Really?!?!?!

WARNING: This post is a vent post. Don't read if you don't want to hear a little griping.

Last week Phillip and I took the boys to the pool at Tims Ford State Park. We had a fantastic day. The diving boards there are supreme - lots of bounce for flips, twists, and dives.

There was this one thing though. There were three young men there who happened to be African-American. Two of them are students at the high school where Phillip teaches and the third had already graduated. I taught the third young man, and I can honestly say that he is one of my favorite students ever. I have a picture of Grant hugging on him at homecoming his freshman year.

Now I know that I live in a small Southern town, but I guess I am naive in the thought that racism was pretty much dead. Inter-racial relationships are very common where we live, and I haven't heard overt racist comments in a long time. Until these young men decided to jump off the diving boards.

There was a group of 5-6 Caucasian kids, some of whom are fellow students of the young men, standing about 10 feet behind me in the pool, which was about 20 feet from the diving boards. If they made one racist joke about African-Americans, they made 10. They were saying disgusting things, laughing, and making fun. My blood was boiling, and the mean middle school teacher in me was ready to come out. Thankfully they never said THAT WORD or else I would have looked like Michael Phelps swimming through the pool to give them a piece of my mind. They finally left, and I was able to enjoy the rest of the day. When I told Phillip what they were saying he was just as angry as I was. I think we were both dumbfounded, too. Neither of us thought people still talked like that.

I'm glad that our children don't know about those types of people yet. Eventually they'll have to learn, but hopefully we have prepared them to fight against stereotypes and ignorance.

-Ashley

I haven't blogged recently for many reasons, but there have been 2 glaring ones. First, life has really gotten in the way. Coaching t-ball, teaching, professional development, cooking dinner, traveling to Grant's tournaments on the weekend, blah, blah, blah. I'm not telling you anything you don't already know about me or that you aren't doing in your own house. Second, nothing has happened in the way of our adoption. We are just waiting, and waiting, and waiting. But I did want to write about the feelings I was having Easter Sunday.

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. I love the renewal that comes with the day, the excitement of the children, and celebrating the Resurrection. We hosted the church egg hunt at our house, made empty tomb cookies, and made the boys each their own set of Resurrection eggs. There is hardly a flat surface in our house that isn't covered in Easter grass! However, when Phillip and I sat watching the boys discover the goodies the Easter Bunny left for them I became very sad. I truly expected to watch three children go through Easter baskets this year.


After church, we go to Phillip's cousin Lori's house for our annual family dinner and egg hunt. It is always a great afternoon. Too much food and even more fun are always on the menu. My sweet Jackson, who I think has a more direct line to my heart than anyone else in the family, says, "Mommy, where is our baby. Why don't we have her yet? It's taking a long time." I can tell you the exact location we were on the road when he opened my floodgates with those words! It was all I needed to unload all those feelings that had surfaced earlier in the morning. I think I cried the rest of the way to Murfreesboro.

Let me also say that I have been very open to accepting a child of either gender, but Jackson has decided that our baby will be a girl. I don't think I could ever choose. After all, this is all His plan. BUT:

This can't be denied. Little girls love him. And seeing him with Baby Ansley was the little bit of hope I needed to keep on going. I know there is a plan and God wouldn't have brought me on this journey without an end in sight. It's just on His time, not mine.

Keep praying for us-
Ashley

Sweetness

Jackson: Mommy, will you put my clothes on me?

Me: Of course, Sweetie. (As I'm putting on his socks) What are you going to do when we get our baby, and you're not the baby anymore?

Jackson: Be happy.

Oh my. How blessed am I to have this boy?