Sunday, September 28, 2008
Commentary on White Privilege (Political)
One of my blog friends posted something recently on white privilege. I considered posting the article on my blog, but decided not to. Then today I ran across the article she posted on her blog and decided to post it after all. However, instead of posting the entire article, I'm posting the link. This writer brings forth some very good and valid points that I think we should all take time to really think about. http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise/this-your-nation-white-privilege-updated
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Liliana is Legally Liliana
At 9:45 a.m. today, Dave, Lili and I entered a court room and sat before a judge. After answering a few questions, the judge stated that Ana Maria is now legally known as Liliana Maria Weeks. Sometime in the next couple of months, she will receive her Illinois Certificate of Foreign Birth and we can apply for her social security card, new Certificate of Citizenship, and U.S. Passport.
So, for favorite photo Friday, I decided to post some pictures of Liliana Maria Weeks.
**Please note the poses in the photos. She is not an easy target for pictures.**
So, for favorite photo Friday, I decided to post some pictures of Liliana Maria Weeks.
**Please note the poses in the photos. She is not an easy target for pictures.**
Now that Lili is able to climb on the furniture by herself, the Kleenex box is an easy target. Here is Lili blowing her nose.
She sees the light come on the camera and immediately lays on the sofa. What a goof!!!
Finally, a decent pose. Of course there always seems to be toys and books on the floor in her photos :-)
I don't know if you can see if very well in these pictures, but Lili woke up with a spider bite on her left cheek Wednesday morning. By Thursday it was bigger and it's still there today. Hopefully it will disappear soon.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike moved through Central Illinois today and we now have about 18 inches of water in our basement. They had to close our street about a block south because there was so much water. Fortunately, we do have insurance to help cover the damages in our basement, but I'm sure many do not.
This, of course, is nothing in comparison to all the families who are displaced and/or dealing with much more significant damage to their homes in Texas. My thoughts go out to them in a big way.
This, of course, is nothing in comparison to all the families who are displaced and/or dealing with much more significant damage to their homes in Texas. My thoughts go out to them in a big way.
Friday, September 12, 2008
FFF
Here are some pictures of Lili from this morning.
One of Lili's favorite snacks is ice chips. She uses the sofa as her table since it's the perfect height.
Lili and her doggies. Jada and Lexie are so tolerant.
Lili just being "oh so cute."
Thursday, September 11, 2008
No More Adoptions from Guatemala This Year
I know many families who very much want to adopt from Guatemala again, but the latest news strongly indicates that is not going to be a possibility at this time. Here is the information posted on Guatadopt.com.
Link: http://www.sigloxxi.com/noticias/23028
The National Council for Adoptions (CNA) suspended the delivery of children to foreign families during the remainder of 2008. The previous decision was made because there are many Guatemalans who are applying to host at home to an infant.The measure was circulated by the president of the ANC, Elizabeth Hernandez, the secretary general of the Hague Conference on International Law, Hans Van Loon.According to the records of the ANC, 158 applications have been received by Guatemalan families, but it is currently only 70 children are adoptable, for which it will prioritize nationals rather than foreigners.Rudy Zepeda, spokesman for the unit, reinforced the plea and said: "In compliance with the spirit of the new law on adoptions will be sought that children who are declared adoptable be delivered to Guatemalan families rather than another country."
More reasons: Another reason for the suspension, said the Council is the need to conclude the cases of transition by changing legislation, which means cleaning the system of bad practices and strengthen adoptions locally.According to Jaime Tecu, coordinator of the area's legal CNA, if it is not possible to find a family at the national level, is considered the options, doing the steps indicates the Act.For foreign families, he explained, can be given two other options: surrender in making those children who exceed 8 years old, or in cases where the infant is suffering from any physical disability. In both, you must first exhausted the possibility of a Guatemalan family.From last January, when the agency began its functions, to date, have been approved 20 adoptions couples Chapin.According to official data, in 2007 were given up for adoption to foreign families about 5 thousand 100 children, 5% more than in 2006, when they joined 4 thousand 837. 95% of these children has been adopted by American families.
My hope is that all children in Guatemala who need a home, find a home. Every child deserves a home and a family. We feel extremely fortunate that Lili has become part of our family and have no doubt that her birth mother loves her and wants the very best possible life for her. We will strive every day to make sure that we give Lili what her birth mother so desperately wanted her to have and couldn't give her.
It's also humbling to know that there are millions and millions of other children all around the world that need the same thing. They need and want a home and family to love and care for them. While my desire is to provide that home and family to as many children as possible, there are limits to what one person or family can do. As many of you know, we have started the process to adopt one more time and our hope is to bring home a baby girl from Ethiopia. Adopting two children will not change the world significantly, but our hope is that we will change the world for our daughters and their birth families in a positive way.
