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“do we subconsciously feed our girls less, for fear of them being fat, or do we trust them to know when they’re hungry and full? do we teach shame, or pride? the good kind of pride, the kind that says i’m a daughter of a heavenly father, and i have no reason to be afraid of what man can do to me. because i’m loved.”

* * * * *

“In theory, this responsibility scares me.  Before I was a parent, the task of raising up a human seemed enormous.  But in reality, no one else can speak to my kids like I can.  No one else knows when to count ominously, “1…2…don’t make me get to 3” or when to kneel down with open arms.  Someone else might guess.  They would probably even guess correctly.  Parenting isn’t rocket science.  Still, they wouldn’t be in tune with my child in the same way I am, feeling about them the way I do.  They’re as much a part of me as my feet or my fingers.”

* * * * *

“All of this brought such a feeling of failure, not even really about me, but about my family, my kids. It was killing me that I was bringing possible struggle onto my kids. I can handle my choices hurting me in painful ways but I cannot handle hurting my wife and kids. That felt unbearable and that is what I was carrying with me back and forth between work like a ton of bricks. It’s the only thing that forced me to face my fear, to feel it, to stay lost until I figured something out. Otherwise, I would have just ran.”

* * * * *

“I’m over roommates, friends. Thirty-two is looming on the horizon and I’m over roommates. I’m over “doing life” with people and splitting rent. I’m over it. All I knew two years ago when thirty was looming on the horizon was that I wanted family and nothing else would do.”

* * * * *

“I’ve been busy, but I’ve also been bogged down. I’m currently going through the toughest stretch of my life. I’ve never been under so much pressure. I’m married, I have a mortgage payment and a one-month old baby boy…and I haven’t made significant money from my business in almost a month.”

* * * * *

“So, there is no conspiracy to silence or ignore the Gnostic writings. They are seen — and even embraced — as an important aspect of the early church.”

“Now here’s where your question contains the answer to your question. You ask why Christianity can so conveniently dispose of alternate narratives of the Christian story. As a student of church history, I can attest that there has been nothing convenient about the church’s journey of orthodoxy and canonicity.”

* * * * *

“Sand trails traipse from bed to beach and back
around. Sun warm paths to wide-eyed wonder,
heavy lidded slumber capping days lived hot.”

* * * * *

“As the story goes, it used to take me two days to write a single article. The process was so painful, that I’d write the next article after a month. And as you’d expect, two days of that month and all the months to follow, were miserable as well.”

* * * * *

“I contemplate nothingness, the nothingness I felt when I went to church, the nothingness I felt when the butcher greeted me by name, and I wonder if this is not the sign of something, if this feeling of nothingness is a warning.”

“Until I realize, this is a feeling of peace.”

In an effort to emulate the successful 2008 Obama campaign, Romney’s team has begun circulating rumors eerily similar to those Obama waded through for the last four years.

“While we do not explicitly deny or admit starting these rumors,” one high-ranking Republican official claimed, “We have noted the way the Democrats came together in fighting the ridiculous claims against Obama, and we want in on that solidarity action.”

The rumors began appearing in online chat forums and random blogs Monday night, and Romney’s team has maintained an eery silence, adding further fuel to the fire. Here is the “misinformation” that has been leaked to the public so far:

1 – Romney is actually a Buddhist. In a direct counter to the “Obama is actually a Muslim,” the Romney campaign tried to ratchet things up a notch by releasing the rumor that Romney is a Buddhist. Unfortunately this backfired – apparently no one cares if you come from a religion known mostly for meditation and self-realization. They have quickly retreated to their original stance that he is a Mormon, believing that could still garner enough controversy on the religion front.

2 – Romney was not born in the US – he was born in the Soviet Union. President Obama was born in Kenya? The Romney camp can do better than that. They’re now claiming a Soviet heritage. Images suspected to be photoshopped by Romney’s team now show the hint of a scar protruding from his hairline, leading to rumor #3 that:

3 – Romney is the secret son of Mikhail Gorbachev. This would appear in some way to be their counter to the “Obama is the son of Malcolm X” rumor. With nuclear weapons and a long dead Cold War rivalry thrown in for good measure.

4 – Romney is actually a woman. Rumors that President Obama might be gay circulated as early as 2010. The Romney team seemed disappointed that they had been beaten to the punch on that one, and have fallen back to the claim that Romney is actually transgender. Apparently he went by Mittsy. And was a lesbian. In other news, they can’t find his birth certificate to support or deny these claims.

5 – Romney is a Nazi. “Conservatives were quick to label Obama as a socialist,” one Romney insider noted. “We think that in some strange way that gave him some kind of political clout. We’re going the Nazi route. But Mitt’s unwillingness to thump the podium, let madness trickle into his eyes, or grow a small mustache is impeding the spread of the rumor.”

Polls have yet to reveal if the rumors have had any affect on voter confidence.

My friends and I part ways.

“Take care!” we tell each other.

“Be safe!”

I suppose we say these things for many different reasons – most of the time we don’t even think about the meaning behind the words. They are, after all, fairly standard ways of saying good-bye, and I imagine at the heart of it is the desire to communicate how much we appreciate each other.

I love you and can’t wait to see you again soon. Don’t do anything stupid. I hope you stay healthy and accident-free.

The other night, as we parted ways with dear friends who we might not see again for quite some time, they shouted out through the night.

“Be safe!”

I shouted back.

“You, too!”

And the irony of those words became achingly apparent. Because so many of us live that life. The safe life. The controlled life. The comfortable life.

If I would have taken those words to heart years ago, that simple request to “be safe,” Maile and I never would have moved out of our house and taken a four-month, cross-country trip. We certainly never would have crossed the Teton Pass in our big blue bus (and lost our brakes). We wouldn’t have hit the road when I didn’t have any long-term income lined up. I wouldn’t have turned down a job while living in my parents’ basement.

