekend, we were blessed enough to attend an Air Force program known as Yellow Ribbon that was a re-integration following a deployment program.  A couple of the workshops we attended were geared towards figuring out what personality type you are of four main personalities.  This stuff is fascinating to me because I majored in communications and sociology.  In my relationship with Aaron, I am VERY much a communicator, but he is too.  It is the KIND of communicator that matters and the knowledge that each of us has a little of each color in us, but we all have a PRIMARY color too. So, those of you that KNOW me, probably know that my primary color is Blue and Aaron'

Song of Solomon: A modern day Harlequin novel At a recent marriage retreat Aaron and I attended, they had separate women's and men's sessions for one of them so that each party could think about issues related to their spouse.  On the Saturday night of the retreat, they discussed "Marriage After Dark." The speaker noted two passages of scripture from Chapters 4 & 5 in Song of Solomon. From Chapter 4: He 4  Behold,  you are beautiful, my love,      behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves      behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats      leaping down  the slopes of Gilead. 2  Your  teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes      that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins,      and not one among them has lost its young. 3  Your lips are like  a scarlet thread,      and your mouth is  lovely. Your  cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate      behind your veil. 4  Your  neck is like the tower of David,      built in  rows

Normally, I can watch a television movie and not be so emotionally affected by it that it changes my day, but this is not the case with the film, Like Dandelion Dust.   I held Katie a little closer when she woke up from her rest time/nap because it just further reinforced how much I love her and want nothing but the best for her.  The movie came on at some point in the last few days on Lifetime Movie Network and I DVR movies sometimes for later use.  It was a cold, snowy, movie kind of day.  So when Katie took a small nap today, I was able to watch this...and I cried....no, I bawled like a baby!!! The film is about two adoptive parents and a son, living an idyllic lifestyle in a nice home with their son.  The birth mother in this, fictional story, based off several REAL events, had an abusive relationship with the child's birth father.  He went to prison for beating her and breaking her arm.  He had issues with alcoholism.  This isn't the best environment to raise

Handwriting Horrors & God's Majesty Lately, we have been working with Katie on her handwriting.  I just have to make the statement that I have a whole new respect for teachers who teach these littles proper handwriting.  There is probably nothing more frustrating (at least that I have seen so far), than teaching my daughter to write her letters.  So, let me show you what she does with the lowercase "i." So we have been explaining to her that a lowercase "i" isn't a line with a circle above it or even a line with a dot touching it.  Aaron has had to even work with her on it.  We downloaded an App for the 1st generation iPad that she uses to "write" her letters with a stylus.  So far, this is the letter she has had the most trouble with...and seemingly, it should be an easy one.  At school, they are doing "Handwriting without Tears."  I am glad at the moment we only have ONE child to teach how to write.  I have to say tha