Link: http://www.sigloxxi.com/noticias/23028
The National Council for Adoptions (CNA) suspended the delivery of children to foreign families during the remainder of 2008. The previous decision was made because there are many Guatemalans who are applying to host at home to an infant.The measure was circulated by the president of the ANC, Elizabeth Hernandez, the secretary general of the Hague Conference on International Law, Hans Van Loon.According to the records of the ANC, 158 applications have been received by Guatemalan families, but it is currently only 70 children are adoptable, for which it will prioritize nationals rather than foreigners.Rudy Zepeda, spokesman for the unit, reinforced the plea and said: "In compliance with the spirit of the new law on adoptions will be sought that children who are declared adoptable be delivered to Guatemalan families rather than another country."
More reasons: Another reason for the suspension, said the Council is the need to conclude the cases of transition by changing legislation, which means cleaning the system of bad practices and strengthen adoptions locally.According to Jaime Tecu, coordinator of the area's legal CNA, if it is not possible to find a family at the national level, is considered the options, doing the steps indicates the Act.For foreign families, he explained, can be given two other options: surrender in making those children who exceed 8 years old, or in cases where the infant is suffering from any physical disability. In both, you must first exhausted the possibility of a Guatemalan family.From last January, when the agency began its functions, to date, have been approved 20 adoptions couples Chapin.According to official data, in 2007 were given up for adoption to foreign families about 5 thousand 100 children, 5% more than in 2006, when they joined 4 thousand 837. 95% of these children has been adopted by American families.
My hope is that all children in Guatemala who need a home, find a home. Every child deserves a home and a family. We feel extremely fortunate that Lili has become part of our family and have no doubt that her birth mother loves her and wants the very best possible life for her. We will strive every day to make sure that we give Lili what her birth mother so desperately wanted her to have and couldn't give her.
It's also humbling to know that there are millions and millions of other children all around the world that need the same thing. They need and want a home and family to love and care for them. While my desire is to provide that home and family to as many children as possible, there are limits to what one person or family can do. As many of you know, we have started the process to adopt one more time and our hope is to bring home a baby girl from Ethiopia. Adopting two children will not change the world significantly, but our hope is that we will change the world for our daughters and their birth families in a positive way.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Ryan Update
For those who have been reading my blog over the last few weeks, you know that our oldest son has been having problems in his current home setting. For those who may not have read those particular blog posts, I will give you a very quick synopsis. Ryan has Autism and about a year ago the agency providing services to him closed the home he was living in and moved him into a different home. We informed the agency that for various reasons, we didn't feel the new house would be a good fit for him, however, they told us we didn't have another option. We also advised them of the importance of Ryan visiting the new house on a daily basis. Again, our advice was not taken and after 1 visit of 1 hour, they moved him. While he handled things okay in the beginning, everything began to spiral downward. Ryan has not been happy in his new home, has acted out and made life pretty much miserable for everyone. The agencies lack of experience and desire to meeting the daily needs of an individual with Autism has not helped matters at all and Ryan has suffered the most. Several months ago we decided it was time to start the search for another agency within the state that would be better equipped to work with Ryan. Our search lead us to an agency in the Chicago area and after trading many emails and phone calls we had a meeting with them last week. They came down to meet Ryan, see where he has been living for the last year, and to talk to us about every aspect of Ryan's life. The meeting went extremely well. Then yesterday we were informed by the agency currently providing services to Ryan, that they are closing the house he's living in next month. They have given us approximately 5 weeks notice of the closure of his house. So, I made a phone call to the Chicago based agency to let them know Ryan would be moving yet again and today we had a second meeting with the agency. We have had a favorable outcome as a result of these meetings and they are very interested in taking Ryan as a client. So, on September 21st we will be taking Ryan to visit one of their homes. What's even better is that he may not have to move to the Chicago area, which would be a minimum of a 2 hour drive for us. Instead, the goal is to move him to one of their homes about 30 miles from us. Until our meeting last week, we had no idea they had any homes this close. While things are certainly looking up, nothing is done yet and now we have a huge deadline looming overhead, but we will continue to advocate for Ryan and do what we feel is within his best interest.
I will keep everyone posted as things move forward and hopefully they will move forward quickly.
I will keep everyone posted as things move forward and hopefully they will move forward quickly.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Growing and Growing
It seems as if everyday Lili is doing something new.
Yesterday she discovered that drawing with an ink pen on the wall is a lot of fun. Boy do I love those Mr. Clean magic erasers.