Living a safe life would have stripped the last nine months of so many incredible experiences. We never would have taken the cross-country trip that led to a new friendship that in turn led to an invite to blog in Sri Lanka. We never would have looked into the opportunity to purchase a house that instead led to something way better (more on that in the coming days). I never would have had the opportunity to help so many people share their stories.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting a little security. A little comfort. We each thrive under varying levels of stability or the lack thereof. But if your entire life is dedicated to maintaining security and comfort, if you wake up in the morning determined to further shore up the walls of your castle, you are missing out on a lot.

* * * * *

I’m trying to think of new words to use when saying good-bye to friends. Words that better reflect my own experience of not always taking the safe path.

“Live wildly!”

“Do something courageous and ridiculous!”

“Here’s to your next adventure!”

How do you sign off? More important, what’s waiting for you beyond the “Do Not Enter” sign?

Today’s adoption guest post is brought to you by Kelly Raudenbush. Enjoy!

Just another morning. We were leaning against the warm brick wall of the school, feeling the morning sun on our legs. Kids were filing into the school yard and filling the blacktop with color and conversation as we waited for the doors to open and another day of school to start.

Lydia poked at a dead bug on the ground with a stick, drawing lots of attention from curious kids who gathered around her and bent down to see the ickyness.

We smiled while we watched her enjoy the bug and all the reactions of the big kids.

“Everybody in my class loves Lydia,” Ashlyn told me.

“Yeah, big kids usually like little kids like that,” I said, picturing many class parties we had been to with kids all fighting to get close to Lydia.

“They ask me a lot of questions about her.”

“They do? Like what?”

“Mostly questions about China.”

“Yeah? What kinds of questions?”

“Like what a orphanage is like, if there are any other orphans in China….”

“Hmm. Do you tell them there are millions of orphans in China?”

“Yeah.” She said quietly. “Why aren’t there orphanages here?”

“You know, babe. We don’t have orphanages here for kids really anymore. We have foster care where kids who don’t have parents or kids who need homes live with families and then some get adopted. You know, like your cousin. He was adopted from foster care.”

“He was?”

“Yeah, remember? He doesn’t look different, and he was born right around here. But, he was adopted.”

“Oh…cool.”

The doors opened. I got waves from all and a hug from one at least as they rushed to get in the doors.

“Have a good day – I love you,” I called out to Ashlyn still in earshot.

“I love you too. Lydia, Lydia, bye, I love you!”

“Bye!” she yells as she breaks from her science lab on the blacktop.

And, then I scooped her up and walked home.

Just another morning.

Kelly and her husband live out their passion to encourage adoption and support adoptive families through The Sparrow Fund and We Are Grafted In. You can check out her blog HERE.

If you’d like to submit a post telling the story of a poignant moment that occurred during adoption or foster care, please email your 500-word submission to shawnsmucker@yahoo.com. Thanks!

Prior adoption and foster care posts include:

When Things Don’t Go the Way You Expect – Amber Hauser
Open Adoption and Who Gets to be the Mom on Mother’s Day – Ashley Glick
The Problem With Permanent Marker – A Foster Care Story With Jeffrey Lane
Fear and an Open Adoption – Adoption Stories With Rebecca Wenrich
I Saw Our New Son and the Voice Said, “Run Away” – Adoption Stories With Kim Van Brunt
Checking ‘Yes’ to Everything: Adoption Stories With Sonya Judkins
Because Someone Has To: Adoption Stories With Shar Halvorsen
Momma For a Moment: A Foster Care Story, With Tamara Out Loud

In this divisive election season, Democrats and Republicans agree on one thing: voters should be able to cast their votes via the social media giant Twitter. But their agreement goes no further than that, and they are currently locked in a struggle to determine the parameters of casting such a vote.

With 27 million Twitter users in the United States, politicians on both sides of the aisle are analyzing the data surrounding the users’ profiles. Both parties are scrambling to provide various filters as a means of helping their own cause.

Republicans, in a maneuver mirroring the passage of voter ID laws in various states, are pushing for more stringent qualifications on the Twitter vote – they believe the Tweeted votes should be accompanied by a Social Security Number, a Passport ID number, a Driver’s License number, a major credit card number, a secret password, the number of minutes in the voter’s favorite movie, a library card number, and an Instagrammed version of the voter’s birth certificate.

An Instagram official commented that “Photos of birth certificates will be a welcome change from babies, sunsets and food.”

Democrats, believing the Tweet Vote benefits them, have requested only one qualification: all votes cast via Twitter must be accompanied by the hashtag #DemocratsRuleRepublicansDrool. According to an inside source, Vice President Biden preferred #TelepromptersRuleRepublicansDrool but his choice was vetoed by the President.

Experts believe that if the Tweet Vote is eventually approved, each state would be given a certain time of the day during which those votes could be cast, most likely no longer than a half hour, tagged with @TweetVote.

Republicans are hoping that Twitter is down for most of the day as their new party mascot is the Fail Whale.

Here are the steps you need to take if you would like to vote through your Twitter account:

1) Sign up for a Twitter account using one of your eyeballs as the profile pic. Your retina will be scanned to guarantee authenticity.

2) Notify your local voter registration of your intent to vote via Twitter. They will probably have no idea what you’re talking about.

3) Enure your phone and laptop are in your possession on election day. Prank votes will count.

4) Learn how to Tweet. (This one’s for you, mom.)

5) Due to the popularity of American Idol, new Presidential election voting rules allow you to vote up to 8 times! RTs will not count as actual votes. Because of their annoyance factor, Auto-reply-DMs will count as one vote for the opposite party.

Now get out there and Tweet vote!