Tag: Adoption/Fostering

Best. Show. Ever!

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Trying on AppleTV is by far one of my favorite shows of all time.  The show follows couple, Nikki and Jason, on their parenting journey.  After finding out they won’t be able to get pregnant, the couple pursues the adoption path.  Trying is full of reality, humor, and heart.  Everything about the show comes together so beautifully—the wonderful scripts, the perfect casting, the seamless music, the locations, the direction.  I’m beyond grateful for everyone who has been involved in making this heartwarming, beautiful show.  

I have loved joining, not only Nikki and Jason on their parenting journey, but also all the other characters.  Screenwriter/creator, Andy Wolton has an incredible ability to write all the characters of this show so well.  He’s given the characters depth and humor in a way that makes them all so human.  As much as I adore Nikki and Jason and their amazing chemistry, I can’t think of one character who wasn’t given a truly great story of their own in Trying. 

Watch this show.  Or don’t.  But it rocks.  And it’s one of the best things I’ve seen on television.

 

(Trying just wrapped up its 3rd season on AppleTV.  Will it be the last?  You know, I would take more if it came, but, as much as I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this show, I feel like Season 3 wrapped up the story quite wonderfully.)

Our Subway Baby

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Our Subway Baby (2020)

words by: Peter Mercurio
pictures by: Leo Espinosa

This picture book is a true story written from a father to his son to tell the story of how their family was formed.  This short picture book is so inspiring and so beautiful.  I love stories like this where fate and Life have such a clear path, even if it’s fully unexpected.  Stories like this keep me believing in miracles.

Here’s one of many interviews.

Ruby Holler

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Ruby Holler (2002) by Sharon Creech

We’ve all read children’s stories of orphans being taken in and changing the lives of the sullen people around them, but here is a different, and probably more realistic, take.  Orphan twins, Dallas and Florida, are, as one might expect, a bit untrusting, very much hurt (though they might not admit it), and extremely prone to mischief.  They haven’t been dealt a great hand in life at their orphanage and haven’t learned about trust or love or respect from anyone except each other.  When an older couple takes them in temporarily, the reader witnesses the changes that take place for all of them, but especially the young teen orphans.

While I wouldn’t call this one of my favorite books, it was satisfying in a quiet sort of way.  To speak my truth, I didn’t always like the twins, but as the book progresses, you begin to understand why they are the way they are.  And when seen through Sairy’s eyes, you can see past the childish mistakes to the true nature of these kids.  In fact, several times throughout the book, I told my husband I’d like to be able to handle our child’s “mistakes,” “mischief,” “disasters” more like Sairy would.

 

Ch 43
“Maybe what you consider goofs aren’t what I consider goofs—it’s just stuff that happens.”  (Tiller)

Ch 45
“What’s a little rain?  What’s a little water?  What’s a little lostness?”  (Tiller)

Ch 15
“Do you think we were good parents?”

Sairy—“Of course we were, once we made our mistakes and got over worrying so much.  Sometimes I think we were just getting really good at it when all of a sudden those kids were grown up and gone.  Maybe that’s why it seems easier to me now, with Florida and Dallas.  I figure we know what to expect and we know how to love kids.”

 

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The Boy on the Porch

The Boy on the Porch

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Bookshop
The Boy on the Porch (2013)
by Sharon Creech

This is a very quick read.  I read the whole book in my evening reading time before bed last night.  There was really no way to stop reading it.  The chapters are short, and the “mystery” of the story kept me going.

At first, the general plot sounded similar to the recent Odd Life of Timothy Green movie.  A young boy suddenly shows up at a couple’s farmhouse out in the middle of nowhere and they begin to take care of him.  That is where the similarities end though- no sprouting leaves here.  The boy doesn’t speak, but instead uses tapping to communicate.  It’s hard to tell too much of the story without ruining it, but it is a very beautiful story about love, parenting, generosity, and finding your purpose.

The Boy on the Porch (2013)
Quotes:
“It’s okay,” Marta whispered to the sleeping child.  “I will sit here all day, if need be.”  ch 2

“Even if we never see him again, we know he was here.”  ch 48

 

You might also like:
Ruby Holler

More Love, Less Panic

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More Love, Less Panic by Claude Knobler (2015)

I was drawn to this book after reading an excerpt from it in Kiwi magazine.  The title alone hooked me, More Love, Less Panic.  Yes, that is precisely what I need.

Claude Knobler’s book is funny, endearing, honest, entertaining and, for me, incredibly easy to relate to.  While Mr. Knobler does talk about his family’s unexpected adoption of a young Ethiopian boy, the lessons of the book are meant to apply to any parent.  Like myself, the author tends to worry.  A lot.  He worries about his children and their habits and futures, their friends and schooling.  While parents may not all share the same worries or the same intensity of worrying, we all do it; it just comes with the territory.  So, to hear the thoughts of how this father learned to relax into parenthood a bit was a big help for me.  A very likable author, relatable stories, and wonderful lessons.  I wish there was an audio version of this book!

 

Quotes from More Love, Less Panic (waaay too many to choose from):

from Lesson One
“Children, after all, do tend to be childish, and then they tend to grow out of it, all on their own.  I let go of my fears about what will happen if I don’t nag, because they’re going to grow out of being children and this is my life too.  And I refuse to spend too much of it panicked about things I can’t control.”

“And if I believe, as I truly do, that I am not driving a car but am rather, more or less, a passenger on a train whose tracks have already been laid out for me, what’s next is for me to try to figure out how best to relax and enjoy the ride.”

from Lesson Two
“The answer to fear isn’t to try to solve problems that may not exist.  It’s to relax and find just a little bit of faith that my kids will find their own paths in life.”

“I have to trust that my kids will respond better to the sight of my positive example than they do to the sound of my shrill nagging.”

from Lesson Three
“If our kids are who they are from the day they’re born, isn’t it possible that our jobs as parents should be a lot more about appreciating them than molding them?”

from Lesson Four
“He did not need to learn how to be more mature any more than I needed to teach him how to get taller.”

from Lesson Five
“The absolute, unavoidable truth about parenting is this:  If you never lose your temper with your child, you are not spending enough time with your child.”

from Lesson Seven
“And therein lies the greatest secret of all.  The miracle has already happened.  All we have to do is never lose sight of it.”