For her 1st birthday we bought her a Little People's riding toy. It has colored piano keys on the front and each plays a different song. There is a key that when turned sounds like the car is starting. There is also a shifter that makes a car shifting sound. There are handles on the front for steering while sitting and a taller green handle on the back for pushing while walking. Lili has been content to play with her riding toy, by either pushing the various keys or pushing it around the house. However, she hasn't been too keen on riding it, that was until today. I had only shown her how to get on it once or maybe twice and that was a few weeks ago, but today she decided to try it on her own. Here are the results.
Okay, so she's directionally challenged, but at least she was able to get on all by herself. She was also successful and getting off without a tumble.A couple days ago I was in the office trying to get some long overdue filing done. I'm embarrassed to admit that this is the first time I've done any filing since Lili came home so you can imagine just how much had piled up. While I was trying to get some things done, Lili was happily playing (or should I say making new messes) when she decided that she needed to try and fit into a basket that was very obviously too small. So I convinced her that playing in a box would be much more fun. Here is Lili in the box she wanted to play in.
Yes folks, it's a shoe box and next to the shoe box is the basket that she wanted to play in. Last, but not least, here is Lili all ready for her last day in the family pool. Fortunately, she'll have an opportunity to sport her swimsuit again when we head to Myrtle Beach and then Hawaii.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Political Information
I understand politics is not always a popular topic with people, but our country is in a real mess and in about 8 weeks we will all have the opportunity to go to the polls and cast our vote.
My husband made a comment this morning that made me realize that it's easy for some people to go out and vote for a candidate based on one or two issues. That's really sad and very scary. Therefore, I've decided to spend some time over the next 8 weeks posting information about the candidates voting records in an effort to educate and help others make a more informed decision.
I will always title my posts in such a way that readers know the topic is politically based.
The following information is obtained from Project Vote Smart:
Unintended Pregnancy Amendment
Bill Number: S Con Res 18
Issue: Abortion
IssuesDate: 03/17/2005
Sponsor:Amendment: Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY]; Original Bill: Sen. Gregg Judd [NH]-->Sponsor:Amendment: Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY]; Original Bill: Sen. Gregg Judd [NH]
Official Title of Legislation:S AMDT 244 to S Con Res 18: To expand access to preventive health care services that reduce unintended pregnancy (including teen pregnancy), reduce the number of abortions, and improve access to women's health care. Project Vote Smart's Synopsis:Vote to adopt an amendment to the Senate's 2006 Fiscal Year Budget that allocates $100 million for the prevention of unintended pregnancies.
Highlights:
- Increases funding and access to family planning services
- Funds legislation that requires equitable prescription coverage for contraceptives under health plans
- Funds legislation that would create and expand teen pregnancy prevention programs and education programs concerning emergency contraceptives
Votes: Obama - Yes
Biden - Yes
McCain - No
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill of 2007
Bill Number: HR 1591
Issue: Appropriations
Date: 03/29/2007
Sponsor:Rep Obey, David R. [WI-7]-->Sponsor:Rep Obey, David R. [WI-7]
HR 1591: Making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes.Project Vote Smart's Synopsis:Vote to pass a bill that provides supplemental appropriations to various departments for the war on terror and other issues, addresses the minimum wage, and changes the tax code for businesses.
Highlights:
-States that most American forces will be redeployed from Iraq by March 31, 2008, with a limited number of troops remaining to protect American personnel and infrastructure, to train and equip Iraqi forces, and to conduct targeted counter-terrorism operations (Title I (Chapter 3 (Sec 1315 (b))))
-Withholds $1.41 billion from the Economic Support Fund and International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement Fund appropriations made in this bill if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks, including establishing a system to �equitably� share oil revenues among all Iraqis, implementing a system and schedule for provincial and local elections, and executing a plan to spend $10 billion in reconstruction projects on an �equitable� basis (Title I (Chapter 11 (Sec 1710 (a))))
-Requires certain federal agencies to develop plans to minimize the use of no-bid and cost-reimbursement contracts (Title II (Chapter 6 (Sec 204 (e (2)))))
-Raises the federal minimum wage to $5.85 per hour starting the 60th day after enactment of this Act, $6.55 per hour one year after that 60th day, and $7.25 per hour two years after that 60th day (Title V (Sec 501))
-Creates additional tax credits for businesses and waives the alternative minimum tax limits on the work opportunity credit and the credit for taxes paid with respect to employee cash tips (Title V (Sec 510-515))
-$969 million for the Department of Agriculture, including $557 million for the war on terror, and $412 million for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$615.69 million for the Department of Justice, including $445.69 million for the war on terror, and $170 million for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$98.52 billion for the Department of Defense, including $93.68 billion for the war on terror and $4.85 billion for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$63 million for the Department of Energy for its efforts in the war on terror
-$6.31 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including $2 billion for the war on terror and $4.31 billion for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$5.77 billion for the Department of State for its efforts in the war on terror
-$221.9 million for the Department of Commerce for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$146.19 million for the Department of Interior for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes-$1.53 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$57.41 million for the Department of Education for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$1.77 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs
-$75 million for the Department of Transportation
Votes: Obama - Yes
Biden - Yes
McCain - No
My husband made a comment this morning that made me realize that it's easy for some people to go out and vote for a candidate based on one or two issues. That's really sad and very scary. Therefore, I've decided to spend some time over the next 8 weeks posting information about the candidates voting records in an effort to educate and help others make a more informed decision.
