comment for a cause

Stefanie over at Ni Hao Y'all is celebrating her 1,000th post which is seriously about 999 more than I would ever think of doing!  And to celebrate her 1,000th post, she is committing to donating $1 for every comment left on her blog to An Orphan's Wish!  PLEASE head on over to her blog and leave as many comments here as you possibly can so we can make her incredibly poor help as many orphans as we can!  I have the absolute privilege in serving as the Financial Coordinator for An Orphan's Wish and it would be my extreme pleasure to take all of her money so get on over there and seriously bug the heck out of her!!!

Sunday Snapshot: {Memorial Day Sale}

We had a garage sale yesterday in an attempt to free up more space in the garage which will then inevitably be filled with more junk in the near future.  And so the cycle continues...

Everyone was put to work.  No excuses.  We had people running the back office and providing support services.

We also had people running the front office and working directly with the customers.  There are just some people who have a natural way with customers and have the persuasiveness to make a great salesperson.

Sometimes the salesperson performed cashier duties as well and collected the cash.  Ka-ching!

We even allowed a break or two to recover from the hot Florida heat.

All in all the garage sale was a huge success.  Even our salesperson was inclined to make a purchase.

To see more great Sunday Snapshots, head on over to Stefanie's blog at Ni Hao Y'all:

happy birthday daddy

May 24th was Angelo's birthday.  We celebrated early with a nice dinner at my parent's house.  And yes...he got his cake early too.

I think Aiden may have been laughing at how many candles Angelo's cake would have needed had I actually brought some.  Yeah - I know, I know...what a slacker!  I thought it was enough just to make the cake and dinner!  Was I supposed to remember the candles too???

For his actual birthday, we hit the local Olive Garden.  And then home to open gifts.  Aiden even got a present too - a CD player for his room.  And noooo....he is not spoiled.  No matter how it looks!

Daddy with his new iPod for the gym since his old one bit the dust.

Close-ups of the cake.  Probably not one of my best but still cute for a person who loves all things soccer.

* Disclaimer - The above pictures would have been posted sooner however my husband is a certified computer hog and it was totally not related to how lazy busy I have been.

a miracle

My cousin Phil and his beautiful wife Amy gave birth to what I can only describe as a miracle 2 years ago. Their daughter Kelsey was born "dead". I can only imagine their heartbreak with all they had to endure in the moments and months after she was born. Go here to see their video.

Well Kelsey just celebrated her second birthday! And she is just as beautiful and healthy as you could ever imagine!

Happy 2nd birthday Kelsey! 

And BTW, I'd love to know your secret to having such gorgeous hair!  Seriously...what 2 year old has hair like hers???

the beach

After a long and what seemed to be never ending tax season, Aiden and I were finally able to make our way over to St. Augustine for a weekend with my parents.  Unfortunately Angelo had to work so we forced ourselves to go without him - we certainly missed him but tried our best to have fun anyway.

ignorance

is bliss. Or so they say.  I, on the other hand, cannot tolerate stupid ignorance.  You know the type.  Someone who should know better, doesn't.  And never will.


Someone I know, who shall remain nameless, is completely ignorant in the worst way.  This person is completely prejudicial against any race other than their own.  This person makes disparaging and degrading remarks about groups of other races constantly feeding into long held stereotypical beliefs.  I think it is rather rude.  And ignorant.  And I seriously wish this person would get a clue before I let them have it.  I have continued to keep my comments to myself because I prefer to be non-confrontational until I am pushed too far.  And then I have been known to push back. 


As a wife and mother to two of my favorite people in the world who are not caucasian and in this certain person's skewed view my husband and son are not considered to be as "worthy" as they are, I take offense.  Seriously take offense.  And I am seriously feeling as though I am being pushed.  I am ready to enlighten this person and educate.  However, I am afraid that my voice and opinion will fall on deaf ears.  You cannot change those who are unwilling to learn.  And expand their narrowed views.


I cannot believe that anyone could still have these beliefs in 2010.  I know racial stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination will probably always exist in some form however I am still hopeful that it will one day be eradicated completely. 


How ignorant can you be to judge someone based on the color of their skin?  To miss out on learning about other cultures based on the color of a person's skin.  To ignore someone based on the color of a person's skin.  To actually hate someone solely based on the color of a person's skin. 

And discrimination doesn't stop there.  I won't even begin to delve into how people discriminate based on religion.  And discriminate based on sexual orientation.  And even discriminate based on gender. 


Well I have a message for this person.  You lose.  You are the one who loses the opportunity to learn something that you know nothing about.  The opportunity to learn fascinating things about other cultures.  The opportunity to witness cultural traditions.  The opportunity to meet new and interesting people.  Yet the funny thing is you are too ignorant to realize it.  So yeah YOU lose.


The other issue I have with your comments is that they always seem to be underhanded.  Underhanded but let there be no mistake, they are heard.  Heard loud and clear.  You do not even have the courage to say your comments to another's face.  And if the person who the comments were underhandedly directed at ever decided to confront you, I truly believe you would never own up.  An ignorant coward.  That is exactly what you are.

And while I'm at it, please do not make the mistake again about assuming anything about my son's birth mother.  My son is not trash and was not "dumped" like trash.  My son's birth mother kept him for six weeks.  Six.Long.Weeks.  And I cannot begin to explain why or how she could ever part with such a beautiful child.  But what I do know is that he was left where he was sure to be found.  And with a note attached.  We will never know the answers as to the whys and hows.  And the unfortunate thing is that this is something my son will have to live his life not knowing.  I will never be able to answer simple things about the day that he entered this world like how much he weighed and how long he was.  And I only have one tiny, microscopic black and white picture of him as a newborn.  As a matter of fact, I have only five pictures of him before the age of two.  Another glaring sad reality.  So make no mistake, my son is absolutely not trash and is loved beyond measure by his momma and dadda, his nana and grampa, his abuelo, his aunts and uncles, his cousins, his extended family and by many close friends.

So it is quite unfortunate that you still have your head in the sand.  You really don't know what you are missing out on.

And just so you know, we are all of the same race.  It's called the human race.

6 months

Six months ago today, a happy, smiling baby was placed in my arms and things will never ever be the same.

To celebrate our 6 month anniversary, I'd like to share a few things about Aiden, our son.

He hasn't stopped smiling.  He's a bit of a comedian.  He loves to laugh and make you laugh.

He isn't much of a baby anymore.  He has grown an astonishing four inches in six months. His weight has remained about the same.

He can cut a rug.  He absolutely loves to dance and will dance to anything that has a rythym.  He even tries his best to keep up with the stars on Dancing with the Stars.  He likes to sing too.  Sometimes sings so loudly during American Idol that we can hardly hear the contestants.

He loves, loves, loves to eat.  He is still not a huge fan of anything meat related but will down just about everything else.  I think his favorite food right now has to be Cheerios - we can't keep enough of them in the house.

He is smart and I mean really smart.  His vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds and I am surprised each day what he picks up...both in English and Spanish.  It is amazing just how much he has learned in such a short time.  He may just be smart enough to become a doctor...or something even more useful to our family - a veterinarian.

He hates ALL things medically related and has proven to be one of the most difficult children that All Children's has ever attempted to draw blood from.

He is beginning to love Nascar making Angelo one happy daddy which makes a happy mommy too because there will be a day that Aiden can take my place at all things race related.

He is a lefty.

He is gorgeous.

We call him Indio.

People often comment on what a lucky child Aiden is that we came into his life, but in reality we are absolutely the lucky ones to have been blessed with this wonderfully sweet child in our lives...and for that, I will be forever grateful.  I love you my sweet boy!