I will always title my posts in such a way that readers know the topic is politically based.
The following information is obtained from Project Vote Smart:
Unintended Pregnancy Amendment
Bill Number: S Con Res 18
Issue: Abortion
IssuesDate: 03/17/2005
Sponsor:Amendment: Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY]; Original Bill: Sen. Gregg Judd [NH]-->Sponsor:Amendment: Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY]; Original Bill: Sen. Gregg Judd [NH]
Official Title of Legislation:S AMDT 244 to S Con Res 18: To expand access to preventive health care services that reduce unintended pregnancy (including teen pregnancy), reduce the number of abortions, and improve access to women's health care. Project Vote Smart's Synopsis:Vote to adopt an amendment to the Senate's 2006 Fiscal Year Budget that allocates $100 million for the prevention of unintended pregnancies.
Highlights:
- Increases funding and access to family planning services
- Funds legislation that requires equitable prescription coverage for contraceptives under health plans
- Funds legislation that would create and expand teen pregnancy prevention programs and education programs concerning emergency contraceptives
Votes: Obama - Yes
Biden - Yes
McCain - No
Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Bill of 2007
Bill Number: HR 1591
Issue: Appropriations
Date: 03/29/2007
Sponsor:Rep Obey, David R. [WI-7]-->Sponsor:Rep Obey, David R. [WI-7]
HR 1591: Making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2007, and for other purposes.Project Vote Smart's Synopsis:Vote to pass a bill that provides supplemental appropriations to various departments for the war on terror and other issues, addresses the minimum wage, and changes the tax code for businesses.
Highlights:
-States that most American forces will be redeployed from Iraq by March 31, 2008, with a limited number of troops remaining to protect American personnel and infrastructure, to train and equip Iraqi forces, and to conduct targeted counter-terrorism operations (Title I (Chapter 3 (Sec 1315 (b))))
-Withholds $1.41 billion from the Economic Support Fund and International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement Fund appropriations made in this bill if the Iraqi government does not meet certain benchmarks, including establishing a system to �equitably� share oil revenues among all Iraqis, implementing a system and schedule for provincial and local elections, and executing a plan to spend $10 billion in reconstruction projects on an �equitable� basis (Title I (Chapter 11 (Sec 1710 (a))))
-Requires certain federal agencies to develop plans to minimize the use of no-bid and cost-reimbursement contracts (Title II (Chapter 6 (Sec 204 (e (2)))))
-Raises the federal minimum wage to $5.85 per hour starting the 60th day after enactment of this Act, $6.55 per hour one year after that 60th day, and $7.25 per hour two years after that 60th day (Title V (Sec 501))
-Creates additional tax credits for businesses and waives the alternative minimum tax limits on the work opportunity credit and the credit for taxes paid with respect to employee cash tips (Title V (Sec 510-515))
-$969 million for the Department of Agriculture, including $557 million for the war on terror, and $412 million for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$615.69 million for the Department of Justice, including $445.69 million for the war on terror, and $170 million for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$98.52 billion for the Department of Defense, including $93.68 billion for the war on terror and $4.85 billion for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$63 million for the Department of Energy for its efforts in the war on terror
-$6.31 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including $2 billion for the war on terror and $4.31 billion for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$5.77 billion for the Department of State for its efforts in the war on terror
-$221.9 million for the Department of Commerce for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$146.19 million for the Department of Interior for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes-$1.53 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$57.41 million for the Department of Education for Katrina recovery efforts and other purposes
-$1.77 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs
-$75 million for the Department of Transportation
Votes: Obama - Yes
Biden - Yes
McCain - No
Friday, September 5, 2008
FFF - Finally
My computer time seems to be getting more and more limited these days. Why?
Lili has decided she likes purses. She had a couple and looks so cute carrying them around.
Also notice her attire in the photos. The first one was taken a couple days ago. Short and a short sleeved shirt. The others were taken today. Long sleeves, long pants, socks and shoes. What is left of Hurricane Gustav decided to give us a visit yesterday and brought much cooler weather to our neck of the woods. It was summer and suddenly it's fall. Ugh!
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